"St. Elizabeth of Hungary"
Eleanor Fortesque Brickdale

This delicate watercolor of St. Elizabeth of Hungary (1207-1231) suggests her gentle, loving nature. It portrays the Miracle of the Roses. She was a young and very devout queen, having been told about St. Francis of Assisi at an early age and wanting to live like him. Daily she would secretly take bread out of the castle to feed the poor. But some in the castle thought she was stealing. So one day her husband, the king, confronted her, and when she went to show him what she carried in her dress, the loaves of bread turned into roses.

The roses persuaded her husband that God was blessing her actions. He died a little while later while going to fight in the Crusades. She was deeply saddened by his passing and vowed she would never marry again. She was 20. She joined the Third Order of St Francis and gave away most of her possessions and built a Franciscan hospital. There she took care of the sick until her death at age 24. Known and beloved by so many, she was canonized just four years later, becoming one of the great Saints of the Middle Ages.

This beautiful painting is from a 1910 book, The Story of St. Elizabeth, written by William Canton and illustrated by Eleanor Fortesque Brickdale. She was an artist and illustrator of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries who had great skill in evoking the character of her subjects. The caption for this one is, "A Shower of Red and White Roses Was Scattered over the Ground." You can find digital copies of the book online as it is long out of copyright. This print is from page 79.

Elizabeth is a Patron Saint of brides, young children, bakers, and many others. Her Feast Day is November 19.

** IMPORTANT ** The image is smaller than the paper! There is a white border of about 0.5" inch for 5x7", 1.3" for 8.5x11, or 1.6" for 11x14" pictures. The border gives the prints a finished look, and lets them look good in frames without using a matt.

- Acid-free paper
- Archival pigments, rated to last for generations.
- Cardboard backer
- Above story of the art
- Enclosed in a tight-fitting, crystal clear bag.

Thanks for your interest!

Thanks!
Sue & John

"In order to communicate the message entrusted to her by Christ, the Church needs art." ~ St. Pope John Paul II

Original image is out-of-copyright. Descriptive text and image alterations (hence the whole new image) © by Sue Kouma Johnson - Classic Catholic Art.