Blessed Gisela of Hungary: life, reign and prayer
Blessed Gisela was Queen of Hungary, wife of King St. Stephen I and mother of St. Emericus. Widowed, she entered the Niedernburg monastery and became a nun. Gisela was declared Blessed in 1975. Let us pray for her canonization. She is considered a pillar of Christianity in Hungary. Gisela is commemorated on May 7.
Biography of Blessed Gisela of Hungary
Gisela was born in Bavaria around 985. She was a Germanic princess, daughter of Henry the Quarreler, Duke of Bavaria, and Gisela of Burgundy. She was also the sister of the future emperor Henry II, of the future bishop of Augsburg, Bruno, and of a little Brigitte, who was born after her.
During her childhood, Gisela received a very good Christian education, notably from Bishop Wolfgang of Regensburg, confessor and advisor to the ducal court in Bavaria. In August 995, Henry the Quarreler died. Henry II succeeded him as Duke of Bavaria. Gisela was immediately betrothed to Stephen I, future King of Hungary. The latter had been baptized in 985 by Bishop Adalbert of Prague. Gisela was only ten years old.
At the end of 995 (or the beginning of 996),Stephen and Gisela were married. This union was not without certain concessions from the Hungarians. They ceded southwestern Greater Moravia and the Vienna Basin (which became part of the Margraviate of Austria, a historic region of the Holy Roman Empire). They also agreed to the evangelization of their country. In exchange, Bavaria promised peace.
In 997, Stephen became Grand Prince of Hungary. Around 1001, he received the insignia of the Kingdom of Hungary from Pope Sylvester II, through the abbot of the Brevnov monastery, Asteric, and with the support of Emperor Otto III.
Gisela gave Stephen his first two sons, probably named Otton and Stephen. They died very young, however, and the sources that mention them are late and therefore imprecise. On the other hand, more is known about the younger son, Prince Emeric of Hungary, who was to become a saint.
Gisela and her husband were active in the evangelization of their country. She was gentle and charitable, radiating the love of Christ. She led a pious life and even founded Hungary's first bishopric, in Veszprém.
In 1038, she was widowed. Her nephew, Pierre, succeeded Stephen I. Unfortunately, he turned out to be tyrannical and wicked. Gisela was arrested on his orders and stripped of her possessions. She left Hungary in 1042 and returned to her native Bavaria. She then retired to the Benedictine abbey of Niedernburg, in the town of Passau. Here she took the veil. Gisela died on May 7, probably in 1060, in Passau. Her tomb became a popular place of pilgrimage.
Spiritual advice from Blessed Gisela to her son, Saint Emericus
"Observe indulgent conduct not only with relatives and princes, but also towards strangers and all those who come to you. "
Prayer for the intercession of Blessed Gisela of Hungary
"The Apostle Paul confided: "It is for me to know Christ, to commune with the sufferings of his Passion, with the hope of attaining resurrection from the dead", and Blessed Gisela shared this experience.
A moment of silence
At her prayer, let us ask the Lord for firmness in our faith and hope in our resurrection, for if through baptism "we have been united to him by a death that resembles his, we shall also be united to him by a resurrection that resembles his".
Continue your prayer with Blessed Gisela of Hungary thanks to Hozana!
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