Saint of November 17, let us pray to Elizabeth of Hungary, her story

Tomorrow, Wednesday 17 November, the Catholic Church commemorates the Princess Elizabeth of Hungary.

The life of Princess Elizabeth of Hungary is short and intense: engaged at 4, married at 14, mother at 15, saint at 28. A life that might seem like a fairy tale, but has its roots in the history of her time and faith.

Born in 1207 by King Andrew II, near present-day Budapest, Elizabeth died at the age of 24, on November 17, 1231, just 5 years after the death of Saint Francis. Her Conrad of Marburg he will write to the Pope: “In addition to these works in favor of the poor, I say before God that I have rarely seen such a contemplative woman; returning from the secluded place where she went to pray, she was seen several times with a resplendent face, while her eyes came out like two rays of the sun ”.

The husband Louis IV died in Otranto waiting to embark with Frederick II is preferably used for crusade in the Holy Land. Elizabeth had three children. After the firstborn Ermanno two little girls were born: Sofia e Gertrude, the latter given birth already fatherless.

On the death of her husband, Elizabeth retired to Eisenach, then to the castle of Pottenstein to finally choose a modest house in Marburg as a residence where she had a hospital built at her own expense, reducing herself to poverty. Enrolled in the Franciscan Third Order, she offered her whole self to the least, visiting the sick twice a day, becoming a beggar and always taking on the humblest tasks. Her choice of poverty unleashed the anger of her brothers-in-law who came to deprive her of their children. She died in Marburg, Germany on November 17, 1231. She was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1235.

Prayer to Princess Elizabeth of Hungary

O Elizabeth,
young and holy,
bride, mother and queen,
voluntarily poor in goods,
You have been,
in the footsteps of Francis,
firstfruits of those called
to live by God in the world
to enrich it with peace, with justice
and love for the dispossessed and the excluded.
The testimony of your life
remains as light for Europe
to follow the paths of true good
of every man and of all men.
Please implore us
from the Incarnate and Crucified Christ,
to which you have faithfully conformed,
intelligence, courage, industriousness and credibility,
like real builders
of the kingdom of God in the world.
Amen