Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
Feast day: November 17
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a princess who served the poor; her bread turned into roses (17/11)
Who is she?
Saint Elizabeth was a princess, the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary. She was a wife and a mother, and when her husband died, she gave her life to serving the poor. She belonged to the Franciscan Third Order and died when she was only 24.
Life story
Elizabeth was born in 1207. When she was only four, she was taken to Thuringia, now part of Germany, so that she could later marry the son of the ruler there. At 14, she married Ludwig. The two of them loved each other very much, prayed together and had three children.
Living at Wartburg Castle, she did not just sit among silks and velvets. She often went down herself to feed the hungry and to visit and care for the sick. According to tradition, she once hid bread in the fold of her cloak to take to the poor. Someone stopped her and asked what she was carrying; when she opened her cloak, the bread had turned into roses.
One year there was a famine, and she opened her family’s grain stores to give food to the people, and had a hospital built at the foot of the castle. Her husband supported these works of charity.
In 1227, her husband set out on a crusade and died of illness on the way. Elizabeth was heartbroken. Not long after, she left the castle and joined the Franciscan Third Order, people who live the spirit of Saint Francis in everyday life. She used what was left of her wealth to found a hospital in Marburg and cared for the sick with her own hands, including the very sick whom everyone avoided.
A few years later, she became seriously ill and died on 17 November 1231, only 24 years old. Just four years later, in 1235, she was canonized.
Why is she a saint?
Saint Elizabeth understood that the riches God gives are meant to be shared. She saw Jesus in the poor and the sick, and served them with her own hands. Whether as a princess or after she had become poor, she was always cheerful and trusted God.
A lesson for you
- Give some of the toys, clothes and books you no longer use to children who are poor.
- When someone at home is sick, help take care of them: bring them water, ask how they are, pray for them.
- Give cheerfully, because God loves a cheerful giver (cf. 2 Cor 9:7).
Identifying marks
- A fold of her cloak holding bread and roses: according to legend, when she was secretly carrying bread to the poor and was asked what she had, the bread in her cloak turned into roses.
- A small crown and a fine cloak: she was a princess of Hungary, but she used her riches to serve the poor.
- Wartburg Castle on a hill: where she lived as the wife of the ruler of Thuringia, and where she gave out bread to the hungry.
- A basket of bread, a water jug, or a poor person kneeling beside her (*): she fed the hungry and cared for the sick.
(*) Only in some pictures and statues.
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