St Elizabeth of Portugal
Today we celebrate the feast day of St. Elizabeth. St. Elizabeth is someone who tends to be illustrated with a royal garb with a dove. When St. Elizabeth was born during the year 1271, her father who was Pedro III, future king of Aragon, was reconciled with his father James, who was the reigning monarch. Through all of the key and impactful influences surrounding her early years, she was able to quickly learn about self-discipline and she had acquired a taste for spirituality.
All the things that she learned from her role models helped her when she was 12. When St. Elizabeth was 12, she was given in marriage to Denis who was the king of Portugal. During this difficult time St. Elizabeth was able to gain a pattern of life conducive to growth in God’s love, she was able to gain this through her exercises of piety, including daily Mass, through her exercise of charity, by which she was able to befriend and help pilgrims, strangers, the sick, and the poor. During this time St. Elizabeth was able to remain devoted and faithful to her husband, whose infidelity to her was a scandal to the kingdom. Denis, was someone who received many of her peace endeavors. St. Elizabeth was someone who sought peace for him with God, and was finally rewarded that after he gave up his life of sin.
St. Elizabeth had repeatedly sought and effected peace between the king and their rebellious son Alfonso. St. Elizabeth also made sure that she acted as peacemaker in the struggle between Ferdinand, who was the king of Aragon, and his cousin James, who had claimed the crown. And finally from Coimbra, where she was able to retire as a Franciscan tertiary to the monastery of the Poor Clares after the death of her husband had occurred, St. Elizabeth set out and was able to bring about a lasting peace between her son Alfonso, now king of Portugal, and his son-in-law, the king of Castile.
Prayer to St. Elizabeth
St. Elizabeth intercede that we may be able to guide more people to Christ so that we may be able to spread his love and mercy to others. St. Elizabeth help us to be peacemakers and build a better relationship with everyone that we meet.
Amen
St. Elizabeth pray for us
St. Joseph pray for us
May we continue to strengthen our journey to sainthood and keep others in our prayers.
Works cited: Information (read from, not taken):
Franciscan media. “Saint Elizabeth of Portugal. ”Saint Elizabeth of Portugal | Franciscan Media. Accessed July 4 2021.
Images:
Saint Elizabeth of Portugal. July 4, 2021. Saint Elizabeth of Portugal - Google Search