Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.
A couple of things in the reading merit a word of explanation before we pass to the saint of the day.
As Saint Paul explains why Sarah wanted to get rid of Ishmael, because he was persecuting Isaac not just playing with him.
The main question regarding today's gospel is why Jesus let the demons go into the swine since he must have foreseen that it would lead the population to reject him.
For the same reason that he allows other circumstances in which you must choose between God and wealth.
You cannot serve both God and mammon and sometimes you are forced to make a choice.
Jesus makes it clear what the alternative to him is.
The demons are impure and fittingly put into swine.
The large herd gives an idea of how numerous they are.
The fact that they kill the swine as soon as they can may explain their murderous intent without any loss of human life.
Then the fact that they must ask permission to enter the swine shows that they don't have any independent power.
They can only do what God permits.
Once this has been made clear the population must make their choice.
Do you want the benevolent and more powerful Jesus who liberates man or the unclean and murderous demons who enslave man?
Somewhat surprisingly the people choose the demons because they fear losing the things of this world.
This is pagan territory, they're not Jews, that's why they have a herd of swine.
And there they worshipped as gods what were in reality demons.
So perhaps it's not so surprising that they would continue to be far from the true God.
Jesus lets them make this bad choice, but he left them as witnesses the two men whom he had exercised so that they could reconsider in the future.
St. Elizabeth of Portugal was born in Saragossa in 1271.
She was a princess.
Her father was the king of Aragon and her mother was the daughter of the king of Sicily and the granddaughter of Emperor Frederick II, the Holy Roman Emperor.
But her noblest relative was in heaven.
Her great aunt was St. Elizabeth of Hungary after whom she was named at her baptism.
At the age of 12 she was given in marriage to Denis, king of Portugal, who was 10 years older than her.
Several years later their two children were born, Alfonso in 1290 and Constance in 1291.
Denis was an excellent king who strengthened the kingdom, founded its first university at Lisbon and wrote books and poetry.
However, he left something to be desired as a husband.
He admired Elizabeth's piety, but not so much as to imitate it.
He had several illegitimate children, including Alfonso Sanchez, who was his favorite son.
Sometimes it can be hard to convince a king that the law applies also to him.
But God's law applies to everyone.
According to the custom of the time, the king's illegitimate children were raised in the court.
They could not inherit the throne, but they could have noble titles and could be of use to the king in various ways, by administering this or that area or by being given in marriage to cement an alliance with some other king or nobleman.
So not only were they raised in the court, but also Saint Elizabeth was responsible for raising them.
And this is surely something that must put a woman's virtue to the test, not only knowing that her husband slept with other women, but having to raise their children and thus being constantly reminded of the offenses to her dignity.
Saint Elizabeth was equal to the challenge.
She raised the children of the great charity.
She also manifested her charity by helping the sick and the poor.
So not just the Lord hears the cry of the poor, but also the saints hear the cry of the poor.
She was a peacemaker.
Her son, Alfonso, the heir to the throne, rebelled against his father.
He was tired of his father favoring his illegitimate brother, Alfonso Sanchez, and perhaps feared that his father would eventually give the throne to his illegitimate brother.
And so he decided to seize the throne instead of waiting to inherit it.
A civil war followed from 1322 to 1324.
In 1323, Elizabeth got a mule and rode out between the opposing armies in order to stop a battle.
But instead of recognizing her merit, the king had her confined to another city because he considered her to have sided with his son in the rebellion.
During this period of exile, Elizabeth lived her life according to a strict rule, almost a sort of religious, with set hours devoted to prayer and almsgiving.
She intensified her works of mercy and became known for her charity to the sick and the poor and her care of pilgrims.
She provided marriage dowries for poor girls and established homes for repentant prostitutes.
Eventually the king realized that he had made a mistake and recalled her back to Lisbon.
He now showed greater respect and affection for her.
When the king was stricken not long after with a fatal illness, Elizabeth nursed him to the end, despite everything he had done to her, the adultery, the imprisonment, and all the other things he had made her suffer.
Her own experience in pardoning offenses made her a capable peacemaker.
So the king died in 1325, a year after his legitimate son, Elizabeth's son, Alfonso, ascended the throne.
Alfonso Sanchez had been exiled the year before in order to end the civil war.
St. Elizabeth was now free of her responsibilities as wife and chose to dedicate her last years to her sanctification.
She went barefoot to the shrine of St. James of Compostela, where she left her crown.
She gave all her possessions to the poor and entered the monastery of the Poor Clares in Coimbra, where she lived without vows as a Franciscan tertiary.
She intended to spend the rest of her life there in prayer and penance, but when she was 65, she had to go reconcile her son with her son-in-law.
Her daughter Constance had married the king of Castile, Ferdinand, and war broke out between him and her son, Alfonso IV.
It was summer and her body was already weakened by age and penance.
65 years was a lot harder in the 13th century, 14th century than it is today, and so she managed to make it to her son and to speak to him of peace, but she could go no further.
This mission of peace had exhausted her last strength.
After making religious vows on her deathbed, she passed away on July 4, 1336.
Her body was brought back to the monastery of the Poor Clares in Coimbra and buried there.
There were pilgrimages to the grave of the Holy Queen.
Miracles were reported, and eventually, in 1576, biographical material was gathered to start her process of canonization.
In 1612, the grave was exhumed and her body was found still incorrupt.
In the following years, she was recognized as blessed, and in 1625, she was canonized.
She's an example of pardon and of charity, and one of those peacemakers rightly called sons of God.
Praised be Jesus and Mary, now and forever.

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