St. Elizabeth of Portugal

St. Elizabeth of Portugal (1271–1336), queen and peacemaker, bore her husband's infidelities with patience. She founded hospitals and personally tended the sick. She died on a peace mission and was canonized in 1625.

St. Elizabeth was born in 1271, the daughter of Peter III, King of Aragon, and was named after her great-aunt, St. Elizabeth of Hungary. At the age of twelve she was married to King Denis of Portugal, to whom she bore two children.

Despite her husband's frequent infidelities, Elizabeth bore his failings with patience and prayer, and her gentle influence eventually led to his conversion. She was renowned for her charity to the poor, founding hospitals, orphanages, and houses for fallen women. She personally tended the sick and the lepers, and gave away vast sums in alms.

She was also a tireless peacemaker, intervening successfully to prevent wars between her husband and their son Alfonso, and between the kings of Portugal, Aragon, and Castile. After her husband's death in 1325, she entered the Third Order of St. Francis and retired to a convent of Poor Clares she had founded at Coimbra. She died on July 4, 1336, while on a journey of reconciliation between her son, now King Alfonso IV, and the King of Castile. She was canonized by Pope Urban VIII in 1625.

St. Elizabeth of Portugal — Butler’s Lives of the Saints