St. Elizabeth of Hungary

November 17, 2004

Today we remember St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Elizabeth had an interesting, if short life. She was born in Hungary (hence the name) in 1207 and died just 24 years later. Her father was King Andrew II. Her brother would succeed his father, becoming King Bela IV.

In 1211, an embassy from Thuringia, which was part of present-day Germany, came to Hungary to arrange a marriage for Elizabeth and Herman, who was the heir to the Thuringian throne. Elizabeth was four years old. A short time later she was taken to Thuringia to be brought up with her future husband.

The court of Thuringia must have been quite a place. It was known for its magnificence. In spite of this, little Liz was a very religious child who liked to pray and make small acts of self-mortification. In 1213, when Elizabeth was only 6, her mother was murdered. In 1216, she was only 9 years old, her fiancé died. Imagine losing your fiancé when you’re in the 4^th grade.

Not to worry, Hermann had a brother, Ludwig. She was betrothed to him. On the rebound at 9 years old.

Hermann and Ludwig’s father ran into some trouble and was excommunicated from the Church, lost his mind, and died in 1217. Elizabeth was still only ten. Things happened fast in the 13^th century. Hermann took over his dad’s throne and in 1221, at age 14, Elizabeth became his wife. Ludwig was 21.

Ludwig was a good man and a good husband. The couple were devoted to one another. He gave his protection to her acts of charity, her penance, and her vigils. He was also a good ruler and soldier.

The couple had three children, a son Hermann, Jr, who died at age 19; a daughter Sophia; and a daughter Gertrude, who was born just weeks after her father’s death.

In the spring of 1226, floods, famine and pests were all over Thuringia. Hermann was in Italy at the Diet of Cremona. While he was gone, Elizabeth took over. Remember, she was still only 19. She distributed alms, even giving state robes and ornaments to the poor. She built a hospital under the castle with 28 beds and visited the patients daily. She helped 900 poor each day. When Ludwig came home, he confirmed everything that she had done.

The following year, Hermann went off on a crusade to Palestine. He died on September 11 from what the Catholic Encyclopedia calls “the pest”. The news didn’t make it back to Elizabeth until October, just after she had given birth to Gertrude. She cried out “The world with all its joys is now dead to me.”

I’m going to stop here for just a minute. I think most of you know my daughter, Megan. Actually, it’s Megan Elizabeth. She’ll be 19 in February, almost as old as St. Elizabeth at this point in the story. Megan is an incredibly strong little girl. (I know, she doesn’t think she’s a little girl, but I do). Anyway, she fought, and won a battle with a terrible illness when she was just 12 years old. It was a miracle. I know she had God’s help, and I have to think that St. Elizabeth must have had a hand it, too.

St. Elizabeth was a strong little girl, too. By age 20, she had given birth to three children and lost her mother and her husband. No wonder she thought the world and al its joys were dead to her.

In 1221, the Franciscans showed up in Germany for the first time. Brother Rodeger, one of the first Germans received into the Franciscan order was Elizabeth’s spiritual instructor. He taught her the ideals of St. Francis. With her help, Rodeger founded a monastery.

The Bishop of Bamberg, Elizabeth’s uncle, tried to arrange another marriage for Elizabeth but she and Hermann had made a vow that if one of them died, the other would not remarry. This all happened when she was just 20 years old. She received her inheritance from Hermann’s estate in 1228. She gave part of the money to the poor and on Good Friday of that year, she renounced the world. She joined the Third Order of St. Francis. That summer, she built a Franciscan hospital and dedicated herself entirely to the care of the sick, especially those suffering from the most loathsome diseases. Elizabeth ruined her own health and died at the age of 24.

I mentioned that I thought St. Elizabeth must have had a hand in the miracle of Megan’s recovery. Almost immediately after her death, miracles began to occur at Elizabeth’s gravesite, especially miracles of healing. At Pentacost in 1235, just 4 years after her death, she was canonized as “the greatest woman of the German middle ages” by Pope Gregory IX.

St. Elizabeth, Pray for us.