1955 Calendar, St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (Wonderworker) bishop and confessor.
St. Elizabeth was a princess, the daughter of Hungarian King Andrew II. She was only four years old when she was taken to the court of the Landgrave of Thuringia to be raised and eventually betrothed to her future husband Hermann. Elizabeth grew up a very religious child, with a strong inclination to prayer and practices of piety. She was only fourteen when she married Ludwig, after Hermann died. This was a truly happy event, Ludwig and Elizabeth were very devoted to each other. Ludwig proved himself a worthy husband, a very religious man, a good ruler and brave soldier.
He sustained and encouraged Elisabeth’s works of charity and her exemplary, pious way of life. They had three children but in 1227 after only six years of marriage, Ludwig died. This news crushed her, with a newborn in her arms Elisabeth cried out: “The world with all its joys is now dead to me.”
After she arranged for her children care, Elisabeth left the court becoming a tertiary of St. Francis, she was among the first tertiaries of Germany. Elisabeth built the Franciscan hospital at Marburg in 1228 but her health was slowly consumed by her continuous charitable work and she passed away at before her 24th birthday in 1231.
Pope Gregory IX canonized the “greatest woman of the German Middle Ages”, four years later.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary is the patron saint of bakers, beggars, and charitable workers, against toothache, widows, young brides and many others.
“Elizabeth was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castle should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.
Before her death, I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn-out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.”
Fragment from a letter by Conrad of Marburg, spiritual director of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
Image source: The Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary by Edmund Blair Leighton (public domain)
No comments:
Post a Comment