Our Lady of Mount Carmel FraternitySecular Franciscan Order
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Our Lady of Mount Carmel FraternityPatroness of bakers, countesses, death of children, falsely accused, homeless, nursing services, tertiaries (Secular Franciscan Order), widows, and young brides.
St. Elizabeth was born in Hungary in 1207 to Andrew II, King of Hungary. When Elizabeth was four, her parents arranged her marriage to young Herman of Thuringia. She went there to be raised with him in the castle at Wartburg. Two years later (in 1213), Hungarian nobles murdered Elizabeth's mother, Gertrude. Three years later (December 31, 1216), young Herman died. By this time, nine-year-old Elizabeth was already leaning to prayer, penance and acts of charity. After Herman died, Elizabeth was promised to the next older brother, Ludwig. He, with his mother, Sophia, protected her from the more playful members of the court who liked to mock Elizabeth's holy impulses.
In 1221, Elizabeth, then 14, and Ludwig married. The same year, Ludwig's father died on April 25. Ludwig then, at 21, became Ludwig IV Landgrave of Thuringia. (Landgrave means: a count who had jurisdiction over a large territory in medieval Germany.) The couple lived a happy life, devoted to each other. They had three children: Herman II (1222-1241), Sophia (1224-1284), and Gertrude (1227-1297). His pious life as husband of St. Elizabeth has earned for him, among the German people, the name St. Ludwig. (Ludwig is translated to Louis in French and English.)
Germany's Emperor Frederick II often sent Ludwig to deal with affairs of the emperor and the empire. While Ludwig was away from Thuringia, Elizabeth was in charge. She distributed money, clothing and state ornaments to the poor. She built below Wartburg a 28-bed hospital and personally visited the sick and cared for their daily needs. At the same time, she helped nine hundred poor people daily. Ludwig returned in 1226 to confirm everything Elizabeth had done. The next year, he was sent on a crusade where he died on September 11. When the twenty-year-old Elizabeth learned the news, after the birth of Gertrude, she said: "The world with all its joys is now dead to me."
Also in 1221, the followers of St. Francis of Assisi made their first permanent settlement in Germany. Brother Rodeger, one of the first Germans received into the Order, was for a time the spiritual instructor of Elizabeth at Wartburg. His teachings strongly appealed to her. In 1225 Elizabeth assisted the Franciscans to start a monastery at Eisenach. Three years later, on Good Friday, 1228, Elizabeth and her maids received the dress of the Third Order of St Francis in that same monastery. They became the first tertiaries of Germany. That summer she built the Franciscan hospital at Marburg and spent the rest of her life entirely on the care of the sick.
She died November 17, 1231, at twenty-four, consumed by her charitable labor. After many miracles, she was canonized at Pentecost (28 May) of the year 1235.