Elizabeth of Aragon

St. Elizabeth of Aragon St. Elizabeth of Aragon

Statue in the Church of the Mafra Palace, Portugal

Born 1271 Died 1336 Canonized1626 Feast 4 July Saints Portal

Aragonese and Valencian Royalty
House of Barcelona
Alfonso IIChildren include Peter (future Peter II of Aragon) Alfonso II, Count of Provence Peter IIChildren include James (future James I of Aragon, Valencia and Majorca)James I Peter (future Peter III of Aragon and I of Valencia and Sicily) James II of Majorca Isabella, Queen of France Peter III (I of Valencia and Sicily)Children include Alfonso (future Alfonso III of Aragon and I of Valencia) James (future James I of Sicily and II of Aragon and Valencia) Frederick II of Sicily Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal Alfonso III (I of Valencia)James II (I of Sicily)Children include Alfonso (future Alfonso IV of Aragon and II of Valencia)Alfonso IV (II of Valencia)Children include Peter (future Peter IV of Aragon and II of Valencia)Peter IV (II of Valencia)Children include John (future John I of Aragon and Valencia) Martin (future Martin II of Sicily and I of Aragon and Valencia) Eleanor, Queen of CastileGrandchildren include Ferdinand (future Ferdinand I of Aragon, Valencia and Sicily)John I Yolande, Queen of France Martin I (II of Sicily)

St. Elisabeth of Aragon (1271–4 July 1336) (Elisabet in Catalan, Isabel in Portuguese) was queen consort of Portugal and is, like her great-aunt St. Elisabeth of Hungary who had been canonized in 1235 for her miracles in Thuringia (Germany), a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church. She is also known as Rainha Santa Isabel in Portuguese (Queen Saint Elisabeth).

1 Marriage
2 Dowager Queen
3 Family and Ancestors
4 References

Marriage

She showed an early enthusiasm for religion: she said the full Divine Office daily, fasted and did other penances, and attended twice daily choral masses.

Elizabeth was married very early to Denis of Portugal, a poet, and known as Rei Lavrador, or the farmer king, because he planted a large pine forest, near Leiria. The wood from these trees would later be used to make the ships during the discoveries. Elizabeth quietly pursued the regular religious practices of her maidenhood, and was devoted to the poor and sick. Naturally, such a life was a reproach to many around her, and caused ill will in some quarters. A popular story is told of how her husband's jealousy was roused by an evil-speaking page; of how he condemned the queen's supposed guilty accomplice to a cruel death; and was finally convinced of her innocence by the strange accidental substitution of her accuser for the intended victim.

They had two children, a daughter Constance, who married Ferdinand IV of Castile, and a son Afonso (later Afonso IV of Portugal). The latter so greatly resented the favours shown to the king's illegitimate sons that he rebelled, and in 1323 war was declared between him and his father. Elisabeth, however, reconciled her husband and son, and is known in consequence as the "peacemaker".

Dowager Queen

Denis died in 1325, his son succeeding him. Elizabeth then retired to a convent of the Poor Clares (now known as Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha) which she had founded in 1314 at Coimbra. She took the habit of the Franciscan Order, wishing to devote the rest of her life to the poor and sick in obscurity. But she was called forth to act once more as peacemaker. In 1336 Afonso IV marched his troops against the Alfonso XI of Castile, to whom he had married his daughter Maria, and who had neglected and ill-treated her. In spite of age and weakness, the queen dowager insisted on hurrying to Estremoz, where the two kings' armies were drawn up. She again stopped the fighting and caused terms of peace to be arranged. But the exertion brought on her final illness; and as soon as her mission was fulfilled she died of a fever on 8 July 1336 at Estremoz Castle.

Elizabeth was buried at the Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Velha in Coimbra, in a magnificent Gothic sarcophag. In the early 17th century, her remains were transferred to a new sarcophagus made of silver and glass. After the monastery was abandoned due to frequent floods, her tomb was transferred to the new Monastery of Santa Clara-a-Nova, were it can be visited today.

Miracles were said to have followed her death. She was canonized by Pope Urban VIII on 25 May 1625,[1] and her feast is kept on 4 July, the day of her death and the date on which her feast was initially celebrated in the Roman Catholic calendar of saints. In 1694 the feast was moved to 8 July, outside the Octave of Saints Peter and Paul;[2] but in 1969 it was restored to its original date.

Family and Ancestors

She was named after her great-aunt St. Elisabeth of Hungary, but is known in Portuguese by "Isabel". She was a younger sister of Alfonso III of Aragon and James II of Aragon. She was also an older sister of Frederick III of Sicily.

Peter II of Aragon James I of Aragon Marie of Montpellier Peter III of Aragon Andrew II of Hungary Violant of Hungary Yolande de Courtenay Elizabeth of Aragon Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor Manfred of Sicily Bianca, Countess of Lancia Constantia of Hohenstaufen Amadeus IV of Savoy Beatrice of Savoy Anne of Burgundy

Preceded by
Beatrice of Castile Queen Consort of Portugal
1282- 1325Succeeded by
Beatrice of Castile

References

^ Ott, Michael T. (1912). "Pope Urban VIII". The Catholic Encyclopedia XV. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved on 2007-09-07.
^ Calendarium Romanum (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 96