Salve, Regina, Mater Misericordiae.
Praise be Jesus Christ.
Today we celebrate the feast of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, patroness of the Franciscan Third Order.
St. Elizabeth was born in the year 1207, right when St. Francis was going about his conversion and discerning his vocation.
She was the daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary.
And as was the custom in that time, she was betrothed almost right after her birth.
In fact, at the age of three years, she was already sent to be reared in the castle of her betrothed,
Louis, the landgrave of Thuringia.
St. Elizabeth grew up very devout, loved prayer, and loved to perform works of charity,
especially towards the poor.
And the sick, and especially towards lepers.
Louis himself was a very devout man.
And after their marriage, he encouraged her to continue to do her charitable works.
In one description I love of their marriage, it says that they had an unusually happy marriage.
An unusually happy marriage.
You see how the holier...
The less holy that the spouses are, the happier the marriage will be.
The less holy that the spouses are, the less happy the marriage will be.
You see, in this marriage, there were two holy persons, one of whom a canonized saint, of course.
And they both sought to please the other person.
They were completely self-giving and willing to make sacrifices.
They sought only to love God and to love each other in God.
And for this reason, they had an unusually happy marriage.
How many times we find those in an unhappy marriage.
If you look closely at the situation, both spouses live lives filled with vice and sin.
And, of course, as a result, they're going to have an unhappy marriage.
St. Elizabeth . . .
As part of her charitable works, built a hospital right next to the castle.
And she herself would personally tend to the sick and the poor, feeding over 900 homeless people daily.
But she too would be visited by the cross, as many of the saints were.
Or as we could say, as all of the saints were.
Her husband, Louis, was on the way to take part in the Crusades when he unfortunately died.
And his brothers, who were not as holy as he was, rose up against Elizabeth and drove her from the castle.
So Elizabeth was forced to flee with her four children.
One of those children who was only two months old.
And she took with her two of her housemaids.
And she took with her two of her housemaids from the castle who were devoted to her.
And so she was cast out.
And like the Holy Family, she couldn't find any place to enter.
None of the doors would open up to her because all of the people feared a backlash from the brothers of Louis.
And so finally, she was granted, just like the Holy Family, a stable to live in.
So she took up her abode with her children.
And...
And...
The maidens in a humble stable.
And the amazing thing was, she didn't complain.
And she didn't lament her situation.
But instead, what did she do?
She gave thanks to God.
And there was a Franciscan friary nearby.
And she asked the friars to sing a Te Deum on her behalf.
To thank God for her situation.
And for permitting her to partake in the cross of our Lord.
And be conformed like that to the same situation as the Holy Family.
She continued in her good works.
And managed to eke out a meager living by spinning flax and doing other odd jobs.
She died at a very young age, in 1231.
She was only 24 years old.
And only four years after that, due to the numerous miracles at her grave,
Pope Gregory...
Pope Gregory IX canonized her.
So we see in St. Elizabeth, a true example of a holy woman.
A woman who was more concerned with the nobility of her soul than her noble status here in the world.
A woman who was more concerned with clothing her soul with virtue than she was with clothing her body with the fine garments due to a queen.
A woman who was more intent on obtaining the heavenly crown than she was on wearing her earthly crown.
And indeed, for this reason, we read in the first reading from the book of Proverbs
that describes the holy and virtuous woman, the woman who is industrious and intent on doing good works.
Indeed, St. Elizabeth managed to keep all of her temporal affairs in progress.
And as a result, when she met the cross, she didn't fall into despair and laments.
But having all things in their proper perspective, seeing all things through the eyes of faith,
so she saw this, too, as coming from the hands of God
and giving her an opportunity to conform herself to our Lord and to our Lady.
And for this reason, not only did she...
Did she not lament, but gave thanks to God.
So let us resolve to follow in her footsteps and prepare our souls for heaven
by performing many good works and accepting all of the trials that God deigns to send us
with loving resignation and even gratitude for having the opportunity to partake in the cross of his Son.
St. Elizabeth.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us.
May your atenção convolva à noite ,
so we can be strong friends with your Lord and others around us.
Amen and God bless you all.