Hellweger studied under Heinrich Maria von Hess at the Academy in Munich. Following a short visit to Italy, he assisted Peter von Cornelius on the Ludwigkirche frescoes.

In 1851 he settled in Tirol. This commision from Rhodes is typical of his work of the period, comparable to his master work Worship of the Mother of God by Saint Aloysius of 1861, in the Kloster der Heimsuchung Mariä zu Thurnfeld, Innsbruck.