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| Saint Elizabeth of Hungary |
Chris was just reading to me a section from an article on Christology about how Mary's humility is directly linked to her being "lifted up" by divine grace. Looking over the church calendar this month, I couldn't help but notice all of the women who are honored in November. One of the women died 1800 years ago and then another just 150 years ago. Some of them were queens and princesses and another an orphan and two were martyrs. What can I learn from these great women of faith, what light do they shed on how to be a great woman?
Today we remember St. Elizabeth of Hungary who lived for just twenty-four years! In Steinbeck's translation of The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Nights, Merlin tells King Arthur that "Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory." Elizabeth surely did that! For in her life she was given great riches but also great poverty, luxuries but also great hardships. And in her life, it was not her own greatness that shined through, but Christ who lived in her, who had already triumphed in great victory over sin and death.
Elizabeth was a princess. Her parents were the king and queen of Hungary. At four she had to leave her family to live with her future husband's family, as was the practice at that time and at just fourteen, she was married to her husband, Louis who was duke of Thuringia in Germany. She was passionately in love with her husband. Seeing her devotion to God, he always encouraged her in her faith. While she was dutches she opened up a hospital for the poor and a soup kitchen.
While her husband loved her and was kind to her, her in-laws were not. And when Louis died when she was twenty Elizabeth and her three children were evicted from their home. They lived in poverty. Yet Elizabeth was not embittered by her predicament. When her father, the king of Hungary, found out about her state, he had Elizabeth's lands restored to her. Yet, after securing her children's welfare, she chose to continue to live in poverty. She lived in a room in the hospital she had founded and cared for the sick and lepers.
Tomorrow, on the 18th, is the memorial of Rose Philippine Duchesne who came from France to America as a missionary to serve the Native Americans.
Saint Cecilia's memorial is on the 22nd of November. She was a very devoted Christian, bringing many to faith in Christ including her husband. After her husband was martyred, Cecilia was also sent for. It is said, that even up to the moment of her death she sang to the God. Because of that, she is the patron of music.
Yesterday was the memorial day of St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Gertrude. Even though she was the daughter of an English Prince, St. Margaret grew up in Hungary during the time of King Andrew I, who was a Christian. Her family then moved back to England but after her father's death, her mother wished to move back to the continent. Setting out on a ship, they were blown off course, and ended up in Scotland. They sought the aid of the king of Scotland, Malcolm III. Margaret ended up marrying Malcolm. To this day, the place where she landed is known as St. Margaret's Hope. Margaret served orphans and the poor every day and went to Mass to worship God every evening. She was known for her work on religious reform and she encouraged both her husband and her children in this way. Saint Gertrude the Great lived just a few hundred years after St. Margaret in the 13th century. Unlike Margaret, she herself is thought to have been an orphan. As a young girl she came to a monastery and was educated there. She loved theology and literature and eventually embraced the Lord in faith. She became a Benedictine nun and today is known for her book Herald of God's Loving Kindness as well as her Spiritual Exercises.
The memorial of my soon-coming niece, Tula's patron saint, Catherine of Alexandria will be at the very end of the month. Catherine was born in Alexandria to parents that were pagan just three hundred years after the death of Christ. She became a Christian as a teenager and is said to have tried to convince the emperor at that time that the persecution of Christians was wrong. While his wife was converted, Emperor Maxentius still had Catherine thrown into prison. After leading several prisoners to Christ, she was killed.
The really neat thing about each of these women is how different they are. They each sought after sacrifice in their own way whether it was in giving to the poor, sacrificing a married life for a single life consecrated to prayer and physical children for spiritual children, or through sacrificing their very life for the love of Christ! And as Mary says in the Magnificat, "he hath exalted the humble" and as in the beatitudes, "the meek shall inherit the earth." So now, all these years later, we honor these women and we are given another peek into the way things really are in the Kingdom of God! So next time you ask yourself what it means to be a woman, just look at God's "masterpieces" the saints for an illustration!
Here is a picture of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, painted by Caravaggio:
Today we remember St. Elizabeth of Hungary who lived for just twenty-four years! In Steinbeck's translation of The Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Nights, Merlin tells King Arthur that "Greatness lives in one who triumphs equally over defeat and victory." Elizabeth surely did that! For in her life she was given great riches but also great poverty, luxuries but also great hardships. And in her life, it was not her own greatness that shined through, but Christ who lived in her, who had already triumphed in great victory over sin and death.
Elizabeth was a princess. Her parents were the king and queen of Hungary. At four she had to leave her family to live with her future husband's family, as was the practice at that time and at just fourteen, she was married to her husband, Louis who was duke of Thuringia in Germany. She was passionately in love with her husband. Seeing her devotion to God, he always encouraged her in her faith. While she was dutches she opened up a hospital for the poor and a soup kitchen.
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| Rose Philippine Duchesne |
While her husband loved her and was kind to her, her in-laws were not. And when Louis died when she was twenty Elizabeth and her three children were evicted from their home. They lived in poverty. Yet Elizabeth was not embittered by her predicament. When her father, the king of Hungary, found out about her state, he had Elizabeth's lands restored to her. Yet, after securing her children's welfare, she chose to continue to live in poverty. She lived in a room in the hospital she had founded and cared for the sick and lepers.
Tomorrow, on the 18th, is the memorial of Rose Philippine Duchesne who came from France to America as a missionary to serve the Native Americans.
Saint Cecilia's memorial is on the 22nd of November. She was a very devoted Christian, bringing many to faith in Christ including her husband. After her husband was martyred, Cecilia was also sent for. It is said, that even up to the moment of her death she sang to the God. Because of that, she is the patron of music.
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| Saint Cecilia |
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| St. Margaret with her husband King Malcolm III |
The memorial of my soon-coming niece, Tula's patron saint, Catherine of Alexandria will be at the very end of the month. Catherine was born in Alexandria to parents that were pagan just three hundred years after the death of Christ. She became a Christian as a teenager and is said to have tried to convince the emperor at that time that the persecution of Christians was wrong. While his wife was converted, Emperor Maxentius still had Catherine thrown into prison. After leading several prisoners to Christ, she was killed.
The really neat thing about each of these women is how different they are. They each sought after sacrifice in their own way whether it was in giving to the poor, sacrificing a married life for a single life consecrated to prayer and physical children for spiritual children, or through sacrificing their very life for the love of Christ! And as Mary says in the Magnificat, "he hath exalted the humble" and as in the beatitudes, "the meek shall inherit the earth." So now, all these years later, we honor these women and we are given another peek into the way things really are in the Kingdom of God! So next time you ask yourself what it means to be a woman, just look at God's "masterpieces" the saints for an illustration!
Here is a picture of Saint Catherine of Alexandria, painted by Caravaggio:
