Thursday, November 19, 2009

Elizabeth of Hungary

Commemoration of Elizabeth of Hungary
November 19, 2009

The Lord be with you

Elizabeth of Hungary was born in Pressburg, Hungary, in 1207, the daughter of King Andrew II and his wife, Gerturde. Given as a bride in an arranged political marriage, Elizabeth became the wife of Louis of Thuringia in Germany at age fourteen. She had a spirit of Christian generosity and charity, and the home she established for her husband and three children in the Wartburg Castle at Eisenach was known for its hospitality and family love. Elizabeth often supervised the care of the sick and needy and at one time even gave up her bed to a leper. Widowed at the age of twenty, she made provisions for her children and entered into an austere life as a nun in the Order of Saint Francis. Her self-denial led to failing health and an early death in 1231 at age twenty-four. She is remembered for her self-sacrificing ways and is commemorated through the many hospitals named for her around the world.

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert

3 comments:

  1. Interesting--I'd never heard od St. Elizabeth. I looked her up and she supposedly performed a miracle with bread and roses (though Wikipedia doubts the validity of the claim) ;-)

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  2. It does seem unlikely, but that is why the statue of her in the picture has roses in her apron.

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  3. It must have been hard to give up her children.

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