Erzherzogin Helena von Österreich

Helena of Austria was born on January 7, 1543, in Vienna. She belonged to the House of Habsburg and was the daughter of Emperor Ferdinand I and his wife, Anna Jagiellonica. Her mother was a daughter of Wladislaw II, King of Bohemia and Hungary. Helena’s siblings included the future Emperor Maximilian II. Her father destined Helena for a life in a convent. Together with her sisters Magdalena and Margareta of Austria, she founded the royal convent for women in Hall in Tyrol. The three sisters were united not only by their family background but also by their decision to devote their lives to a religious community. In 1568, they themselves entered the convent they had founded. The convent developed into an important religious and educational center. In 1573, a Jesuit college with a grammar school was completed there. This institution was connected with the religious and cultural character of the period and complemented the importance of the women’s convent in Hall. Helena lived as a nun in the convent community until her death. She died on March 5, 1574, at the age of 41 in Hall in Tyrol. She was buried in Hall’s Jesuit Church. Her memory thus remained closely linked to the convent that she had founded with her sisters and personally shaped by entering it.