Portal:Catholicism/Patron Archive/November 17
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St. Elisabeth of Hungary (German: St. Elisabeth von Thüringen, Hungarian: Szent Erzsébet, 7 July 1207 – 19 November 1231) spent most of her short life in Germany. She was born in Sárospatak, Kingdom of Hungary on 7 July 1207. At age 4, the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary (1175–1235) and Gertrude of Andechs-Merania was brought to the court of the Rulers of Thuringia in Central Germany, to become a future bride in order to reinforce political alliances between the families. Elisabeth was married at the age of 14, widowed at 20, relinquished her wealth to the poor, built hospitals, and became a symbol of Christian charity in Germany and elsewhere after her death at the age of 24.
Her mother sent the infant Elisabeth to Germany to grow up there in order to assure her loyalty and the acceptance by the locals there.
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).
It was also about this time that the inquisitor Konrad von Marburg — a harsh man and a true product of his age — gained considerable power over Elizabeth as he became her religious advisor and confessor.
In the spring of 1226, when floods, famine, and plague wrought havoc in Thuringia, Louis, a staunch supporter of the Hohenstaufen Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, represented Frederick II at the Reichstag (Imperial Diet) in Cremona. Elisabeth assumed control of affairs and distributed alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away state robes and ornaments to the poor. Below the Wartburg Castle, she built a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates daily to attend to them.
Elisabeth's life changed irrevocably on 11 September 1227 when Louis, en route to join the Sixth Crusade, died of the plague in Otranto, Italy. His remains were buried in 1228.
With Ludwig's death, his brother Heinrich Raspe of Thuringia assumed the regency during the minority of Elisabeth's eldest child, Landgrave Hermann II, Landgraf of Thuringia (1222–1241).
After bitter arguments over the disposal of her dower, in which Konrad had been appointed as her defensor by Pope Gregory IX, Elisabeth left the court at Wartburg and moved to Marburg in Hesse. The popular tradition is that she was cast out by Heinrich, but this does not stand up to critical examination.
Following her husband's death, Elisabeth made solemn vows to Konrad, similar to those of a nun. These vows included celibacy (which prevented her from becoming the wife of Emperor Frederick), as well as obedience to Konrad as her confessor and spiritual advisor. Konrad's treatment of Elisabeth was extremely harsh, and he held her to standards of behaviour which were almost impossible to meet. Among the punishments he is alleged to have ordered were physical beatings and separation from her three children.
After unsuccessful attempts to force her to remarry, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis, a lay Franciscan group, and built a hospital at Marburg for the poor and the sick.
In 1231, Elisabeth died in Marburg at only 24 years of age, either from physical exhaustion due to Konrad's treatment, or from disease.
Attributes: Crown, Roses, Tending to Beggers
Patronage: hospitals, nurses, bakers, brides, countesses, , dying children, exiles, homeless people, lacemakers, tertiaries and widows
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