Sunday, November 17, 2013

November 17: St. Elisabeth of Hungary


St. Elisabeth of Hungary
St. Martin Church,
Ravensburg
Photo by Andreas Pfarrkirch

History

Saint Elisabeth was the daughter of the King of Hungary, so she was born a princess. Her parents promised that she would marry Prince Louis of Thuringia (a kingdom in what is now central Germany) when Elisabeth was only four years old and Louis was a baby! Elisabeth was a very holy woman who always shared her riches with the poor. That made her husband’s parents angry, because they thought it wasn’t right for a princess to give away things from the royal treasury. Once when she was trying to leave the castle with a basket of bread under her cloak, Louis stopped her and asked to see what she was carrying. When she showed him the basket, all the bread had turned to roses. This miracle not only kept her from getting in trouble with her in-laws, it helped Louis become a Christian. Eventually, Louis became as devoted to Jesus as Elisabeth was.

Activity

Because of the “miracle of roses” that Elisabeth received from God, she is the patron saint of bakers. Today, bake some very special bread: cinnamon rolls shaped like roses! You can follow the instructions here (use your own recipe or the one included on that page). I always add cream-cheese icing to our cinnamon rolls, so I guess our roses look like they've been through a snow storm! If you are adventurous, you might want to try the recipe for these Red Velvet Rolls with frosting tinted pink for red rose rolls.

For moms of many, moms of newborns, or working moms, you can take a shortcut by using frozen cinnamon rolls, setting them to thaw in a muffin pan and using this nifty trick from the Bread Monk as soon as they are thawed enough to snip an "X" into the top with a pair of kitchen shears. Jumbo-sized refrigerated cinnamon rolls might work as well, but I haven't tried it myself.

Saint Elisabeth of Hungary, pray for us! 

More reading for parents:

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