Without realizing it, the study and writing of this blog, over the years, had become a valuable part of my spiritual life, drawing me close to God through the saints - especially those saints from whom I descend or am otherwise related to.
So here I am again, and this time I do not think I will be doing as much work as I was doing previously, but I am happy to bring my mind back to an inspiring aspect of the Heavenly realm, and I hope to bring you with me.
Today I am focusing on Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, my 6th cousin, 26 times removed! I'm not going to reinvent the wheel by explaining her entire story, as I will provide you at least one link that will give the details, but I have to say that reading about her makes me a little ashamed because her faith is so strong and so muscular, I can't imagine being as much of an ascetic as she was.
She was a royal child, born to the Hungarian King and Queen on July 7th, 1207. She was quite young when she married Prince Ludwig, which was customary in that era, but they were also very much in love, which was not necessarily common among the royals for whom marriage was part of the process of duty. I was touched by the story of their regard for one another. They soon had 3 children.
Even though she had every advantage of being assured of a comfortable life, she gravitated toward austerity, and she devoted a lot of her time to feeding the poor. I think this may have something to do with her mother's murder when she was only 6 years old. anyway, this reminds me that I miss being of service to others, due to my disabilities, but writing this blog feels like a type of giving, and I will be content with that.
Unfortunately, her husband died very young, due to some illness, and she also died when she was only 24 years old. But even while she was still alive, she was known for certain miracles, one of which had to do with the appearance of roses, which is a common theme in Catholicism with holy people.
She lived an austere life, practiced many penances, wore simple clothing, and served the poor. She could have done the opposite of this, as the opportunity was certainly there.
She died in her 24th year, on November 17th. Her remains were interred at the Elizabeth Church in Marburg, and miraculous healings began to be experienced at that site. I found it deeply sad to read that one of her own descendants later removed her remains and scattered them haphazardly during the reformation.
She is the patron saint of beggars, bakers, brides, charities, death of children, homeless people, hospitals, Sisters of Mercy and widows.
It occurs to me that even though my means are quite limited, I probably live very close to the comfort level of a king or queen in the era when this saint was alive. I sometimes wonder if the stark difficulty of their lives did them the favor of making their mortality very close in their consciousness so that it became more urgent to seek God's favor.
Today I pray that my cousin, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, inspire me with her life of simplicity and service. I thank the Lord for letting me live so much longer than she was able to live, and thereby give me the opportunity to learn so much over the years. It seems like every week I am moving through some sort of learning phase that brings me to a place I had not anticipated.
Between my increasingly worsening disabilities and their accompanying pains that are wearing on me mightily, and the radical changes that our society is undergoing, I sometimes feel almost as if I am going to lose my very breath trying to keep up with all of it. Currently, I am struggling to deal with a heightened level of meanness and animosity by a surprisingly large percentage of the population. It is almost as if the negativity that they previously knew was inappropriate and which they hid from the world has been given permission to just come out in full force. That is difficult for the rest of us. Even folks who claim to be Christian will, at times, come onto social media, such as Facebook, and express the meanest sentiments toward suffering people. We live in difficult times. I am doing the best I can to endure with kindness and not to respond "in kind" to the meanies among us. It is not easy.
Here is a page devoted to Saint Elizabeth. Of course, you can Google her and find all sorts of things - but this is a start, with my favorite web site to look up saints every day:
Saint Elizabeth of Hungary on Catholic.org
Thank you for accompanying me in my journey with the saints on this blog. I hope it brings you some inspiration and some hope, and I pray that you stay with me on this road. It is the only service I am able to provide, other than my prayers, which I also offer for you.
God bless us all
Silver Rose
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