Feast Day Of St. Elizabeth Of Hungary

Nederlands: Sint Elisabethskerk in Grave, The Netherlands - Elisabeth 5

The feast day of Elizabeth was yesterday, November 19, but I ran out of time to post. Like St. Margaret of Scotland, Elizabeth is another model of compassionate royalty. Her royal spouse joined her in her sympathy for and desire to help the poor and sick. She began her good works while she was still in her teenage years, influenced by the example of St. Francis of Assisi.

From the Catholic Encyclopedia:

Also called St. Elizabeth of Thuringia, born in Hungary, probably at Pressburg, 1207; died at Marburg, Hesse, 17 November (not 19 November), 1231.

She was a daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary (1205-35) and his wife Gertrude....

From Wiki:

At the age of four, Elisabeth was betrothed to Louis IV of Thuringia, called the Blessed.
....

In 1221, at the age of 14, Elisabeth married Louis, and the marriage appears to have been happy. In 1223, Franciscan monks 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 (without being canonized by the Church, unlike his wife).

She became a widow at the age of twenty, when her husband died of the plague while on the Sixth Crusade. She took a vow of celibacy and placed herself under the discipline of a harsh spiritual director, inquisitor, Konrad von Marburg, who sometimes administered beatings as punishments, when she did not follow his directives. (Appalling! Imagine having an inquisitor as a spiritual director.) Elizabeth died young, at the age of 24.

The many hospitals named St. Elizabeth are named after this saint, not, as many believe, after the mother of Mary,

Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God,
who made heaven and earth,
the sea, and all that is in them;
who keeps faith for ever;
who executes justice for the oppressed;
who gives food to the hungry.

Psalm 146:5-7

Information not in quotes and image also from Wiki.

From the Lectionary

READINGS:

Psalm 146:4-9 or 112:1-9
Tobit 12:6b-9
Matthew 25:31-40 or Luke 12:32-34

PRAYER

Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.