Archduchess Magdalena of Austria

Archduchess Magdalena of Austria

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Archduchess Magdalena of Austria (German: Margarethe von Österreich-Habsburg) (August 14, 1532 in Innsbruck – September 10, 1590 in Hall in Tirol)^[1] was a member of the House of Habsburg, and the founder and first abbess of the convent in Hall in Tirol.

Biography

Magdalena was the fourth daughter of fifteen children of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor, and his wife Anne of Bohemia and Hungary.

During the lifetime of her father had expressed to Archduchess Magdalena and her younger sister Margaret the desire to remain unmarried and create a community of pious women. After her father's death in 1564, Magdalena took the vow of celibacy, and set out to found a "royal convent" in Hall in Tirol, where like-minded women - both aristocratic and bourgeois - could lead a reclusive, pious and God-fearing life under the supervision of the Jesuits.

Magdalena died in 1590 after a short sickness. She was buried in the Jesuit church in Hall in Tirol. In 1706, her remains were transferred to the convent church.

References