St. Elizabeth of Hungary

 St. Elizabeth lived in the 13th century, and she was a princess, daughter of the King of Hungary. She married the young man she had loved as long as she could remember, Ludwig of Thuringia, and their life together was blessed with three children. St. Elizabeth took seriously her duties as a wife and mother, and because of her deep love for Christ, she also took seriously her duty towards the poor. She embraced the words of our Lord, "Whatever you do to the least of these, you have done it to me." She put herself at the service of widows and orphans, she cared for the sick and the needy. Her life was really an expression of her deep love - love for God, love for her husband and children, and love for those who did not have anyone else to love them.Hers was a very beautiful life, and no doubt she would have liked it to go on like that forever.

But sometimes, things can change dramatically - we may not understand why, but it's always for God's purpose. St. Elizabeth experienced a particularly painful change in her life when her husband, whom she so deeply loved, went off to the Crusades, and there he was killed. Elizabeth was devastated - and she was sorry for the death of her husband, but her husband's family, who never approved her charitable work, cast her and her children out of the family home, and left her with no means of support.

Here was Elizabeth, the princess and the widow of a nobleman, who was reduced to poverty, wandering with her children for a place to live, until a poor man whom she had previously helped was able to offer her shelter in an abandoned pig sty. Her faith sustained her - she was not bitter but she put in even more effort to care for the poor, with a renewed feeling for them, since she and her children were counted among them. She supported herself and her children, as well as her works of charity, by spinning wool and making cloth to sell. She exhausted herself, and she was only 24 years old when she died. Her feast day is November 16th.

O Lord God, who did teach Saint Elizabeth of Hungary to acknowledge and reverence Christ in the poor of this world: grant that we, being strengthened by her example and assisted by her prayers, may so love and serve the afflicted and those in need that we may honor thy Son, the servant king; who lives and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.