Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 1.djvu/391

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377
377

ST. HEMMA 377 St. Helis. (See Faith, Hope, and Charity.) St. Hellen, Jolenta. St. Helmetrude, Helimdrude. St. Helmtruth, Heumdrudb. Per- haps HiLTRUDB (2). St. Help of the Hnlfensberg at Eichsfelde, Wilgefortis. St. Helpidia at^ Alexandria, May 2. Mart, Shincmense. St. Helpis, or Elpe, or Ammia. One of the martyrs of Lyons, beheaded, being a Boman citizen. (See Blandina.) B. Helsvind, May 22. Abbess of a Cistercian convent near Aix-la-Chapelle. When she was scarcely nine years old she took the religious habit at St. Saviour's convent, contrary to the wishes of her family. Her father and brothers broke open the doors and carried her off, but after a time the Bishop of Liege com})Glled them by a threat of excom- munication to send her back. She wrought miracles. There is no authority for her worship, but she is called " Blessed " by several writers. Bucelinus. AA.SS., Prseter. B. Helvisa, Feb. 11. + 1034, a recluse near the Benedictine monastery of Coulombs, in Normandy, to which she gave a considerable amount of land, etc. Called "Saint" by some writers. AA.SS. O.S.B., vol. viii. St. Helyade, Helia. St. Hemelaydis, May 23, Herme- lend, sister of Gudula, is so called in Oynecasum, B. Hemelina, or Emeline, Oct. 27. + 1178. Lay-sister at the Cistercian abbey of Bonlancourt, once standing where now is the parish of Valentigny, (Up. de I'Aube. The Cistercians had lay-brothers and lay-sisters who did not live in the cloister but devoted themselves, for the good of the others, to the care of their corn, cattle, etc. B. Hemelina appears to have lived at a grange. She used to spin very indus- triously, meditating all the while on the Psalms. She carried her self-denial and poverty even beyond that prescribed for nuns of the order. She wore an iron chain so tight round her body that the flesh grew over it and hid it. Many persons sent her offerings of food, but she never would taste it. She ordered the crows and ravens to depart from the neighbouring wood because they disturbed her; and they obeyed. Her Life was written by B. Qoswin, a contemporary Cistercian monk of Clairval. AA,SS. St. Hemma. The name of Hemma was common in Germany in the Middle Ages, and several ladies bearing it appear in the records of the times. This has given rise to some confusion in the accounts of those who became famous. We have perhaps four Saints Hemma, but it seems possible that some of them have borrowed honours that belong to one or other of their namesakes: (1) there is a queen of Bavaria in the 9th century ; (2) a landgravine of Carinthia ; (3) a sister of Meinwerk, of Paderborn ; (4) an abbess buried at Hatisbon. Hemma (l), queen of Bavaria, June 28. 9th century. Hepresented teaching ker three children to pray. At their feet lie the three crowns — Germany, Italy, and France — which eventually came severally to her three sons. She was the wife of Louis^ king of Bavaria. She died before him, and was buried at Hatisbon. She was mother of Charles the Fat, who reigned 881-887. Guene- bault, Die, Incon.j gives as his authority Rader's Bavaria Pia, where the illus- tration is as he describes, but she is not thep called " Saint," although described as a holy queen. St. Hemma (2), or Emma, April 19. -t- c. 1040, sister of Meinwerk, bishop of Paderborn, and for forty years the widow of Count Liudger. She gave the whole of her enormous wealth to the poor and to the Church. Her body rests in the church of Bremen in Saxony. Mein- werk was a relation as well as a school- fellow and friend of the Emperor Henry II., and was a good, although not very learned, bishop and ruler, and a fearless reprover of wrong, as appears from many amusing anecdotes in German history of that period. It was perhaps this Hemma, and not the founder of Gurk, who was spoken of as a kinswoman of the emperor, and brought up at his court; but this supposition does not reconcile all the contradictions. AA,SS. St. Hemma (3;, June 29. + 1045.