Saint Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) devoted her life and her financial resources to the improvement of the lives of the sick and poor. The daughter of the King of Hungary, she renounced her privileged life and worked to serve the less fortunate, creating such charitable institutions as a hospital for lepers and the first orphanage in Central Europe.

Elizabeth of Hungary was a thirteenth-century member of the Hungarian and German royalty who devoted her energy and fortune to the assistance of the sick and poor in the German region of Thuringia. Her work included feeding the hungry, building a hospital, and creating the first orphanage in Central Europe. A beloved figure of selflessness and charity among her people, her death brought reports that she had worked miracles on the behalf of those who prayed for her intervention. She was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1235.

Elizabeth was born...