EMMA (Hemma) of Gurk, Saint. - Born in the second half of the 10th century, of a noble family, died at Gurk on 29 June 1945. After the death of her husband William (1016), count of Friesach-Zeltschach, and of her son William (1056), count of the March of Sanna, she distributed her immense wealth for the good of the people and for works of religion. She founded and endowed parishes, offered vast territories for the erection of the monastery of Admont, and erected at Gurk a monastery for Benedictine nuns (1043).

She is regarded as the foundress of the diocese of Gurk owing to the fact that the archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg, in erecting it (1070), made use of the rich endowment left to the monastery of that same city. She was buried in the crypt of the new Cathedral (1174), a center of pilgrimages. Her cult spread rapidly even outside Carinthia, in Slovenia and Styria, so much so that in 1466-67 the apostolic process of canonization was instituted, which had no follow-up. Only on 5 Jan. 1938, Pius XI approved her cult with the clause «sancta nuncupata» (AAS, 32 [1940], pp. 309-11). Her feast is celebrated on 27 June.

EMMA OF GURK, saint - Wood engraving by L. Holz (1935).

Bibliography4 works

BIBL.: All the historical material on her life and cult is gathered in the Positio super Cæsi exceptio (S. Rit. Congreg. Sectio Hist., 36). Vatican City 1937; J. Löw, S. Hemmabächlein, Klagenfurt 1931; D. Vissér, Hemma von Gurk, 2nd ed., Munich 1939; A. Krause, Sankt Hemma, Mödling 1949.

Giuseppe Löw

@incollection{ec5_emma_hemma_di_gurk_santa, author = {Lów, Giuseppe}, title = {Emma (Hemma) di Gurk, santa}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {V}, pages = {310--311}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1950}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/emma-hemma-di-gurk-santa} }

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Emma (Hemma) of Gurk, Saint

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