A Christian woman has reportedly been stabbed in Austria in an asylum seeker residence after a migrant overheard her reading from the Bible.

The Metro newspaper reports that a 22-year-old man became angry after hearing the woman, aged 50, read from the Bible, and proceeded to stab her in the chest.

She was protected from serious injury by her winter coat, although the force from the blow caused her to fall backwards, injuring her ear. 

The attack took place in the kitchen of an accommodation for asylum seekers in Timelkam in Voecklamarkt in Upper Austria, where the unnamed woman and her husband had been invited by Christian residents to discuss the Bible.

The Metro reports that the man told police he was suffering from "personal problems" and is now being held in Wels Prison in Upper Austria, around 22 miles away from the residence. 

The attack comes at a time of nervousness across Europe around the issue of migration as the region has seen an influx of migrants from Syria and Iraq in recent years.  

Austria recently said it would cap the asylum threshold in 2017 at 35,000 after taking in 90,000 asylum seekers in 2015.   

Germany's Angela Merkel in particular has faced a backlash against her 'open door' policy.  Feelings were heightened again after the shocking rape-murder of 19-year-old medical student Maria Ladenburger in Freiburg in October last year.  An Afghan asylum seeker was arrested in connection with the murder in December.

In a touching memorial notice for their daughter in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, her parents wrote: "Maria was for 19 years a singular ray of sunshine for our family, and that she will remain.  We thank God for this gift, that he made you with us. We are sure that she is safe with him."

The issue of migration is closely connected to concerns around security, as western European nations struggle to deal with an unprecedented wave of terrorist attacks.  Last month, an ISIS-inspired terrorist drove a truck into a busy Christmas market in Berlin, killing 12. 

In July 2016, two Islamic State militants stormed a church in Rouen, northern France, and murdered the priest, Fr Jacques Hamel, in front of horrified congregants.