Bl. Hildegard Burjan

Hildegard Freund was born in 1883 in Görlitz, Germany, into a Jewish family that did not practise its religion. She studied German literature and philosophy in Zurich and earned a doctorate. In 1907 she married Alexander Burjan, an engineer.

In 1909 she nearly died after an illness and several operations. After her unexpected recovery she was baptised a Catholic. Against her doctors' advice she gave birth to a daughter, Lisa.

In Vienna she organised help for women home-workers who were paid very little. In 1919 she was elected to the Austrian parliament for the Christian Social Party, one of its first women members. That year she also founded the Caritas Socialis sisters to serve women and families in need. She died in 1933 and was beatified in Vienna in 2012.

Hildegard Burjan was beatified in 2012.

Beatification allows public veneration, usually in a particular region or religious family. Canonization extends it to the whole Church.