The Charity of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
by Edmund Blair Leighton (1895)
We're learning about good stewardship this week, and I can't think of a better saint to guide us than St. Elizabeth.
She built hospitals for the poor, and cared for them herself.
During a famine, she took bread to the poor. At one point, when her husband asked to see what was in her apron, she found the bread had turned to roses. It is said that her husband carried one of these roses with him for the rest of his short life.
As a young woman, she was so moved at Mass by the sight of Christ on the cross wearing a crown of thorns, that she took off her own crown and laid it at His feet. Chastised by her mother-in-law, she responded that it seemed a mockery to her to wear so rich a crown when all Christ had was a crown of thorns.
She was a wife and mother, and when her husband died she and her children were treated poorly by the royal family. Instead of complaining, she continued to serve God and the poor, and died at the age of 24.
Father, you helped Elizabeth of Hungary to recognize and honor Christ in the poor of this world. Let her prayers help us to serve our brothers and sisters in time of trouble and need. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
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