Reliquaries of St Elizabeth of Hungary

St Elizabeth of Hungary was canonized on Pentecost of the year 1235, May 25th, just over three-and-a-half years after her death, the third Franciscan Saint, and first woman among them, since at the time St Clare of Assisi was still alive in this world. She was one of the very earliest prominent members of the Third Order, and has long been honored as its chief patron alongside St Louis IX, king of France. (St Francis himself and St Anthony of Padua were canonized before her, and even more rapidly, by the same pope, Gregory IX.)

The Polyptych of St Anthony, 1460-70, made by Piero della Francesca (1412-92) for the Franciscan church of St Anthony in Perugia. At top, the Annunciation; in the middle (left to right), Ss Anthony and John the Baptist, the Madonna and Child, and Ss Francis and Elizabeth of Hungary; in the band below them, St Clare on the left, and St Agatha on the right. In the predella are shown three miracles: St Anthony raising a dead girl to life, St Francis receiving the stigmata, and St Elizabeth saving a child that had fallen into a well. (Public domain image from Wikimedia Commons.)

There appears to have been some confusion over the precise date of St Elizabeth’s death right from the beginning. Before and after the Tridentine reform, her feast was kept by almost all the places that observed it on November 19th, and this is the day she was given when she was added to the Roman general calendar in 1670. However, it is now generally accepted that she died on the 17th, and the 19th was the day of her burial. On the post-Conciliar general calendar, the 17th was opened up by the suppression of St Gregory the Wonderworker (one of the reformers’ least intelligent decisions), and she has been moved to that day. But ironically, in Germany, where her cultus was most fervent and important, the 17th belongs to St Gertrude the Great, and Elizabeth is still on the 19th.

She is called “of Hungary” because she was the daughter of Andrew II, king of that nation, but she was married very young to a German nobleman, Louis, the landgrave of Thuringia. Her maternal aunt, Hedwig, duchess of Silesia, is also a canonized Saint, celebrated on October 16th. After her death and canonization, her shrine in the city of Marburg, where she died (about 54 miles north of Frankfurt), became a very important pilgrimage center.

Unsurprisingly, given her various royal connections, several very impressive reliquaries were made for her. The most notable of these is a reliquary in the form of a large chalice which formerly contained her skull. The cup inside is an agate bowl made sometime between the fourth and seventh centuries; it is decorated with a large number of jewels, including some carved in very ancient times. The lid is decorated with parts of two royal crowns of the 13th century. During the Thirty Years’ War, it was looted by Swedish troops from a fortress in Würzburg, and now resides in the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm. There are a huge number of photographs showing its details at the relevant page of Wikimedia Commons. (First four images by Ola Myrin SHM, CC BY 4.0)

A clearer view of the agate bowl.

Two examples of the carved jewels attached to the reliquary. I was unable to find any specific information about them, but I am pretty sure this one is ancient Roman...

while this one would be contemporary to the making of the reliquary. (Both images by Bengt A Lundberg / Riksantikvarieämbetet, CC BY 2.5)

Saint Elizabeth had founded a hospital in Marburg in 1228, and was buried within its chapel when she died three years later. Shortly after her canonization, construction began on a magnificent new church over her gravesite, and the following year, her remains were transferred to a new shrine; the church was completed and consecrated in 1283. Although it is was officially dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it has always been informally known as the Elizabethkirche. (Both images from Wikimedia Commons: exterior view by A. Savin, FAL 1.3; interior view © Heinrich Stürzl, CC BY-SA 4.0).

Sadly, in the early decades of the 16th century, one of her own descendants, Philip, the landgrave of Hesse, turned protestant, and attempted to have the relics destroyed; they were scattered, but later recovered, and brought to various churches in Catholic cities. The shrine itself, however, remains in its place. On the front are shown Christ and six of the twelve Apostles...

with the other six and a scene of the Crucifixion (now damaged) on the back.

On one of the short sides, the Virgin and Child...

and on the other, St Elizabeth.

On the upper part are shown various episodes from St Elizabeth’s life.

Other reliquaries: a gilded glass reliquary of the late 14th century, with images of the Madonna and Child, the Crucifixion, St Elizabeth and St Agnes.

A reliquary of her arm, contemporary with the chalice reliquary shown above, in the chapel of Sayn Castle in Germany.

The relic of her skull is now at the cathedral of Ss Michael and Gudula in Brussels, Belgium.

A Gothic metal reliquary made in 1344, now in the treasury museum of St Nicholas in Bari, Italy.

Another in the cathedral of Erfurt, Germany.