Archduchess Magdalena and her younger sister Margaret had long expressed a desire to remain unmarried and create a community of pious women, which their father had a difficult time accepting. After his death in 1564, Magdalena took a vow of celibacy and founded the Ladies' Convent of Hall (Haller Damenstift) in Hall in Tirol, County of Tyrol, a place for like-minded women to lead a reclusive, pious and God-fearing lives under the supervision of the Society of Jesus.
She became the first abbess of the new convent where she was joined by her younger sisters Archduchesses Margaret (1536–1567) and Archduchess Helena of Austria (1543–1574).[3][4] Magdalena died on 10 September 1590 at the age of 58 after a short sickness. She was buried in the Jesuit Church (Jesuitenkirche) in Hall in Tirol. In 1706, her remains were transferred to the church of the convent.
Veneration
Magdalena's cause was formally opened on 23 August 1905, granting her the title of Servant of God. Her spiritual writings were approved by theologians on 10 June 1914. She was later granted the title of Venerable.[5]
^Harald Tersch: Österreichische Selbstzeugnisse des Spätmittelalters und der frühen Neuzeit (1400–1650). Böhlau ed, Vienna 1998, p. 261.
^Johann Jacob Staffler: Tirol und Vorarlberg: in 2 Theilen. Tirol und Vorarlberg, statistisch : mit geschichtlichen Bemerkungen. vol. 1, Rauch, 1839, p. 512.
^Index ac status causarum beatificationis servorum dei et canonizationis beatorum (in Latin). Typis polyglottis vaticanis. January 1953. p. 139.
^Boureau, Alain (1995). The Lord's First Night: The Myth of the Droit de Cuissage. Translated by Cochrane, Lydia G. The University of Chicago Press. p. 96.
^Noubel, P., ed. (1877). Revue de l'Agenais [Review of the Agenais]. Vol. 4. Société académique d'Agen. p. 497.
Generations are numbered by male-line descent from Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor. Later generations are included although Austrian titles of nobility were abolished and outlawed in 1919.
