Blessed Hildegard Burjan, Wife, Mother and Founder of Caritas Socialis
Blessed Hildegard Burjan (1883–1933) was a German-born convert from a Jewish family who became a social reformer in Vienna, one of the first women in the Austrian parliament, a wife and mother, and in 1919 the founder of the sisters of Caritas Socialis. She was beatified in St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, on January 29, 2012. Her feast is June 12.
Who was Blessed Hildegard Burjan?
Blessed Hildegard Burjan was a wife, a mother, a member of parliament and the founder of a community of sisters, all at once. Born into a liberal Jewish family in Görlitz, she came to the Catholic faith after an illness that nearly killed her, and gave the life she had been given back to God and to the poor of Vienna. On the day of her beatification Pope Benedict XVI called her "a laywoman and mother of a family" and asked the crowd in St. Peter's Square to "praise the Lord for this beautiful witness to the Gospel" (our translation).
The life of Blessed Hildegard
From Görlitz to the Catholic faith
Hildegard Freund was born in Görlitz on January 30, 1883, the second daughter of a liberal Jewish family. She studied philosophy in Switzerland, one of the few women of her time to do so, and in 1907 married Alexander Burjan, who was born in Hungary.
Soon afterward she fell gravely ill, and her life was despaired of. Her recovery seemed to her almost miraculous. In 1909 she was baptized a Catholic, determined, as her sisters write, to spend the life she had been given entirely for God and for others.
The couple moved to Vienna, and there, at the risk of her own life, she gave birth to their only child, Elisabeth.
The poor women of Vienna
Vienna's working families lived in misery, and Hildegard went to see it for herself. She campaigned against child labor and for the rights of women. In 1912 she founded the Association of Christian Home-Workers for the women who sewed piecework in their tenements for starvation wages, and in 1918 she brought the women workers' associations together in Social Help (Soziale Hilfe). During and after the war she organized food aid for the hungry of the Erzgebirge and family aid in the Sudetenland.
In parliament
From 1918 to 1920 she sat first on Vienna's provisional city council and then in Austria's new Constituent National Assembly, the first Christian Social woman deputy. Her own words, kept by her sisters, explain why: "A full interest in politics belongs to practical Christianity" (our translation). A friendship with Monsignor Ignaz Seipel, later federal chancellor, began in 1917. When he died in 1932, she set in motion the building of a memorial church in his honor, the Christ the King Church in Vienna's 15th district.
Caritas Socialis
She came to see that the work needed women ready to give themselves to it completely. On October 4, 1919, she founded the sisters of Caritas Socialis, and the first ten sisters made their promises in the chapel of the house at Pramergasse 9 in Vienna. They lived poverty, chastity and obedience in community; she, a married woman, led them until her death. She died in Vienna on June 11, 1933.
Beatification and the approved miracle
Cardinal Franz König opened her cause in Vienna on June 6, 1963. It nearly stalled more than once. The approved miracle concerned a woman who, after several operations, had been judged medically unable to bear children. She asked for Hildegard's intercession and later had three healthy children, which the examining doctors could not explain. The cardinals of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints recommended the beatification on June 7, 2011, and Benedict XVI signed the decree on June 27, 2011. Cardinal Angelo Amato beatified her in St. Stephen's Cathedral on January 29, 2012.
Symbols of Blessed Hildegard in art
- A woman of the 1920s: she lived in the age of photography, so she is shown as she looked, in a plain dark dress with short dark hair.
- Her profile in relief: memorial plaques in Vienna show her head in profile, often with the name of Caritas Socialis.
- The sisters: pictures of the founding often show her with the first sisters of Caritas Socialis.
Her name is on squares, streets and housing in Görlitz and Vienna.
Feast day and where she is honored
We keep her memorial on June 12. After her exhumation, her body was brought on May 4, 2005, to the Hildegard Burjan Chapel in the Caritas Socialis motherhouse in Vienna's Alsergrund district. Pope John Paul II spoke warmly of her when he visited the CS Hospice Rennweg on June 21, 1998. See others honored in June on our feast days page.
Prayer to Blessed Hildegard Burjan
The Archdiocese of Vienna prays this collect on her memorial. It was approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship; this is our translation from the German:
Faithful God, supported by your love, Blessed Hildegard Burjan was able to stand up for the dignity of the human person and for social justice. Through her intercession give us the strength of her faith and the courage of her love, that we may faithfully fulfill your mission in Church and society. Through Christ our Lord.
Let us ask Blessed Hildegard to pray for mothers, for women in public life, for poor working families, and for all who serve the sick and dying.
Frequently asked questions
Who was Blessed Hildegard Burjan?
Born Hildegard Freund in Görlitz in 1883 to a liberal Jewish family, she studied philosophy, married Alexander Burjan, was baptized a Catholic in 1909 after a near-fatal illness, and worked in Vienna for poor women workers. She sat in Austria's Constituent National Assembly and founded Caritas Socialis in 1919.
When is the feast of Blessed Hildegard Burjan?
June 12, the day after her death on June 11, 1933. It is a memorial in the Archdiocese of Vienna.
What miracle was approved for Hildegard Burjan?
A woman who, after several operations, had been judged medically unable to have children asked for Hildegard's intercession and later had three healthy children. The doctors who examined the case could find no medical explanation, and Benedict XVI signed the decree on June 27, 2011.
Where is Hildegard Burjan buried?
In the Hildegard Burjan Chapel of the Caritas Socialis motherhouse at Pramergasse in Vienna's 9th district, where her body was moved on May 4, 2005.
Keep exploring
Sources
- Hildegard Burjan, CS Caritas Socialis. Her family, studies, marriage, conversion, social work, political career, friendship with Ignaz Seipel, the founding of October 4, 1919, and the quotation on politics
- Seligsprechung (Beatification), CS Caritas Socialis. Opening of the cause in 1963, the transfer of her body on May 4, 2005, and John Paul II's visit in 1998
- Burjan-Seligsprechungsprozess stand mehrmals auf der Kippe, katholisch.at (Kathpress), 27 September 2019. The stages of the cause and the approved miracle
- Selige Hildegard Burjan, 12. Juni: Mass and Lectionary texts, Archdiocese of Vienna. Memorial on June 12, baptism in 1909, and the collect approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship (Prot. N. 444/12/L); our translation
- Benedict XVI, Angelus, 29 January 2012 (German), Vatican