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St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207–1231) was a wealthy princess. As was common with royalty in her day, when she was only four years old, she was betrothed to the prince of a neighboring country in what is modern-day Germany.
At the age of fourteen, she married King Ludwig IV, thus uniting two kingdoms. Although St. Elizabeth had the money and power to assure herself a life of ease, she was inspired by St. Francis of Assisi to spend much of her wealth bettering the lives of the poor in her kingdom.
Not only did she use her money, but she personally became involved in the lives of the sick, visiting them, binding their wounds, and eventually founding two hospitals and an orphanage. Once she even carried a young leper to her own room in the palace.
St. Elizabeth was the opposite of the scribes who took the property of the widows (Mark 12:38); she shared her wealth. She shared a sadness with the impoverished yet generous widow in the same passage (Mark 12:42-44): She was unexpectedly widowed…
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