HELICA, ABBESS

Helica, also called Heilika, Heilke, [Helga, Hilke] was the aunt of Saint Henry II (Heinrich II) and first abbess of the Niedernburg monastery in Passau, which he restored. His sister, the godly widow Gisela, Queen of Hungary, later joined this nunnery. She eventually became Helica's successor as abbess. According to Hund (Metr. Salisb. II. 403),* Helica died in 1020 and is buried next to her niece Gisela in the monastery church there.

(Information from Stadler's Complete Encyclopedia of Saints, Volume 2, Augsburg, 1861, p. 623)

*A hagiography source used by the authors

Sources of these articles (in the original German): books.google.co.uk, de-academic.com, zeno.org, openlibrary.org