I’d like to highlight occasionally married saints who exemplify so well the dignity and nature of marriage. Today it will be St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
St. Elizabeth was born in 1207 in a castle in northern Hungary. At a very early age of 14 years she was married to Louis of Thuringa, who was 21, and became the mother of three children: Hermann, Sophia and Gertrude who was born shortly after Louis’ death. St. Elizabeth gave herself to her children, her marriage and most noteworthily, to the poor. She gave much of her possessions away to them; she built hospitals and tended to the sick.
Pope Benedict XVI spoke of St. Elizabeth in his weekly audience on October 20, 2010, saying: “Elizabeth’s marriage was profoundly happy; she helped her husband to raise his human qualities to a supernatural level and he, in exchange, stood up for his wife’s generosity to the poor and for her religious practices…. A clear witness to how faith and love of God and neighbors strengthen family life and deepen ever more the matrimonial union.”
St. Elizabeth’s feast day was just last week, November 17. She is the patroness of the Secular Franciscans.
You can read even more of her at: www.newadvent.org/cathen/05389a.htm
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, wife and mother, pray for us!
P.S. There is a movie being released about St. Elizabeth, produced by Tau Cross Media. Look for it and view it. It promises to be an excellent film.
