Hildegard of Stein

Saint Hildegard of Stein was born around 910 and reposed on 5 February, probably in 985, at Stein im Jauntal in Carinthia (Austria). She came from the same Bavarian house as Saint Hemma of Gurk, but their exact kinship can no longer be determined; it is known only that they lived at about the same time, Hildegard reaching a much greater age. She was rich in estates.

According to the historian Wilhelm Wegener she was the daughter of Aribo of Leoben, of the wealthy house of the Aribonids. She is known to have been married to Albuin (Alboin or Paul), count palatine of Carinthia, and lived with him in the castle of Prosnitza on the rock high above the Drava, of which nothing remains. After her husband's death, around 975, she gave her son Albuin, later bishop of Brixen, the estate of Stein im Jauntal.

Her relics rest in the Hildegard altar of the parish church at Stein. The Carinthian Slovenes call her Liharda Kamenska and honor her as a "merciful mother"; on the first Sunday of February braided loaves are thrown before the church in her memory. She is commemorated on 6 February, by the Western calendar (new style), as a saint of the undivided Church.