A Hungarian princess who became Landgravine of Thuringia, Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) devoted her life to the poor and the sick. Widowed at a very young age, she joined the Franciscan Third Order and founded a hospital, becoming a major figure of medieval Christian charity.
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary(1207 — 1231)
Elizabeth of Hungary
Hongrie
5 min read
Frequently asked questions
Key Facts
- Born in 1207, daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary
- Married Landgrave Louis IV of Thuringia in 1221
- Widowed in 1227, she joined the Franciscan Third Order and founded a hospital in Marburg
- Died in Marburg in 1231 at the age of 24, exhausted by her life of asceticism and service to the poor
- Canonized by Pope Gregory IX in 1235, only four years after her death
Works & Achievements
Elizabeth opened the grain reserves of the Wartburg to feed hundreds of starving people during the famine.
She was one of the first high-ranking women to embrace the Franciscan ideal of poverty as a laywoman.
An institution dedicated to Saint Francis where she personally cared for the sick, lepers, and the destitute.
A daily work of charity that made her a model of mercy for the entire medieval West.
Renouncing her princely fortune, she redistributed her resources to those in need.
Having become the patron saint of hospitals, bakers, and charity, she inspired many hospital foundations.
Anecdotes
Betrothed at the age of just four, Elisabeth was sent to the court of Thuringia, at Wartburg Castle, to be raised far from her native Hungary. She grew up alongside her future husband, Louis IV, whom she married at fourteen.
The most famous legend about her is the “miracle of the roses”: caught by her husband while carrying bread hidden in her cloak for the poor, she opened her apron and it is said to have filled with roses, despite the winter. This story, told after her death, symbolizes her overflowing charity.
When Louis IV died in 1227, having left for the Crusade and been carried off by the plague in Italy, Elisabeth was driven out of the Wartburg by her in-laws. Widowed at twenty, she gave up her rank and went to live in poverty in Marburg.
She founded a hospital in Marburg where she cared for the sick, the lepers, and the most destitute herself, washing their wounds and feeding them with her own hands.
Elisabeth died exhausted at just twenty-four years old. Her canonization, barely four years after her death in 1235, was one of the fastest in the history of the medieval Church.
Primary Sources
She served the poor and the sick with such humility that she herself carried the children of the destitute and washed their soiled garments.
Having renounced all worldly pomp, she devoted herself entirely to caring for the sick in the hospital she had founded with her own resources.
This glorious woman, scorning royal delights, made herself the servant of the poor of Christ.
She opened her cloak, and within it no bread was found but roses of marvelous beauty, though it was not the season for them.
Key Places
Place traditionally associated with her birth as the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary.
Residence of the landgraves of Thuringia where Elizabeth was raised and later lived as the wife of Louis IV.
City where, having become a widow, she founded her hospital, cared for the poor, and died; she is buried there.
The first great Gothic building in Germany, raised over her tomb and become a major place of pilgrimage.
Port from which Louis IV set out on crusade and near which he died of the plague in 1227.
Typical Objects
Emblem of her princely rank at the court of Thuringia, which she eventually gave up to embrace voluntary poverty.
The cloak in which the bread meant for the poor is said to have miraculously turned into roses, which became the saint's principal iconographic attribute.
The bread she distributed daily to the hungry during the famine, a symbol of her work of mercy.
The simple homespun robe she put on when joining the Franciscan laity, as a sign of humility and detachment from the world.
The instruments with which she herself washed the wounds of lepers and the sick at the hospital in Marburg.
Goldsmith's shrine made to house her remains after her canonization, a major object of pilgrimage in Marburg.
School Curriculum
Vocabulary & Tags
Key Vocabulary
Daily Life
Morning
Elisabeth rose early to attend Mass and pray at length, weaving her devotions into her duties as a princess. From a very young age, she already imposed a rigorous rhythm of piety upon her day.
Afternoon
Her afternoons were devoted to the poor: she would travel around the castle grounds to hand out bread, clothing, and money. In Marburg, she spent her days at the hospital tending to the sick.
Evening
In the evening, she withdrew for prayer and spiritual reading, multiplying vigils and mortifications. She often slept on the bare ground rather than in a princely bed.
Food
Out of a spirit of penance, she refused dishes that came from unjustly gained revenues and made do with frugal fare: bread, vegetables, and water. She fasted frequently while taking care to feed the destitute abundantly.
Clothing
As landgravine, she wore the rich fabrics and jewels of her rank during ceremonies. After becoming a Franciscan widow, she donned a simple robe of grey homespun, a sign of her renunciation.
Housing
Raised amid the luxury of Wartburg Castle, perched on its wooded hill, she later lived in a humble dwelling near the hospital of Marburg, sharing the poverty of those she served.
Historical Timeline
Period Vocabulary
Liens externes & ressources
Références
Œuvres
Distribution des greniers du château durant la famine
1226
Entrée dans le Tiers-Ordre franciscain
1228
Fondation de l'hôpital de Marbourg
1229
Soin des lépreux et des malades
1229-1231
Don de sa dot et de ses biens aux pauvres
1228
Patronage des œuvres caritatives chrétiennes
posthume
