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Today the Church celebrates the memorial of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, religious. She was the daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary, and wife of Duke Louis IV of Thuringia. She is famous for her great kindness and inexhaustible charity towards the poor and the sick. November 19 is the feast day of St. Elizabeth of Hungary in the Extraordinary Form.

According to the 1962 Missal of Bl. John XXIII the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, today is the feast of St. Gregory the Wonderworker, bishop and confessor. According to the Ordinary Form, St. Gregory's memorial is celebrated on September 3.

St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth was the daughter of the Hungarian King Andrew II. At the age of four (b. 1207), she was brought to the court of her future husband, Ludwig, landgrave of Thuringia. After her marriage in 1221, she very conscientiously fulfilled her duties both toward her husband and as a servant of God. During the night she would rise from bed and spend long periods in prayer. Zealously she performed all types of charitable acts; she put herself at the service of widows, orphans, the sick, the needy. During a famine she generously distributed all the grain from her stocks, cared for lepers in one of the hospitals she established, kissed their hands and feet. For the benefit of the indigent she provided suitable lodging.

After the early death of her husband (in 1227 while on a crusade led by Emperor Frederick II), Elizabeth laid aside all royal dignities in order to serve God more freely. She put on simple clothing, became a tertiary of St. Francis, and showed great patience and humility. Nor was she spared intense suffering -- the goods belonging to her as a widow were withheld, she was forced to leave Wartburg. In Eisenach no one dared receive her out of fear of her enemies. Upon much pleading a shepherd of the landgrave permitted her to use an abandoned pig sty. No one was allowed to visit or aid her; with her three children, of whom the youngest was not more than a few months old, she was forced to wander about in the winter's cold.

In 1228 she took the veil of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis at Marburg and there built a hospital with some property still belonging to her. She retained for herself only a small mud house. All her strength and care were now devoted to the poor and the sick, while she obtained the few things she needed by spinning. Young in years but rich in good works, she slept in the Lord in 1231, only twenty-four years old.

Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch

Patron: Bakers; beggars; brides; Catholic charities; charitable societies; charitable workers; charities; countesses; death of children; exiles; falsely accused people; Franciscan Third Order; hoboes; homeless people; hospitals; in-law problems; lacemakers; lace workers; nursing homes; nursing services; people in exile; people ridiculed for their piety; Sisters of Mercy; tertiaries; Teutonic Knights; toothache; tramps; widows.

Symbols: Three crowns (virgin, wife, widow); triple crown; roses; basket of bread and flask of wine; roses in a robe; infant in a cradle; model of a hospital or of Warburg castle; distaff.
Often Portrayed As: Queen distributing alms; Woman wearing a crown and tending to beggars; Woman wearing a crown, carrying a load of roses in her apron or mantle.

Things to Do:

• St. Elizabeth's daughter, St. Gertrude of Thuringia and her relatives Hedwig of Silesia, Agnes of Bohemia, Margaret of Hungary, Cunigund of Poland and Elizabeth of Portugal, were drawn to holiness through her example. Pray for the salvation and sanctity of your relatives.

• Love for the poor is characteristic of every genuine follower of Christ, those lacking the truth are the poorest of the poor, spend some time on a regular basis studying your faith (by reading or taking a home study course) so that you will be prepared to feed those who are hungry for the truth.

• Teach your children the Corporal and Spiritual Works of Mercy and give them practical examples.

• Have your children help you bake bread like St. Elizabeth and distribute some to your neighbors.

• St. Elizabeth is the patroness of the Franciscan Third Order (tertiary) and of all Catholic Charities. Find out more about what a third order is, particularly the Franciscan Third Order.

• See Nameday Ideas for St. Elizabeth, including dessert and symbols and prayers.

• Follow these links for some wonderful works of art of St. Elizabeth:
  
  • Anonymous Sienese medallion (XIV Century): St. Elizabeth of Hungary
    
  • Collinson, James: St. Elizabeth of Hungary
    
  • Martini, Simone: St. Clare and St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
    
  • Martini, Simone: St. Elizabeth, St. Margaret and Henry of Hungary