Hildegard Lea Burjan (née ''Hildegard Freund''; 30 January 1883 – 11 June 1933) was a
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
** Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ge ...
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
convert from
Judaism
Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...
and the founder of the Sisterhood of Caritas Socialis.
Burjan set up several organizations for the promotion of women's rights and for the rights of all workers and their families and this even saw her elected to the
Austrian Parliament
The Austrian Parliament (german: Österreichisches Parlament) is the bicameral federal legislature of the Austrian Republic. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene ...
where she served until her retirement due to ill health.
The beatification process commenced under
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
in 1982, and
Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
named her as
Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cat ...
in 2007; that same pope beatified Burjan in 2012 though Cardinal
Angelo Amato
Angelo Amato, S.D.B. (born 8 June 1938) is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 2018. He served as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of ...
presided over the celebration on the pope's behalf.
Life
Hildegard Freund was born to non-practicing
Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
parents in the
German Empire in 1883 as the second-born to Abraham and Berta Freund.
[
The Freunds relocated to ]Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
in 1895, where she was sent to high school and the Freunds relocated once more in 1899 to Switzerland where she studied in Zurich at the college
A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offerin ...
there. Freund graduated from high school in 1903 after the completion of her examinations and then began her college studies.[ Freund studied German literature as well as philosophical and sociological studies under the two ]Protestant
Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
professors Saitschik and Foerster in Switzerland, and then in Berlin, when she returned in 1907 to also start an economics course; she obtained a doctorate
A doctorate (from Latin ''docere'', "to teach"), doctor's degree (from Latin ''doctor'', "teacher"), or doctoral degree is an academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism ''li ...
in 1908.[ On 2 May 1907 she married the Hungarian entrepreneur Alexander Burjan (26 November 1882 - 6 November 1973).][
In October 1908 she suffered from severe renal colic that forced her hospitalization on 9 October at the Saint Hedwig Catholic Hospital in Berlin where she underwent several operations.][ Just before ]Easter
Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...
1909, the condition got to the point where doctors gave up all hope but she was healed from this grave illness after Easter on 12 April 1909. It was during her hospitalization that she came to admire the work of the Sisters of Saint Charles Borromeo. This illness prompted her conversion
Conversion or convert may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman''
* "Conversion" (''Stargate Atlantis''), an episode of the television series
* "The Conversion" ...
to the Roman Catholic Church; she was baptized on 11 August 1909 and her husband followed in August 1910. Burjan moved with her husband to the Austrian capital of Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
, where she bore her sole daughter Lisa on 27 August 1910 despite possible risk, as past pregnancies had threatened her life. The doctors advised her to have an abortion, but she refused and exclaimed: "that would be murder!" Burjan soon started to take interest in the social issues of the nation and took a particular interest in the working conditions and spiritual welfare of the poor.
In September 1912 she gave an address at the annual gathering of women's leagues, and in 1912 founded the "Christian Women Working at Home" and in 1918 the group dubbed "Social Help". The former group offered social protection and better wages as well as legal assistance. Her social activism was also due to inspiration she received from the late Pope Leo XIII's 1881 Rerum Novarum on social teachings and conditions.[ On 16 April 1914 she gave another talk at another such annual gathering and discussed the topic of women's rights and the importance of women in the workplace.][ During ]World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
she defended the idea of women replacing men in factories and hailed the trend even after the war. The prelate Ignaz Seipel
Ignaz Seipel (19 July 1876 – 2 August 1932) was an Austrian prelate, Catholic theologian and politician of the Christian Social Party. He was its chairman from 1921 to 1930 and served as Austria's federal chancellor twice, from 1922 to 1924 ...
said that he had never met a more enthusiastic or wise politician as Burjan while Cardinal Friedrich Gustav Piffl
Friedrich Gustav Piffl (15 October 1864 – 21 April 1932) was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church and Archbishop of Vienna.
Gustav Piffl was born in Lanškroun, Bohemia, in what was then the Austrian Empire. He was the son of Rudolf Piffl ...
dubbed her as "the conscience of the Parliament". On 3 December 1918 she earned a seat on the district council and became the vice-chair to the chairman of the Christian Socials Leopold Kunschak.
Her main achievement remains the founding of a religious congregation for serving the poor, and on 4 October 1919 founded the congregation titled the "Sisterhood of Caritas Socialis". The first ten women joined that October at a special mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
. In 1918 she became active in the Christian-Socials, and in 1919 became one of the first female members of the Austrian Parliament
The Austrian Parliament (german: Österreichisches Parlament) is the bicameral federal legislature of the Austrian Republic. It consists of two chambers – the National Council and the Federal Council. In specific cases, both houses convene ...
; she spoke in the Parliament for the first time on 12 March 1919 and at one point filed a petition for the extension of legal rights of expectant and nursing mothers.[ Burjan concerned herself with issues such as equal wages for men and women and social protection for the working class as well as social and spiritual care for poor families. Burjan was invited to run in the 1920 elections and was proposed as the Minister for Social Affairs but declined due to poor health; she informed the executive committee for the Christian Socials that she would not re-contest but retire instead.
On Pentecost in 1933, she suffered a severe and painful renal inflammation. Burjan died on 11 June 1933. The ailing woman murmured on her deathbed: "how beautiful it will be to go to rest in ]God
In monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Oxford Companion to Philosophy'', Oxford University Press, 1995. God is typically ...
!" and then kissed a Crucifix
A crucifix (from Latin ''cruci fixus'' meaning "(one) fixed to a cross") is a cross with an image of Jesus on it, as distinct from a bare cross. The representation of Jesus himself on the cross is referred to in English as the ''corpus'' (Lati ...
and spoke her final words: "Dear Savior
Savior or Saviour may refer to:
*A person who helps people achieve salvation, or saves them from something
Religion
* Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or nineteen years
* Maitreya
* Messiah, a saviour or l ...
- make all men lovable so that You might love them. Enrich them with Yourself alone!"[ The order that she founded received diocesan approval in 1936 and then papal approval from ]Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII ( la, Ioannes XXIII; it, Giovanni XXIII; born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli, ; 25 November 18813 June 1963) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 28 October 1958 until his death in June 19 ...
in 1960. Her remains were later moved in 2005.
Beatification
The official start to the cause came on 7 January 1982 under Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
, after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints
In the Catholic Church, the Dicastery for the Causes of Saints, previously named the Congregation for the Causes of Saints (), is the dicastery of the Roman Curia that oversees the complex process that leads to the canonization of saints, pass ...
issued the official "nihil obstat
''Nihil obstat'' (Latin for "nothing hinders" or "nothing stands in the way") is a declaration of no objection that warrants censoring of a book, e.g., Catholic published books, to an initiative, or an appointment.
Publishing
The phrase ''ni ...
" to it. The cognitional process was also held from 1982 until 1983, and the C.C.S. later validated both causes on 24 May 1985 before receiving the Positio
In the Catholic Church, a ''positio'' (''Positio super Virtutibus'') is a document or collection of documents used in the process by which a person is declared Venerable, the second of the four steps on the path to canonization as a saint.
Des ...
dossier over a decade later in 1999.
The board of theologians voiced their assent to the cause on 24 March 2006 as did the C.C.S. on 6 March 2007. Pope Benedict XVI
Pope Benedict XVI ( la, Benedictus XVI; it, Benedetto XVI; german: link=no, Benedikt XVI.; born Joseph Aloisius Ratzinger, , on 16 April 1927) is a retired prelate of the Catholic church who served as the head of the Church and the soverei ...
confirmed that Burjan had lived a life of heroic virtue
Heroic virtue is a phrase coined by Augustine of Hippo to describe the virtue of early Christian martyrs and used by the Catholic Church. The Greek pagan term hero described a person with possibly superhuman abilities and great goodness, and "it ...
and named her as Venerable
The Venerable (''venerabilis'' in Latin) is a style, a title, or an epithet which is used in some Western Christian churches, or it is a translation of similar terms for clerics in Eastern Orthodoxy and monastics in Buddhism.
Christianity
Cat ...
on 6 July 2007. The process for a miracle needed for beatification spanned from 30 January 2001 to 12 March 2001 in the place it occurred in, and it received C.C.S. validation on 22 February 2002. The medical board met on 15 March 2007 but did not come up with a conclusive verdict so met once again on 10 December 2009 and approved it; theologians followed on 25 January 2008 as did the C.C.S. on 7 June 2011. The pope approved this miracle on 27 June 2011 and delegated Cardinal Angelo Amato
Angelo Amato, S.D.B. (born 8 June 1938) is an Italian cardinal of the Catholic Church who served as the Prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints between 2008 and 2018. He served as Secretary of the Congregation for the Doctrine of ...
to preside over the beatification in Vienna in his name on 29 January 2012.
The current postulator for this cause is Dr. Andrea Ambrosi.
On 11 June 2015 a memorial was revealed and blessed at a special Mass held at Saint Stephen's Cathedral. Suffragan bishop (Weihbischof) Helmut Krätzl and arch bishop (Erzbischof) Peter Zurbriggen were present for the blessing.
References
Literature
* Irmgard Burjan-Domanig: ''Hildegard Burjan, eine Frau der sozialen Tat''. 3rd ed. Caritas Socialis, Vienna, 1976
* Hanna-Barbara Gerl-Falkovitz: ''Mystik, Emanzipation und Politik: Hildegard Burjan'' (1883–1933). Caritas Socialis, Vienna, 2004
* Alfred Koblbauer: ''Spiritualität''. 2nd vol.: Hildegard Burjan. Missionsdruckerei St. Gabriel, Mödling, 1976
* Michaela Kronthaler: ''Hildegard Burjan (1883–1933). Katholische Arbeiterinnenführerin und christliche Sozialpolitikerin''. Dr.-Karl-Kummer-Institut f. Sozialpolitik u. Sozialreform in Steiermark, Graz, 1995
* Michaela Kronthaler: ''Die Frauenfrage als treibende Kraft: Hildegard Burjans innovative Rolle im Sozialkatholizismus und Politischen Katholizismus vom Ende der Monarchie bis zur 'Selbstausschaltung' des Parlaments'' (= Grazer Beiträge zur Theologiegeschichte und Kirchlichen Zeitgeschichte, Bd. 8). Verlag Styria, Graz-Vienna-Cologne, 1995,
* Ingeborg Schödl (ed.): ''Hoffnung hat einen Namen. Hildegard Burjan und die Caritas Socialis''. Tyrolia, Innsbruck-Vienna, 1995,
External links
Hagiography Circle
Caritas Socialis
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Burjan, Hildegard
1883 births
1933 deaths
People from Görlitz
People from the Province of Silesia
Austrian Roman Catholics
Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism
Christian Social Party (Austria) politicians
Members of the Constituent National Assembly (Austria)
20th-century Austrian women politicians
20th-century German women politicians
20th-century venerated Christians
20th-century German people
German anti-poverty advocates
Beatifications by Pope Benedict XVI
Founders of Catholic religious communities
Jewish German politicians
German humanitarians
Women humanitarians
German beatified people
Jewish women
Roman Catholic activists
University of Zurich alumni
Venerated Catholics by Pope Benedict XVI