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.