If we want to speak about a woman who left a mark in the Church and in the whole society, it will be helpful to dive into what has been written about someone so exceptional. Elizabeth of Hungary was born in 1207, in Bratislava, at present in Slovakia, more or less when our father Francisco was repairing the church of San Damiano. When Elizabeth was barely four years old, her father Andrew II gave her hand in marriage to the young Prince Louis of Thuringia and therefore, she had to move to Thuringia, to the Wartburg Castle in Germany, where she grew up with her future husband. They got married in 1220 and their family life was very happy. They got three children: Germán, the heir to the throne, Sofía and Gertrudis. After the sorrowful death of her beloved husband, she was forced to leave Wartburg Castle and she went to Marburg, where she set up a hospital and took care of the sick. On Good Friday 1229, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis and wore its habit. Shortly thereafter, on November 17th 1231, she died at the age of 24 years. Elizabeth was the first canonized Franciscan saint (1235), seven years later than our father Saint Francis (1228).
Although Elizabeth was belonging to an aristocratic family, since her early childhood, she always took care of people of low social class. Throughout her whole life, she experienced many changes, ruptures and great loneliness. She left from her place of birth and began to live in another country having to learn different languages and customs; being still a four-year-old girl, she got engaged (in any case that was quite normal at the time she lived) and being still very young, she lost her mother and, later on, her beloved husband and so she had to leave the castle and to be separated from her children and all that definitely marked her personal and spiritual itinerary. Possibly the fact of losing her mother at a very young age, helped her to develop the characteristics that identify her personality: great sensitivity, humility, mercy and care for the most in need people.
Saint Elizabeth has inspired many artists (painters and sculptors) and her extraordinary personality is reflected in the following traits. Her mercy and love to the extreme are represented, according to the legends, by various paintings: Elizabeth laying down a poor man and when her family, knowing that, removed the blanket, they discovered a crucifix lying down. She was close and attentive to the marginalized world: she founded several hospitals, where she personally cared for, cured and washed the most disgusting patients. Through penance and prayer, Elizabeth developed a deep and intimate relationship with Jesus since her childhood and she grew up establishing a strong relationship with Jesus, throughout her whole life. She was spiritually accompanied by a Franciscan friar who introduced her to the penitent – franciscan life and two years before her death, she wore the habit of the Third Order of Saint Francis.
According to historical data, Elizabeth’s first contact with Saint Francis’ lifestyle occurred being still alive the Poor of Assisi, in 1223, when Pope Honorius approved the Rule of the Franciscan Order.
Lucas de Valdés, a painter of the 17th-18th century, painted the Saint, highlighting very well the characteristics and qualities of this woman: her deep relationship with Christ, her mercy and care for the person in need, her intimate space (the double bed where the image of the Crucifix is laid down next to her), the poor waiting for her help and the ladies who were accompanying Elizabeth. In a few words we can say that she was transmitting to the world and in her the society what she had prayed and what had caused her heart fall in love; her social position did never paralyze or separate her from the suffering world overwhelmed by poverty and needing love. It is known that, during her life, she stripped herself of her jewelry and dresses, renounced her welfare and distributed food to people in need.
This image can help us contemplate the life of a profound and simple woman, abandoned in God’s hands, careful towards the others and able to “put into play” all that she was and she owed at the service of needed people. Evidently, she put into practice the words of Saint Francis and of the Gospel: «… Let those who have been placed above the others, boast of such a prelacy as much as if they had been entrusted with the office of washing the feet of the brothers» (Adm 4). “I have not come to be served, but to serve” (Mt 20:28), says the Lord.
Saint Elizabeth can be a model for us, since her continuous and deep prayer anchored in Christ and her intimate relationship that led her to go out to meet others. Let her way of acting with the poor inspire us to ask for a heart open to the needs of concrete people every day coming before us.
Sr. LUCIA KONTSEKOVA, TC