Everything about St Elizabeth Of Hungary totally explained
St. Elizabeth of Hungary (
7 July,
1207 –
17 November,
1231) spent all of her short life in Germany. She was born in
Sárospatak,
Kingdom of Hungary on 7 July 1207. At age 4, the daughter of King
Andrew II of Hungary (
1175–
1235) and
Gertrude of Andechs-Merania was brought to the court of the
Rulers of Thuringia in Central Germany, to become a future bride in order to reinforce political alliances between the families. Elisabeth was married at the age of 14, widowed at 20, relinquished her wealth to the poor, built hospitals, and became a symbol of Christian charity in Germany and elsewhere after her death at the age of 24.
Early life and marriage
Her mother sent the infant Elisabeth to Germany to grow up there in order to assure her loyalty and the acceptance by the locals there.
At the age of four, Elisabeth was betrothed to
Louis IV of Thuringia, called
the Blessed. Some have suggested that Louis's brother Hermann was in fact the eldest, and that she was first betrothed to him until his death in
1216, but this is doubtful. An event of this magnitude would almost certainly be mentioned at least once in the many original sources at our disposal, and this isn't the case. Rather, the 14th-century
Cronica Reinhardsbrunnensis specifically names Hermann as the second son. In addition, the only source document that might support Hermann's claim to be the eldest by putting his name before Louis's relates to a monastery in Hesse. This actually supports the claim that Hermann was the younger of the two, as Hesse was traditionally the domain of the second son. It would therefore be normal to put his name first, as this document deals with his territory.
In
1221, at the age of 14, Elisabeth married Louis, and the marriage appears to have been happy. In 1223,
Franciscan monks arrived, and the teenage Elizabeth not only learned about the ideals of
Francis of Assisi, but started to live them. Louis wasn't upset by his wife's charitable efforts believing that the distribution of his wealth to the poor would bring eternal reward; he's venerated in
Thuringia as a saint (without being canonized by the Church, unlike his wife).
It was also about this time that the
inquisitor Konrad von Marburg — a harsh man and a true product of his age — gained considerable power over Elizabeth as he became her religious advisor and confessor.
In the spring of
1226, when floods, famine, and
plague wrought havoc in Thuringia, Louis, a staunch supporter of the
Hohenstaufen Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, represented Frederick II at the
Reichstag (Imperial Diet) in
Cremona. Elisabeth assumed control of affairs and distributed alms in all parts of their territory, even giving away state robes and ornaments to the poor. Below the
Wartburg Castle, she built a hospital with twenty-eight beds and visited the inmates daily to attend to them.
Elisabeth's life changed irrevocably on
11 September 1227 when Louis, en route to join the
Sixth Crusade, died of the plague in
Otranto,
Italy. His remains were buried in 1228.
Widow at the age of 20
With Ludwig's death, his brother
Heinrich Raspe of Thuringia assumed the regency during the minority of Elisabeth's eldest child,
Landgrave Hermann II, Landgraf of Thuringia (
1222–
1241).
After bitter arguments over the disposal of her dower, in which Konrad had been appointed as her
defensor by Pope
Gregory IX, Elisabeth left the court at Wartburg and moved to
Marburg in Hesse. The popular tradition is that she was cast out by Heinrich, but this doesn't stand up to critical examination.
Following her husband's death, Elisabeth made solemn vows to Konrad, similar to those of a nun. These vows included celibacy (which prevented her from becoming the wife of Emperor Frederick), as well as obedience to Konrad as her confessor and spiritual advisor. Konrad's treatment of Elisabeth was extremely harsh, and he held her to standards of behaviour which were almost impossible to meet. Among the punishments he's alleged to have ordered were physical beatings and separation from her three children.
Elisabeth's second child
Sophia of Thuringia (
1224-
1284) married
Henry II, Duke of Brabant and was the ancestress of the Landgraves of Hesse, as in the
War of the Thuringian Succession she won Hesse for her son
Heinrich I, called
the Child. Elisabeth's third child, the Blessed Gertrude (
1227-
1297), was born several weeks after the death of her father; she became abbess of the convent of
Altenberg near
Wetzlar.
After unsuccessful attempts to force her to remarry, she joined the
Third Order of St. Francis, a lay
Franciscan group, and built a hospital at
Marburg for the poor and the sick.
In 1231, Elisabeth died in Marburg at only 24 years of age, either from physical exhaustion due to Konrad's treatment, or from disease.
Legacy
Very soon after the death of Elisabeth, miracles were reported that happened at her grave in the church of the hospital, especially miracles of healing.
Elisabeth is perhaps best known for the legend which says that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, her husband asked her what was in the pouch; Elisabeth opened it and the bread turned into roses. This miracle is commemorated with a statue in
Budapest, in front of the
neo-Gothic church dedicated to her at Roses' Square (
Rózsák tere)
(External Link
). The architect of the church was
Imre Steindl, architect of the
Budapest Parliament.
The most popular story about St. Elizabeth is an account by Dietrich of
Apolda. In the story, it's said that she laid a leper in the bed she shared with her husband. When Ludwig discovered what she'd done, he's said to have snatched off the bedclothes in great indignation, but at that instant “Almighty God opened the eyes of his soul, and instead of a leper he saw the figure of Christ crucified stretched upon the bed.”
By papal command three examinations were held of those who had been healed: August, 1232, January, 1233, and January, 1235.
She was
canonized by
Pope Gregory IX in
1235. This papal charter is on display in the
Schatzkammer of the
Deutschordenskirche in Vienna, Austria. At Pentecost (28 May) of the year 1235, during the ceremony of canonization she was called the "greatest woman of the German Middle Ages" . Her body was laid in a magnificent golden shrine — still to be seen today — in the
Elisabeth Church (Marburg). It is now a Protestant church, but has spaces set aside for Catholic worship. Marburg became a centre of the
Teutonic Order which adopted St. Elisabeth as its second patroness. The Order remained in Marburg until its official dissolution by
Napoleon I of France in
1803.
Elisabeth's shrine became one of the main German centres of
pilgrimage of the entire
14th century and early
15th century. During the course of the 15th century, the popular cult of St. Elisabeth slowly faded. However, this was to some extent replaced by an aristocratic devotion to St Elisabeth, as through her daughter Sophia she was an ancestor of many leading aristocratic German families.
Three hundred years after her death, one of Elisabeth's many descendants, the
Landgrave Philip I "the Magnanimous" of Hesse, a leader of the
Protestant reformation and one of the most important supporters of
Martin Luther, raided the church in Marburg and demanded that the
Teutonic Order hand over Elisabeth's bones, in order to disperse her relics and thus put an end to the already declining pilgrimages to Marburg.
Philip also took away the crowned agate chalice in which St. Elisabeth's head rested, but returned it after being imprisoned by
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The chalice was subsequently plundered by
Swedish troops during the
Thirty Years' War and is now on display at the National Museum in
Stockholm. St Elisabeth's skull and some of her bones can be seen at the Convent of St Elisabeth in
Vienna; some relics also survive at the shrine in Marburg.
The rose miracle is commemorated with a statue in
Budapest, in front of the
neo-Gothic church dedicated to her at Roses' Square (
Rózsák tere)
(External Link). The architect of the church was
Imre Steindl, architect of the
Budapest Parliament.
The legend of the miracle of the roses is taught in all Portuguese schools as having happened with Queen St.
Elizabeth of Aragon (1271–1336,
Raínha Santa Isabel), wife of Portuguese King
Denis of Portugal. When Portuguese tourists visit Germany or Hungary and are surprised to hear the same legend, it's explained to them that the Portuguese Queen, a granddaughter of the second wife of
Andrew II of Hungary, was named after her step-great-aunt.
The legends are very similar - the Portuguese Queen, when admonished by her husband that she was too generous with the poor who took advantage of her charity, let her folded apron fall and say "But they're only roses, m'Lord!" and the bread became roses.
Like many medieval legends, this one seems to exist in at least two countries far away from the actual places in Germany. Probably, similar legends exist elsewhere. She was always a very loving and kind person. We remember her today as a great saint who always cared for the sick, young, and those who live in poverty.
The year 2007 was proclaimed "Elisabeth Year" in Marburg. All year, events commemorating Elisabeth's life and works were held, culminating in a town-wide festival to celebrate the 800th anniversary of her birth on July 7, 2007. Pilgrims came from all over the world for the occasion, which ended with a special service in the Elisabeth Church that evening.
Gallery
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