St. Elizabeth of Hungary

9 St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231)

In her short life Elizabeth manifested such great love for the poor and suffering that she has become the patroness of Catholic charities and of the Secular Franciscan Order. The daughter of the King of Hungary, Elizabeth chose a life of penance and asceticism when a life of leisure and luxury could easily have been hers. This choice endeared her in the hearts of the common people throughout Europe. At the age of 14 Elizabeth was married to Louis of Thuringia (a German principality), whom she deeply loved; she bore three children. Under the spiritual direction of a Franciscan friar, she led a life of prayer, sacrifice and service to the poor and sick. Seeking to become one with the poor, she wore simple clothing. Daily she would take bread to hundreds of the poorest in the land, who came to her gate. After six years of marriage, her husband died in the Crusades, and she was grief-stricken. Her husband’s family looked upon her as squandering the royal purse, and mistreated her, finally throwing her out of the palace. The return of her husband’s allies from the Crusades resulted in her being reinstated, since her son was legal heir to the throne. In 1228 Elizabeth joined the Secular Franciscan Order, spending the remaining few years of her life caring for the poor in a hospital which she founded in honor of St. Francis. Elizabeth’s health declined, and she died before her 24th birthday in 1231. Her great popularity resulted in her canonization four years later. Comment: Elizabeth understood well the lesson Jesus taught when he washed his disciples' feet at the Last Supper: The Christian must be one who serves the humblest needs of others, even if one serves from an exalted position. Of royal blood, Elizabeth could have lorded it over her subjects. Yet she served them with such a loving heart that her brief life won for her a special place in the hearts of many. Elizabeth is also an example to us in her following the guidance of a spiritual director. Growth in the spiritual life is a difficult process. We can play games very easily if we don't have someone to challenge us or to share experiences so as to help us avoid pitfalls. Quote: "Today, there is an inescapable duty to make ourselves the neighbor of every individual, without exception, and to take positive steps to help a neighbor whom we encounter, whether that neighbor be an elderly person, abandoned by everyone, a foreign worker who suffers the injustice of being despised, a refugee, an illegitimate child wrongly suffering for a sin of which the child is innocent, or a starving human being who awakens our conscience by calling to mind the words of Christ: 'As long as you did it for one of these, the least of my brethren, you did it for me' (Matthew 25:40)" (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World, 27, Austin Flannery translation).

(This entry appears in the print edition of Saint of the Day.) Elizabeth of Hungary has been a favorite Saint of mine since I was in college. I was considering becoming a Sister and sending away for information on different communities. The one which interested me the most was the Franciscan Sisters of Saint Elizabeth-or FSSE. And I was very curious which St. Elizabeth it was. I already knew about two Saints by that name-Mother Seton and the mother of John the Baptist. While dusting the bookshelves at the college library I found a book on a St. Elizabeth of Hungary. I wrote to the vocation director of the FSSE's to ask them which St. Elizabeth it was. It was Elizabeth of Hungary. Ever since I found out about her, I admired her for her life of voluntary poverty and caring for the poor and sick during her final years. The way she was treated by her husband's family reminded me of the way St. Francis was treated by his father for his generosity. I see a lot of St. Francis in her. During Father's Confirmation class I've heard him mention both a St. Elizabeth of Hungary and a St. Elizabeth of Portugal. I told him about my interest in religious life-especially this particular community. Since Father has the initials FSSP after his name I mentioned that I could have had a similar set of initials after mine. In fact, I've caught myself many times typing out "FSSE" instead of "FSSP" when referring to the priests of his community and having to hit the backspace bar to correct it. What a small world!