EMMA (HEMMA) di GURK, saint. - Born in the second half of the 10th century into a noble family, died at Gurk on 29 June 1945. After the death of her husband Guglielmo (1016), count of Friesach-Zeltschach, and of her son Guglielmo (1056), count of the March of the Sanna, she distributed her immense wealth for the good of the people and for religious works. She founded and endowed parishes, offered extensive territories for the erection of the monastery of Admont, and established at Gurk a monastery for Benedictine nuns (1043).
She is considered the founder of the diocese of Gurk because Archbishop Gebardo of Salisburgo, when erecting it (1070), made use of the rich endowment left to the monastery in that same city. She was buried in the crypt of the new Cathedral (1174), a centre of pilgrimages. Her cult spread rapidly beyond Carinzia as well, into Slovenia and Stiria, so that in 1466-67 the apostolic process of canonization was instituted, but was not pursued. Only on 5 Jan. 1938 did Pio XI approve her cult with the clause «sancta nuncupata» (AAS, 32 [1940], pp. 309-11). Her feast is celebrated on 27 June.
