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Saint Elizabeth of Hungary.
Feast Day 19 November.
Widow.
Double.
White Vestments.
English: Saint Elizabeth Church, Budapest, Hungary.
English: The statue of Saint Elizabeth,
with the Church in the background.
Photo: 19 June 2008.
Source: Made by Pasztilla.
(Wikimedia Commons)
A statue showing the Miracle of the Roses,
in the Rose Garden, in front of the Neo-Gothic Church
dedicated to Saint Elizabeth,
at Roses' Square (Rózsák tere),
between 21 December 1867 - 12 November 1918.
zászlaja 1867. december 21. és 1918. november 12. között.
Date: 6 August 2008.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Elizabeth of Hungary,
Third Order Of Saint Francis (T.O.S.F.), (
German:
Heilige Elisabeth von Thüringen,
Hungarian:
Árpád-házi Szent Erzsébet), 7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231, was a Princess of the
Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of
Thuringia,
Germany, and a greatly-venerated Catholic Saint.
Elizabeth was married at the age of fourteen, and widowed at twenty. After her husband's death, she sent her children away and regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital, where she served the sick. She became a symbol of Christian Charity, after her death at the age of twenty-four, and was quickly
Canonised.
Elizabeth was the daughter of King
Andrew II of Hungary and
Gertrude of Merania. Her mother's sister was Saint
Hedwig of Andechs, wife of Duke Heinrich I of Silesia. Her ancestry included many notable figures of European Royalty, going back as far as
Vladimir the Great of
Kievan Rus.
Saint Elizabeth, spinning wool for the poor.
(Wikimedia Commons)
According to tradition, she was born in the Castle of
Sárospatak,
Kingdom of Hungary, on 7 July 1207. According to a different tradition, she was born in
Pozsony,
Kingdom of Hungary (modern-day
Bratislava,
Slovakia), where she lived in the
Castle of Posonium until the age of four.
A Sermon, printed in 1497 by the
Franciscan Friar, Osvaldus de Lasco, a Church official in Hungary, is the first to name
Sárospatak as the Saint's birthplace, perhaps building on local tradition. The veracity of this account is not without reproach: Osvaldus also transforms the
Miracle of the Roses (see below) to Elizabeth's childhood in Sárospatak, and has her leave Hungary at the age of five.
Elizabeth was brought to the Court of the
Rulers of Thuringia, in Central Germany, to become betrothed to
Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, a future bride who would reinforce political alliances between the families. She was raised by the Thuringian Court, so she would be familiar with the local language and culture.
Slovenčina: Svätá Alžbeta umýva žobráka, scéna z hlavného
oltára Dómu svätej Alžbety v Košiciach, 2. polovica 15. storočia.
English: Saint Elizabeth washing a beggar. A 15th-Century scene
from the High Altar of Saint Elisabeth's Cathedral in Košice, Slovakia.
Photo: 23 June 2013.
Source: Own work.
(Wikimedia Commons)
In 1221, at the age of fourteen, Elizabeth married Louis; the same year he was enthroned as
Landgrave Louis IV, and the marriage appears to have been happy. After her marriage, she continued her charitable practices, which included spinning wool for the clothing of the poor. In 1223,
Franciscan Friars arrived, and the teenage Elizabeth not only learned about the ideals of
Francis of Assisi, but started to live them. Louis was not upset by his wife's charitable efforts, believing that the distribution of his wealth to the poor would bring eternal reward; he is venerated in
Thuringia as a Saint, though he was never Canonized by the Church.
It was also about this time that the
Priest and, later,
Inquisitor,
Konrad von Marburg, gained considerable influence over Elizabeth when he was appointed as her
Confessor. In the spring of 1226, when floods, famine, and
plague wrought havoc in Thuringia, Louis, a staunch supporter of the
Hohenstaufen Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, represented Frederick II at the
Imperial Diet held in
Cremona, Italy. Elizabeth assumed control of affairs at home and distributed alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away State Robes and ornaments to the poor. Below
Wartburg Castle, she built a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates, daily, to attend to them.
Elizabeth's life changed irrevocably on 11 September 1227, when Louis,
en route to join the
Sixth Crusade, died of a fever in
Otranto,
Italy. On hearing the news of her husband's death, Elizabeth is reported to have said, "He is dead. He is dead. It is to me as if the whole world died today." His remains were returned to Elizabeth in 1228 and entombed at the
Abbey of
Reinhardsbrunn.
Saint Elizabeth Cathedral,
Košice, Slovakia.
Date: July 2009.
Source: Originally posted to
(Wikimedia Commons)
After her death, Elizabeth was commonly associated with the
Third Order of St. Francis, the primarily
Lay branch of the Franciscan Order, though it is not sure that she actually formally joined them. It must be kept in mind, though, that the Third Order was such a new development in the Franciscan movement, that no one official ritual had been established at that point. Elizabeth clearly had a ceremony of
Consecration, in which she adopted a Franciscan
Religious Habit in her new way of life.
Very soon after the death of Elizabeth, Miracles were reported that happened at her grave in the Church of the hospital, especially those of healing. On the suggestion of Konrad, and by Papal Command, examinations were held of those who had been healed between August 1232 and January 1235. The results of those examinations were supplemented by a brief
vita of the Saint-to-be, and, together with the testimony of Elizabeth's handmaidens and companions (bound in a booklet called the
Libellus de dictis quatuor ancillarum s. Elizabeth confectus), proved sufficient reason for the quick Canonisation of Elizabeth on 27 May 1235 in Perugia, Italy, — no doubt helped along by her family's power and influence. Very soon after her death, hagiographical texts of her life appeared all over Germany, the most famous being
Dietrich of Apolda's
Vita S. Elisabeth, which was written between 1289 and 1297.
English: The Saint Elisabeth Group. Sculpture in wood by Rudolf Moroder,
South Tyrol, Italy. Date: 1900.
Deutsch: Hl. Elisabeth-Gruppe in Holz geschnitzt,
Italiano: Gruppo scultoreo di Santa Elisabetta di Ungheria
scolpito nel legno da Rudolf Moroder,
policromia di Christian Delago del 1900.
Photo: 20 February 2009.
Author: Rudolf Moroder Lenert †1914.
(Wikimedia Commons)
She was
Canonised by
Pope Gregory IX. The
Papal Bull declaring her a Saint is on display in the
Schatzkammer of the
Deutschordenskirche in Vienna, Austria. Her body was laid in a magnificent golden shrine — still to be seen today — in the
Elisabeth Church (Marburg). Her remains were removed and scattered by her own descendant, the
Landgrave Philip I "the Magnanimous" of Hesse, at the time of the
Reformation. It is now a Protestant Church, but has spaces set aside for Catholic worship. Marburg became a centre of the
Teutonic Order, which adopted Saint Elizabeth as its Secondary Patroness. The Order remained in Marburg until its official dissolution by
Napoleon I of France in 1803.
Elizabeth is perhaps best known for her
Miracle of the Roses, which says that, whilst she was taking bread to the poor, in secret, she met her husband, Ludwig, on a hunting party, who, in order to quell suspicions of the gentry that she was stealing treasure from the Castle, asked her to reveal what was hidden under her cloak. In that moment, her cloak fell open and a vision of White and Red Roses could be seen, which proved to Ludwig that God's protecting hand was at work.
The following Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew, King of Hungary, was given in marriage to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia. She had three children, Herman, Sophia, and Gertrude. Her husband, who was a Saint, gave her the most entire liberty for her pious exercises and her Charity.
Like the strong women mentioned in the Epistle, she rose in the night to Pray, lavished Alms on the poor, and spun wool herself to make warm garments for them. What most characterised her was her love for the sick and the lepers, whom she cared for with maternal tenderness.
At her husband's death, wishing to renounce everything to acquire at this price the pearl of Eternal Life (Gospel), she put on a dress of course material and entered the Third Order Of Penance of Saint Francis, where she was noted for her patience and humility.
Her brother-in-law, having succeeded to the title of Landgrave, expelled her with her children from the princely Castle of the Wartburg and she, who was called the mother of the poor, could not find a hospitable roof as a shelter. She died at the age of twenty-four in 1231.
Mass: Cognovi.
