Saint Who?
Saints Who Cared for the Sick
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary
Widow († 1231)Feast: November 17
Elizabeth was born a princess of Hungary, but she spent most of her life in Thuringia (modern Germany). As the daughter of a king, she was promised in marriage and sent to live in the court of her betrothed husband, Louis, when she was four and he was eleven. Devout from childhood, she was sometimes mocked for her faith.
Elizabeth and Louis grew up together and loved one another, and they shared a deep commitment to the love of God. When Louis became landgrave (military governor) of Thuringia, they married and soon had three children.
Elizabeth cheerfully fulfilled her duties as a wife and as the lady of the castle. But she would not allow those duties to shorten the time she spent in prayer. She also made it her duty to seek out the suffering. For example, when she learned that the sick could not come to beg for help at the castle because it sat atop a hill, she ordered a hospital for the poor to be built at the bottom of that hill. Then she made frequent visits to the hospital to care for the sick with her own hands. In this way, she became a living example to all her subjects of how to care for the needy as if caring for Christ himself.
Heavenly King, may we see your face
in those who are suffering.
