When I was a pastor in Collinsville, IL, there were two hospitals in the area named St. Elizabeth. They were named after the Elizabeth we are remembering today.
Elizabeth, the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary, was born in 1207. At the age of 14 she was married to the Landgrave of Thuringia in central Germany. The family lived in Wartburg Castle near Eisenach. (Wartburg Castle is where, in 1521, Martin Luther was taken for his protection after the Diet of Worms) Elizabeth gave away large sums of money, including her dowry, for relief of the poor and sick. She founded hospitals, cared for orphans and used the royal food supplies to feed the hungry. Nevertheless, she was not popular within the royal court. When her husband died of the plague in 1227, she was driven out. After she saw to it that her children were provided for, she join the order of St. Francis on Good Friday 1228.
She was treated ruthlessly by her confessor, living in extreme austerity. She died on November 27, 1231 at the age of 24. Because of her life of generosity many hospitals are named after her.
Elizabeth is a pattern for us as we hear the gospel for next Sunday, Matthew 25: 31-46. Jesus comes in all his glory to judge the world. To those who have been blessed by the Father through Jesus death and resurrection, Christ the King says, “I was hungry and you gave me food…I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.”
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