Saint
c. 660-680 - c. 718, Salzburg
The founding abbess of Nonnberg Abbey, the oldest continuously inhabited convent north of the Alps. Saint Rupert of Salzburg, her uncle and the founding father of Salzburg, established the abbey for her around 714 AD. Erentrudis led it as its first head. The convent has been continuously occupied by Benedictine nuns ever since, making it one of the most remarkable unbroken threads of religious life anywhere in Europe.
Visitors to Nonnberg Abbey today walk through a community that stretches back directly to Erentrudis. She is venerated as the abbey’s founding patron.
Locations
Founded c. 712 AD
Nonnberg Abbey has been a working convent since around 714, making it the oldest continuously operating women's monastery north of the Alps. That is not a tourist claim. The nuns are still there, and they open the church for visitors in the mornings, though the convent itself stays closed.
