Over the last several days, I seem to have set a pattern of alternating between male and female Saints. To maintain that patter, I will share a story of a female Saint today - or actually a Blessed.
Hildegard Freund Burjan was born in January 1883 to a non-practicing Jewish couple in Germany. The family moved several times during her childhood and she attended school in Berlin and in Switzerland. She married a Hungarian entrepreneur Alexander Burjan in May 1907 and obtained a doctorate in 1908.
In October 1908, she suffered from severe renal colic that forced her hospitalization at the Saint Hedwig Catholic Hospital in Berlin. After several operations, her condition got to the point where doctors gave up all hope. However, she was healed from this grave illness just after Easter 1909. It was during this hospital stay that Hildegard encountered the Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo and came to admire their work. This prompted her conversion to the Roman Catholic Church and she was baptized on August 11, 1909. Her husband converted soon afterwards.
The couple moved to Vienna, Austria, where she gave birth to a daughter, Lisa, after a risky pregnancy. In Austria, Hildegard began to take an interest in the social issues of the nation and in particular in the working conditions and spiritual welfare of the poor. In 1912, she founded the group "Christian Women Working at Home" to offer women social protection, better wages and legal assistance. She also founded a group called "Social Help" in 1918. Her activism was based on Catholic Social Teaching as articulated in Pope Leo XIII's 1881 Rerum Novarum.
In 1919, Hildegard became one of the first female members of the Austrian Parliament. In Parliament, she argued for the extension of legal rights of expectant and nursing mothers, equal wages for men and women, social protection for the working class and care for poor families. She was invited to run in the 1920 elections and was proposed as the Minister for Social Affairs, but declined due to poor health.
She died on June 11, 1933. Her feast day is June 12 and she is patron of politicians and converts.
No comments:
Post a Comment