Readings:
Tobit 12:8-10
Psalm 112
2 Corinthians 8:7-15
Luke 12:32–34Preface of a Saint (2)
[Common of a Saint]
[For Vocation in Daily Work]
[For Social Service]
PRAYER (traditional language)
Almighty God, by whose grace thy servant
Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world:
Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve
those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ,
who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and
for ever. Amen.
PRAYER (contemporary language)
Almighty God, by your grace your servant
Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this
world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness
serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus
Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now
and for ever. Amen.
Lessons revised at General Convention 2024
Return to Lectionary Home Page
Webmaster: Charles Wohlers
Last updated: 21 Sept. 2024
ELIZABETH OF HUNGARY
PRINCESS AND PHILANTHROPIST (19 NOV 1231)
The
numerous "St. Elizabeth's Hospitals" throughout the world are
for the most part named, not for the Biblical Elizabeth, the mother of
John the Baptist, but for this princess of Hungary. She was concerned
for the relief of the poor and the sick, and with her husband's consent
she used her dowry money for their relief. During a famine and epidemic
in 1226, while her husband was away in Italy, she sold her jewels and
established a hospital where she nursed the sick, and opened the royal
granaries to feed the hungry. After her husband's death in 1227, her inlaws,
who opposed her "extravagances," expelled her from Wartburg.
Finally an arrangement was negotiated with them that gave her a stipend.
She became a Franciscan tertiary (lay associate) and devoted the remainder
of her life to nursing and charity. She sewed garments to clothe the poor,
and went fishing to feed them.