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Dear brothers and sisters,
Below are the audio recordings on the Sts. Elizabeth of Hungary & Angela of Foligno from this week.
In English (recorded on Monday, June 5, 2023):
In Cantonese (recorded on Sunday, June 4, 2023):
You can review our past prayer meetings on my blog:
Below are some highlights of our last prayer group talk.
St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) and St. Angela of Foligno (1248-1309) are Secular Franciscan saints of the 13th century. Both were widows who did charitable works. Elizabeth was very pious since childhood, whereas Angela was converted to a devout way of life later.
Elizabeth was born in 1207. She is called St. Elizabeth of Hungary because she was the daughter of Andrew II, the rich and powerful King of Hungary. She is also called St Elizabeth of Thuringia, for already at the age of one she was engaged to the future Ludwig IV or Louis IV of Thuringia in central Germany. At the age of four, Elizabeth moved to Thuringia to be raised in the same castle with Ludwig. When Ludwig came of age, he married Elizabeth.Pope Benedict XVI said, “Elizabeth diligently practiced works of mercy: she would give food and drink to those who knocked at her door, she procured clothing, paid debts, cared for the sick and buried the dead. Coming down from her castle, she often visited the homes of the poor with her ladies-in-waiting, bringing them bread, meat, flour and other food. She distributed the food personally and attentively checked the clothing and mattresses of the poor. This behaviour was reported to her husband, who not only was not displeased but answered her accusers, ‘So long as she does not sell the castle, I am happy with her!’.”
Elizabeth bore three children. However, Ludwig died of a fever in 1227 as he was setting out on a crusade. Elizabeth and her children were banished by a usurping brother-in-law. She experienced poverty. When reinstated she provided for her children and became a Franciscan teritary.
Her spiritual director reported the following event to Pope Gregory IX: “On Good Friday in 1228, having placed her hands on the altar in the chapel of her city, Eisenach, to which she had welcomed the Friars Minor, in the presence of several friars and relatives Elizabeth renounced her own will and all the vanities of the world. She also wanted to resign all her possessions, but I dissuaded her out of love for the poor. Shortly afterwards she built a hospital, gathered the sick and invalids and served at her own table the most wretched and deprived. When I reprimanded her for these things, Elizabeth answered that she received from the poor special grace and humility”
In the last three years of her life, Elizabeth served the sick in the hospital she founded. She died on November 17 and after four years Pope Gregory IX canonized her.
Born on January 4, 1248, Angela of Foligno soon lost her father and received little supervision from her mother. She married at the age of 20 and lived a worldly and carefree life. Pope Benedict XVI said, “Certain events, such as the violent earthquake in 1279, a hurricane, the endless war against Perugia and its harsh consequences, affected the life of Angela who little by little became aware of her sins, until she took a decisive step. In 1285 she called upon St Francis, who appeared to her in a vision and asked his advice on making a good general Confession. She then went to Confession with a Friar in San Feliciano. Three years later, on her path of conversion she reached another turning point: she was released from any emotional ties. In the space of a few months, her mother’s death was followed by the death of her husband and those of all her children. She therefore sold her possessions and in 1291 enrolled in the Third Order of St Francis. She died in Foligno on 4 January 1309.”
Regarding her mystical experience, Pope Benedict commented: “Angela understood the central reality in a profound way: what would save her from her ‘unworthiness’ and from ‘deserving hell’ would not be her ‘union with God’ or her possession of the ‘truth’ but Jesus Crucified, ‘his crucifixion for me’, his love.”
God told Angela: “Write that anyone who wishes to preserve grace must not lift the eyes of his soul from the Cross, either in the joy or in the sadness that I grant or permit him”.
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God bless,
Father Anthony
