Gisela of Bavaria

This memorial is a Cenotaph. Her original memorial Gisela von Bayern Gisela also known as Blessed Gisela of Hungary, was born about 985 and died on May 7, 1065. She was a Hungarian Roman Catholic saint, and the first queen consort of Hungary as the spouse of Saint Stephen of Hungary. Gisela was a daughter of Henry II, Duke of Bavaria and Gisela of Burgundy. She married King Stephen I of Hungary in 995 as a part of Hungary's policy of opening up to the West. The couple had a son, Saint Emeric. She lived a respectable life and helped Christianize the Hungarian people. After the death of her husband Stephen, she was forced to leave Hungary. She lived in the nunnery of Niedernburg in Passau, where she died. Her grave is a well-known holy place. Her canonisation was attempted in the 18th century but failed. She was declared Blessed in 1975. Her memorial days are May 7 and February 1. Gisela and her husband were not buried together, and nearly a thousand years later on the weekend of May 4, 1996 their bodies as well as their spirits were reunited. They preserved the remains of King Stephen's right hand and it was brought back together with a bone taken from the arm of Gisela. Both are now safely protected in glass and gold cases and are now displayed in the basilica in the western town of Veszprém, where Gisela once lived.