St. Elizabeth of Portugal

St. Elizabeth of Portugal was born in 1271, most likely at Zaragoza in Aragon, and died on 4 July 1336 at Estremoz, Portugal. Named after her great-aunt St. Elizabeth of Hungary, she was married while still a girl to King Denis of Portugal and became a devoted queen, rising early for prayer, living simply amid the wealth of the court, and pouring her resources into hospitals, orphanages, and shelters for the poor and for fallen women. A member of the Third Order of St. Francis, she bore her husband's infidelities with remarkable patience.

She is honored above all as a peacemaker, personally riding between opposing armies to reconcile her husband with their rebellious son Afonso and to avert war between Portugal and neighboring kingdoms. The beloved legend of the miracle of the roses tells how bread she was secretly carrying to the poor turned into roses when the king demanded to see what she hid in her cloak. After King Denis died she retired near the Poor Clares at Coimbra, and she was canonized by Pope Urban VIII in 1625.