St. Elizabeth of Portugal (1271 - 1336) was a Spanish princess who was given in marriage to King Denis of Portugal. She was very beautiful and very lovable. She was also very devout, and went to Mass every day. Elizabeth was a holy wife, but although her husband was fond of her at first, he soon began to cause her great suffering. Though a good ruler, he did not imitate his wife's love of prayer and other virtues. In fact, his sins of impurity gave great scandle to the people.
Later one of the pages (workers) in the palace who was jealous of another page told a lie about Elizabeth and the other page. This angered the King and he sent the page to be executed. On his way the good page decided to go to mass as he did not know that he was going to be executed. The King sent the wicked page to the lime-burner to find out if the other had been killed. And so it was this page who was thrown into the furnace! When the King learned what had happened, he realized that God had saved the good page, punished the liar, and proven Queen Elizabeth to be innocent. This amazing event helped greatly to make the King live better. He apologized to his wife in front of everyone and began to have a great respect for her. In his last sickness, she never left his side, except for Mass, until he died a holy death. Elizabeth lived for 11 more years and she was a wonderful model of kindness toward the poor and a successful peacemaker between members of her own family and between nations.
Patron of: the Third Order of St. Francis.
Comments