November 17 - Saint Elizabeth of Hungary

Quick Facts
  • Princess, the daughter of King Andrew of Hungary.
  • Great-aunt of Saint Elizabeth of Portugal.
  • She married Prince Louis of Thuringa at age 13.
  • Built a hospital at the foot of the mountain on which her castle stood; tended to the sick herself.
  • Her family and courtiers opposed this, but she insisted she could only follow Christ's teachings, not theirs.
  • Once when she was taking food to the poor and sick, Prince Louis stopped her and looked under her mantle to see what she was carrying; the food had been miraculously changed to roses.
  • Upon Louis' death, Elizabeth sold all that she had, and worked to support her four children.
  • Her gifts of bread to the poor, and of a large gift of grain to a famine stricken Germany, led to her patronage of bakers and related fields.