One of the many ways my family has tried to live more Liturgically is by making it a priority to celebrate our patron saints on their feast days. Even if it’s just a little bit. Sometimes we don’t do much more than say a special prayer in their honor, and other times we’re able to have a whole feast to celebrate.
We’re still getting the hang of it and it can be a bit tricky keeping track of all of them, but we’re loving how much it helps us to pay attention to the Liturgical calendar more than we were before.
All that being said, today we are celebrating one of my patron saints! I was confirmed when I was 13 years old and I chose St. Elizabeth of Hungary as my confirmation saint.
Looking at where I am in my life right now, I realize that I chose the perfect saint. St. Elizabeth was the kind of wife and mother that I aspire to be. I often think about her and how much she gives me in the way of examples.
A Snippet of the Life of St. Elizabeth of Hungary
St. Elizabeth was born in 1207 and right away she displayed saintly qualities. She was the daughter of King Andrew of Hungary and his wife Gertrude. Her parents had her betrothed at birth to Louis of Thuringia, son of the Landgrave Hermann and his wife Sophie, so when she was 4 years old she was sent to Thuringia to be raised.
Elizabeth loved God and she loved going to church. She would never pass an opportunity to visit the Blessed Sacrament and she took care of the poor and sick in any way she could. Her peers would tease her and treat her badly because of her piety.
Her betrothed, Louis, on the other hand, always admired Elizabeth and treated her very well. Because of this, the 2 were very happily married in 1221. Louis let Elizabeth practice her devotions and tend to the poor to her heart’s content. They had three children together, Hermann, Sophie, and Gertrude.
Louis passed away from illness on the way to a crusade in 1227. Louis’ family then turned Elizabeth and her children out of the castle and they had to beg for food and shelter. Despite all her current sufferings, she joined the Third Order of St. Francis.
She passed away in 1231 at the age of 24. She was canonized a saint just four years later by Pope Gregory IX. Her children got to witness their mother declared a saint!
St. Elizabeth truly is an incredible role model and intercessor. As a wife, she was loving, caring, submissive and a true helpmate. As a mother, she taught her children to live for God. I’m always striving to imitate her example in my day-to-day life.
Ways to Celebrate
To celebrate the feast days of my family’s patron saints, I try to make it a point to make a special meal and/or dessert. It will depend on what we have going on as to what I make, but I always try to make something special. It might be something very specific to the saint we are celebrating or it will just be one of our favorite desserts. Either way is a great way for us to acknowledge the feast day.
The book “St. Elizabeth’s Three Crowns” by Blanche Jennings Thompson was my introduction to this great saint. I immensely enjoyed this book as a child and I highly recommend families to add this book to their collection and read it to their children.
We also make sure to include the saint in our prayers throughout the day. For example, when we say morning prayers with the kids we will include “St. Elizabeth of Hungary, pray for us.” We’ll also say that with grace before and after meals.
One of my prayer books for mothers has a beautiful prayer to this great saint that I love to pray. I have it for you below.
Prayer to St. Elizabeth of Hungary
St. Elizabeth, holy wife, mother, and widow, I come to thee, to commend to thy loving heart all my cares and duties. When on earth, thou wert the mother of the poor and oppressed and needy. Be now my mother also. Assist me in all my tribulations, but especially in the difficulties incident upon my vocation as a wife and mother. Be thou the benefactress, the support, the protectress of my children, of my whole household. Obtain for us grace and divine assistance in the necessities of our earthly career. Shield us with thy tender, loving care. Watch over us and our children in health and sickness, in prosperity and adversity, in life and in death. Obtain that, like unto thyself, we may go through life humble, chaste, charitable, and beneficent, gladly pardoning our enemies, praising God in time of trial, praying for all men, and doing all the good in our power. And when death draws near, O St. Elizabeth, redouble thy prayers for us, that we may join thee in heaven, where we shall hymn thy praises, and with thee joyfully thank and glorify our Savior Jesus Christ and the Most Holy Trinity. Amen.
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