Elizabeth Recognized Christ in the Poor
From a letter by Conrad of Marburg, spiritual director of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231)
Elizabeth recognized and loved Christ in the poor
Narrated by Frank Dugan, Huntington Beach, California
From this time onward Elizabeth’s goodness greatly increased. She was a lifelong friend of the poor and gave herself entirely to relieving the hungry. She ordered that one of her castles should be converted into a hospital in which she gathered many of the weak and feeble. She generously gave alms to all who were in need, not only in that place but in all the territories of her husband’s empire. She spent all her own revenue from her husband’s four principalities, and finally she sold her luxurious possessions and rich clothes for the sake of the poor.
Twice a day, in the morning and in the evening, Elizabeth went to visit the sick. She personally cared for those who were particularly repulsive; to some she gave food, to others clothing; some she carried on her own shoulders, and performed many other kindly services. Her husband, of happy memory, gladly approved of these charitable works. Finally, when her husband died, she sought the highest perfection; filled with tears, she implored me to let her beg for alms from door to door.
On Good Friday of that year, when the altars had been stripped, she laid her hands on the altar in a chapel in her own town, where she had established the Friars Minor, and before witness she voluntarily renounced all worldly display and everything that our Savior in the gospel advises us to abandon. Even then she saw that she could still be distracted by the cares and worldly glory which had surrounded her while her husband was alive. Against my will she followed me to Marburg. Here in the town she built a hospice where she gathered together the weak and the feeble. There she attended the most wretched and contemptible at her own table.
Apart from those active good works, I declare before God that I have seldom seen a more contemplative woman. When she was coming from private prayer, some religious men and women often saw her face shining marvelously and light coming from her eyes like the rays of the sun.
Before her death I heard her confession. When I asked what should be done about her goods and possessions, she replied that anything which seemed to be hers belonged to the poor. She asked me to distribute everything except one worn out dress in which she wished to be buried. When all this had been decided, she received the body of our Lord. Afterward, until vespers, she spoke often of the holiest things she had heard in sermons. Then, she devoutly commended to God all who were sitting near her, and as if falling into a gentle sleep, she died.
Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings
Saint Elizabeth, (1207-1231) born in 1207, was the daughter of Andrew, king of Hungary. While still a young girl she was married to Louis the Landgrave of Thuringia, and gave birth to three children. She became known for her great charity and built one hospital at the foot of their castle, and another elsewhere and devoted herself to prayer and meditation. They were married six years when Ludwig went on crusade with Emperor Frederick II and died of the plague at Otranto. After her husband’s death, she embraced a life of poverty, serving the sick in the hospital she herself had built. She was accused of mismanaging the estate because of her great charity and was forced to leave Wartburg, probably forced out by her brother-in-law. She made provision for her children and in 1228 became a Franciscan tertiary. She lived for a time at Marburg devoting herself to care for the sick, the aged, and the poor at a hospice there. She led a life of exceptional poverty and humility and was allowed back to the castle four years before her death and witnessed her son’s succession to the title of landgrave. During this time her spiritual director was Conrad of Marburg, whose moving eye witness account, presented above, records the final moments of her life. Elizabeth died at Marburg in 1231, not yet 24, and soon miracles were reported at her tomb. She was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1235.