Having considered how St. Elizabeth of Hungary became Patroness of the SFO and TOR (Cfr. Koinonia 2007-1), her example in the area of family life as spouse and mother (Cfr. Koinonia 2007-2), her relations with the Friars Minor, as well as her docility in allowing herself to be guided spiritually by suitable and prepared people (Cfr. Koinonia 2007-3), we members of the CAS thought it would be good to deal with another important theme in the life of the saint: her sense of justice and her service to the poor.

The historiography sources of the XIII century refer to this particular sensitivity of St. Elizabeth, which characterised her whole life, beginning with her childhood, but especially during the period lived at the Court of Thuringin with her husband Louis and later outside the Court, when in direct contact with the poor and ill.

Our exposition will follow the following order: 1. Testimony of her adolescence and youth; 2. Awareness of justice at the Court of Thuringin; 3. Works of mercy; 4. Motivation of her being and activity; Conclusion.

Jude and Isentrude, two of the maids and companions of Elizabeth, left us some very significant testimonies, which reflect her sense of justice and love for the poor, in their declarations at the process of canonisation of the saint.¹

Jude, who knew Elizabeth from her childhood, declared that "in playing rings and every other game, she gave one-tenth of her winnings to the poorer children with whom she played, giving them small gifts".²

It is important to underline that, in addition to a good personal disposition, spiritual direction is an essential element for the formation of a conscience in the life of every Christian.

As we have already seen,⁴ the spiritual direction of Br. Ruggero, a Friar of the Ordinis Minorum and, later, of Master Corrado, a member of the secular clergy, was an important chapter in the life of St. Elizabeth, especially in the area of service to the poor and social justice. We here offer two paragraphs from the testimony which Isentrude gave during her two declarations to the process of canonisation:

"Having been promised obedience by Elizabeth, Master Corrado ordered her not to use the goods of her husband if she did not have a sure knowledge of their origin. Elizabeth observed this precept faithfully, so much so that seated at table to the right of her husband, she abstained from all those things which came from the obligations and sacrifices of servants. She did not eat food if she did not know that they came from the proper and legitimate goods of her husband beforehand".⁵

"The blessed Elizabeth provided for herself and her own from goods assigned to her as family gifts. When she did not find objects to sell, or other things, she begged what was necessary from the more well-to-do, making use of collaborators. Elizabeth seemed to be more pleased with these (begged) things than with the food of the court. She always tried to keep to the directives of Master Corrado. Corrado also ordered her never to use the goods of anyone else if she felt offended in conscience by such goods. It often happened, then, that she suffered great penury, feeding herself only with buns sweetened with honey. She was, very willingly, content with bread alone when she could use it tranquilly. Indeed, she suffered thirst and hunger in the midst of the various dishes on the table of her husband. He husband, however, always provided all the goods which could be of use to Elizabeth".⁶

A good conscience knows how to suffer and to rejoice when it can live in truth and charity. Thus it was with Elizabeth and her maidservants, considered by her to be her travelling companions and sisters:

"Elizabeth felt mortified more by the privations of her maids than by her own when she could not give them their legitimate rewards. Therefore, when she asked the services of the peasants and obtained from them their legitimate foods, Elizabeth used to say to her maids: Now you can only eat. Once, having only legitimate wine at her disposal, fortunately coming from the vineyards of her husband, she exclaimed: Now you can only drink. Therefore, when she knew that the food and drink were of legitimate origin, she would clap her hands, saying: Good for us, we will now eat and drink".⁷

The sense of social justice was so strong in Elizabeth that even her husband began to accept these criteria of justice, which would be the reason for their disapproval on the part of their families and other members of the Court. Despite this, Elizabeth did not allow herself to be intimidated and went ever further in her desire for justice to be done in the whole territory governed by her husband. Isentrude in this regard, said:

"In this particular and unusual way of living, Elizabeth herself and her husband (who had promised it) very patiently underwent a lot of disapproval, expressed also to their faces by family members.

Elizabeth, while abstaining from illegitimately acquired goods, also began to give compensation, according to her possibilities, to those who had been submitted to violence".⁸

According to the testimonies gathered during the process of canonisation, Elizabeth not only worried about everyone receiving what corresponded to them, but also that everyone could acquire their sustenance with dignity:

"Preoccupying herself about the population in view of the new harvest, Elizabeth gave everyone she could suitable shirts and shoes so that they would not injure their feet with the stubble: she provided sickles for the harvest and so they could feed themselves through their own work. She gave clothes, which she had acquired from the market, to the invalids who were not fit for work".⁹

The sensitivity of Elizabeth towards all in regard to the sense of justice was so fine that Isentrude herself added this other interesting fact:

"She could not bear the bodies of the dead being dressed with new clothes and shirts, wishing that such clothes would be better given to the poor. It was better to use worn clothes for the dead".¹⁰

This option for social justice would later imply a situation of vulnerability and penury for Elizabeth and her children, which would come about, especially, at the time of the death of Louis.

Isentrude left us this moving testimony:

"After the death of her husband, Elizabeth was expelled from the castle [of Wartburg] and deprived of all the possessions of her dowry by some vassals of her spouse, as his brother was still too young. Going down into the city [Eisenach] beneath the castle, Elizabeth entered a poor house, used by an innkeeper. There were tavern vases and ornaments stored there, pigs also were kept there. Elizabeth passed that night in the place with great joy. At about one o’clock in the morning, while it was still dark, she went to the Friars Minor in the same city of Eisenach, asking them to sing the hymn Te Deum laudamus, rejoicing and thanking the Lord for her suffering. The next day, since non of the well-to-do had the courage to receive her in hospitality, Elizabeth, with her companion, went to church and remained seated a long time. During that season, which was bitterly cold, she did not know where to turn with the children, driven from the castle; she did not know where she could lay the heads of her children, to whom, by paternal succession, the property of the castle belonged".¹¹

"We are in the autumn of 1227. Where were the children sent? The sources cover everything with respectful silence. The first-born, Hermann, heir to the throne, was sent to the castle of Creuzburg (under the care of trusted men) to await his coming of age and the assumption of the government of Thuringin, provisionally ruled by his uncle Henry called Raspe. His sister Sophia (four years old) lived with Hermann. She would become the spouse of the Duke of Brabant… Gertrude, at eight months, was entrusted to the Premonstratentian Sisters of Altenburg (a city of Thuringin), where she would be Abbess from the age of twenty. She died in 1297. Her cult was recognised by Clement VI. Elizabeth remained alone with the maids. Hermann, at the age of sixteen, took possession of the feudal kingdom of Thuringin as Landgrave in 1238. When only eighteen, he was poisoned by a woman, Bertha, under orders of his uncle Henry, who wanted to re-take the throne of Thuringin. Hermann was buried in the monastery of Reinhardsbrunn, beside his father Louis IV…"¹².

The promotion of social justice exercised by St. Elizabeth was also accompanied by works of mercy, in which she was personally involved.

Testimonies to this are very numerous, and not all were gathered during the process of canonisation. This is how it was revealed by the same Isentrude, who underlined, at the same time, the consistency of the saint’s life:

"Elizabeth did all these things and many others worthy to be remembered, which, however, were not mentioned while her husband was still alive, with whom she lived praiseworthily in marriage, loving each other with wonderful affection, exhorting and sweetly encouraging each other to the praise of God and to the service of others".¹³

It is deduced from testimonies that Elizabeth carried out various works of mercy with joy of heart:

"Although she could not abide the pollution of the air, she still, however, supported the stench of the sick without any disgust during summer, which the maids supported with difficulty, suffering and grumbling. She joyfully treated the sick with her own hands and dried their faces, dribbles, spit and the filth of their lips and noses with her own head scarf"¹⁴.

"Elizabeth distributed all these things [food, clothes and working tools] joyfully with her own hands … She did charitable works with great joy and serenity of face…".¹⁵

Her practical teaching was also an integral part of Elizabeth’s works of mercy:

"Once, when she had no money, she gave shawls and other articles of silk to the women, saying: I don’t want you to use these articles out of vanity, but for you to sell them for your needs...". ¹⁶

The powerful testimony of Christian life which Elizabeth left to the Church and, especially, to the Franciscan Family, leads us to ask ourselves: What led Elizabeth to live in this very radical way? What was the fundamental reason? What was the deep down motivation?

I think we can find some answers to these questions in the letter which Pope Benedict XVI wrote to the Primate of Hungary, Cardinal Péter Erdö:

"Elizabeth, a "European" Saint, was born into a social context of recent evangelization. Andrew and Gertrude, parents of this authentic pearl of the new Christian Hungary, were careful to instil in her an awareness of her own dignity as God's adoptive daughter. Elizabeth made her own the programme of Jesus Christ, Son of God, who in becoming man "emptied himself, taking the form of a servant" (Phil 2: 7). Thanks to the help of her excellent teachers, she trod in the footsteps of St Francis of Assisi and set Christ, the one Redeemer of humanity, as her personal and ultimate goal and model in life".¹⁷

Three elements stand out in this paragraph of the letter:

a. Awareness of her own dignity as God's adoptive daughter;

b. The help she received from excellent teachers;

c. The conformity of her life to that of Christ, in the footprints of St. Francis of Assisi.

Certainly, "The franciscan vocation of Elizabeth to poverty had the love of the Lord as its basis. But this was supplemented by a strong sense of justice. The life at court had put her in contact with the abuses of the poor committed by the nobles. She saw a way to bring about justice in a world of injustice in personal poverty. That was the reason for which, faced by the lavish feasts of the castle, she refused to eat food which she wasn’t sure had come from a legitimate source".¹⁸

Yes, Elizabeth found a just way to confront the injustices of her time and to generate a new awareness and sensitivity, which is close to our modern sensitivity, in poverty.¹⁹

The celebration of the next Elective General Chapter of the SFO will take place precisely in Hungary (from the 15th to 22nd November 2008), the land which saw the birth of St. Elizabeth.

May God grant that all of us, whether in the preparation of the Chapter or in what follows, may be able to make the sentiments of St. Elizabeth our own, just as she made the sentiments of Jesus Christ hers.

Footnotes

1. Cfr. Detti delle quattro ancelle (1232-1235), in L. TEMPERINI, Santa Elisabetta d’Ungheria secondo le fonti storiche (Rome 2006) 19-51.
2. Ibid., 8. "Jude, ..., from the age of five I became the companion of Elizabeth, who was then four years old" (Ibid., 1).
3. Ibid., 23.
4. In the article of Koinonia 2007-3, dedicated precisely to this theme, and which can be read on the web page: http://www.ciofs.org/Koinonia/bka5itic.htm
5. Cfr. Detti delle quatto ancelle, 25. In the explanatory note n. 1 at the foot of the page of the Spanish version found at: http://www.francescanitor.org/descargas/cuatro_sirvientas.pdf can be read: "The women who wished to live their state of penance in a more committed way, promissed obedience to the visitator or confessor. This is what Clare did to St. francis, as Clare herself stated in her Testament".
6. Cfr. Detti delle quattro ancelle, 28-29.
7. Ibid., 31-34.
8. Ibid., 36-37.
9. Ibid., 67.
10. Ibid., 53. 
11. Ibid., 79-81.
12. Cfr. L. TEMPERINI, Santa Elisabetta d’Ungheria secondo le fonti storiche (Rome 2006) 32, Note 16.
13. Ibid., 76
14. Ibid., 61.
15. Ibid., 68.75.
16. Ibid., 69.
17. On the occasion of the celebrationfor for the VII Centenary of the birth of St. Elizabeth of Thuringin or Hungary (Vatican, 27th Mayo 2007), http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2007/documents/hf_ben-xvi_let_20070527_primate-ungheria_it.html
18. F. SCOCCA, Povertà e giustizia in S. Elisabetta, in Francesco, il volto secolare, n. 10 (October 2007) 16.
19. Ibid.