Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
| St. Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F. | |
|---|---|
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| Widow and religious | |
| Born |
7 July 1207 Pozsony, Kingdom of Hungary (modern-day Bratislava, Slovakia) |
| Died | 17 November 1231 (aged 24) Marburg, Landgraviate of Thuringia, Holy Roman Empire (modern-day Hesse, Germany) |
| Venerated in |
Roman Catholic Church Anglican Church Lutheran Church |
| Canonized | 27 May 1235, Perugia, Italy by Pope Gregory IX |
| Major shrine |
St. Elizabeth Church, Marburg, Germany |
| Feast | 17 November 19 November (General Roman Calendar 1670-1969) |
| Attributes | Roses, crown, food basket |
| Patronage | hospitals, nurses, bakers, brides, countesses, dying children, exiles, homeless people, lace-makers, widows and the Third Order of St. Francis |
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, T.O.S.F. (German: Heilige Elisabeth von Thüringen, Hungarian: Árpád-házi Szent Erzsébet, 7 July 1207 – 17 November 1231), also known as Saint Elizabeth of Thuringia, was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary, Landgravine of Thuringia, Germany, and a greatly venerated Catholic saint who was an early member of the Third Order of St. Francis, by which she is honored as its patroness. Elizabeth was married at the age of 14, and widowed at 20. After her husband's death she sent her children away and regained her dowry, using the money to build a hospital where she herself served the sick. She became a symbol of Christian charity after her death at the age of 24 and was quickly canonized.
Elizabeth was the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania. Her mother's sister was St. Hedwig of Andechs, wife of Duke Heinrich I of Silesia. Her ancestry included many notable figures of European royalty, going back as far as Vladimir the Great of Kievan Rus. According to tradition, she was born in Kingdom of Hungary, possibly in the castle of Sárospatak (see further for discussion), on 7 July 1207.
A sermon printed in 1497 by the Franciscan friar Osvaldus de Lasco, a church official in Hungary, is the first to name Sárospatak as the saint's birthplace, perhaps building on local tradition. The veracity of this account is not without reproach: Osvaldus also transforms the miracle of the roses (see below) to Elizabeth's childhood in Sárospatak, and has her leave Hungary at the age of five.
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