#st elizabeth of hungary
St. Elizabeth, who gave without reserve to those in need, pray for us, that we too might serve our brothers and sisters with generous hearts.
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The roses on Elizabeth’s dress represent the Miracle of the Roses attributed to her. One day, Elizabeth was secretly carrying bread to the poor when she was stopped by a relative—sometimes identified as her husband, other times her brother-in-law—who, thinking she was stealing from the castle, demanded to see what she hid beneath her cloak. When she opened it, God had miraculously transformed the bread into roses. Her charitable work continued.
Whether or not this story is true, Elizabeth’s life is an example to us of generosity and service. She did not regard her noble status as an excuse to ignore the suffering of others, and she used her own wealth, including her dowry money, to care for the poor and the sick, and even to build a hospital, which she herself worked in.
“Man is created to praise, reverence, and serve God Our Lord, and by this means to save his soul. The other things on the face of the Earth are created for man to help him in attaining the end for which he was created. Hence, man is to make use of them insofar as they help him in the attainment of his end, and he must rid himself of them insofar as they prove a hindrance to him. Therefore, we must make ourselves indifferent to all created things.” - St. Ignatius Loyola, First Principle and Foundation.
Image: “Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary” (detail) by Edmund Blair Leighton
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HOW COULD WE BEAR A CROWN OF GOLD? | Mary Sullivan
How could I bear a crown of gold
when the Lord bears a crown of thorns?
And bears it for me!
— St Elizabeth of Hungary
A Gothic reliquary (1344) containing relics of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, from the Museo Nicolaiano in Bari.
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