"The poor you have always with you." - Jesus

Today is the feast day of Elizabeth of Hungary, born in 1207, daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary. At the age of fourteen she married a nobleman and had three children. The Franciscans, who champion the poor and downtrodden, came to her town of Wartburg in 1223. They were her spiritual directors, and she developed a deep concern for the poor and the sick, who were frequently the same people.

Her almsgiving reached epic proportions. When famine and epidemic hit Wartburg in 1226, her husband was traveling in Italy. Having already given away her dowry, at this time she sold her jewels and built a hospital for the poor. The last straw was that she opened the royal granaries to feed them. Her husband died in 1227 and Elizabeth was forced to leave Wartburg. She was roundly unpopular with the powers that were because of her "royal extravagances."

Elizabeth eventually joined the Franciscans as a tertiary, or "Third Order" and continued to care for the poor and needy (sort of like Teresa of Calcutta). Like a shooting star, Elizabeth died young. Her biographers say she died of exhaustion at the age of twenty-four on November 16, 1231. Four years later, Pope Gregory the Ninth declared her to be Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, a Patron Saint of the Third Order of St. Francis.

Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of the world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


In peace,
Linda+
The Rev. Linda McCloud
Vicar, Holy Cross Church-Episcopal
www.holycrosschurchbillings.org
406-208-7314