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This HUGE bronze PLAQUE (202 mm x 162 mm) has been cast in
This plaque has been designed and cast by the German religious artist, Egino WEINERT.
Elisabeth of Hungary (German: Heilige Elisabeth von Thüringen, Hungarian: Árpád-házi Szent Erzsébet, July 7, 1207 – November 17, 1231) was a princess of the Kingdom of Hungary and a Catholic saint. According to tradition, she was born in the castle of Sárospatak, Hungary, on July 7, 1207, according to a different tradition she was born in Preßburg, Kingdom of Hungary (modern-day Bratislava, Slovakia), where she lived at the Bratislava Castle until the age of four. She was the daughter of Andrew II of Hungary and Gertrude of Merania, and at age four was brought to the court of the rulers of Thuringia in central Germany, to become a future bride who would reinforce political alliances between the families. Elisabeth was married at the age of 14, widowed at 20, relinquished her wealth to the poor, built hospitals, and became a symbol of Christian charity in
In 1221, at the age of fourteen, Elisabeth married Ludwig; the same year he was crowned Ludwig IV, and the marriage appears to have been happy. In 1223, Franciscan monks arrived, and the teenage Elisabeth not only learned about the ideals of Francis of Assisi, but started to live them. Ludwig was not upset by his wife's charitable efforts, believing that the distribution of his wealth to the poor would bring eternal reward; he is venerated in Thuringia as a saint (without being canonized by the Church, unlike his wife).
Elisabeth became affiliated with the Third Order of St. Francis, a lay Franciscan group, probably without becoming an official Tertiary, and built a hospital at Marburg for the poor and the sick with the money from her dowry. Her vita describes how she ministered to the sick and continued to give money to the poor. In 1231, she died in
size 202 mm x 162 mm
weight – 1024 gr (1kg 24 gr)
metal – bronze, old nice patina
Early life and marriage
A sermon printed in 1497 by the Franciscan Osvaldus de Lasco, a church official in
Elisabeth is perhaps best known for the legend which says that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, her husband asked her what was in the pouch; Elisabeth opened it and the bread turned into roses. How realistic this story is remains doubtful, since her husband, according to the vitae, was never troubled by her charity and in fact supported it. In some versions of the story, it is her brother in law, Heinrich Raspe, who questions here. The miracle, the earliest example of what came to be called the Miracle of the roses, is commemorated in many images of the saints--prayer cards, statues, paintings. One famous statue is in Budapest, in front of the neo-Gothic church dedicated to her at Roses' Square (Rózsák tere).
Legacy
Very soon after the death of Elisabeth, miracles were reported that happened at her grave in the church of the hospital, especially miracles of healing. On the suggestion of Konrad, and by papal command, examinations were held of those who had been healed between August, 1232, and January, 1235. The results of those examinations was supplemented by a brief vita of the saint-to-be, and together with the testimony of Elisabeth's handmaidens (bound in a booklet called the Libellus de dictis quatuor ancillarum s. Elisabeth confectus), proved sufficient reason for the quick canonization of Elisabeth on 27 May 1235 in Perugia--no doubt helped along by her family's power and influence. Very soon after her death, hagiographical texts of her life appeared all over
She was canonized by Pope Gregory IX in the year 1235. This papal charter is on display in the Schatzkammer of the Deutschordenskirche in
Elisabeth is perhaps best known for the legend which says that whilst she was taking bread to the poor in secret, her husband asked her what was in the pouch; Elisabeth opened it and the bread turned into roses. How realistic this story is remains doubtful, since her husband, according to the vitae, was never troubled by her charity and in fact supported it. In some versions of the story, it is her brother in law, Heinrich Raspe, who questions here. The miracle, the earliest example of what came to be called the Miracle of the roses, is commemorated in many images of the saints--prayer cards, statues, paintings. One famous statue is in Budapest, in front of the neo-Gothic church dedicated to her at Roses' Square (Rózsák tere).
Another popular story about St. Elisabeth, also found in Dietrich of Apolda's Vita, relates how she laid a leper in the bed she shared with her husband. When Ludwig discovered what she had done, he is said to have snatched off the bedclothes in great indignation, but at that instant "Almighty God opened the eyes of his soul, and instead of a leper he saw the figure of Christ crucified stretched upon the bed."
Elisabeth's shrine became one of the main German centers of pilgrimage of the 14th century and early 15th century. During the course of the 15th century, the popularity of the cult of St. Elisabeth slowly faded, though to some extent this was mitigated by an aristocratic devotion to St. Elisabeth, since through her daughter Sophia she was an ancestor of many leading aristocratic German families. But three hundred years after her death, one of Elisabeth's many descendants, the Landgrave Philip I "the Magnanimous" of Hesse, a leader of the Protestant Reformation and one of the most important supporters of Martin Luther, raided the church in Marburg and demanded that the Teutonic Order hand over Elisabeth's bones, in order to disperse her relics and thus put an end to the already declining pilgrimages to Marburg. Philip also took away the crowned agate chalice in which St. Elisabeth's head rested, but returned it after being imprisoned by Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor. The chalice was subsequently plundered by Swedish troops during the Thirty Years' War and is now on display at the
2007 celebrations
The year 2007 was proclaimed "Elisabeth Year" in
A new musical based on Elisabeth's life, Elisabeth--die Legende einer Heiligen ("Elisabeth--Legend of a Saint"), starring Sabrina Weckerlin as Elisabeth, Armin Kahn as Ludwig, and Chris Murray as Konrad, premiered in
