On the calendar of the Usus Antiquior, today is the feast of St Elizabeth, Queen of Portugal, who died on July 4th, her feast day in the Novus Ordo, in 1336. She was born into the royal house of Aragon in 1271 and married Denis, King of Portugal, at age 17. Though Denis was an effective ruler during his long reign (1279–1325), he lived a dissolute personal life, fathering six illegitimate children with five different mistresses. He often neglected Elizabeth but did not interfere with her devout prayer life or her extensive charitable works.
Elizabeth prayed fervently for his conversion, which finally occurred on his deathbed after a long illness. She also cared for his other children and worked for peace between him and their son, the future King Afonso IV, since Denis had shown preference to his illegitimate son, Afonso Sanches.
After Denis’s death, Elizabeth joined the Franciscan Third Order and retired to a private residence near a convent of Poor Clares she had founded in Coimbra. In 1336, while intervening in a conflict between her son and his son-in-law, King Alfonso XI of Castile, she succumbed to the summer heat and died shortly afterward. Her remains were transferred to the Poor Clares’ church in Coimbra, where they remain to this day. She was beatified in 1526 and canonized in 1625.
Urban VIII and the Latin Hymns of St Elizabeth
The Pope who canonized Elizabeth, Urban VIII (1623–1644), is well known for his breviary reforms, in which he revised many of the Church’s hymns to reflect classical Latin style and meter. His efforts were not without controversy, giving rise to the famous saying, “accessit Latinitas, recessit pietas— Latinity came in (meaning ‘good’, Classical Latinity), and piety went out.”
Urban personally composed hymns for three saints whose feasts he added to the general calendar: St Hermenegild, St Martina, and St Elizabeth. Of the three, the hymns he wrote for St Elizabeth are considered his most successful. Despite their unusual meters requiring new melodies, the vocabulary stays within traditional Christian Latin usage and avoids the ornate classical references found in the hymns for St Martina.
Vespers and Matins Hymn
Domáre cordis impetus Elísabeth
Fortis, inopsque Deo
Servíre, regno práetulit.
En fúlgidis recepta caeli sédibus,
Sidereáeque domus
Ditáta sanctis gaudiis.
Nunc regnat inter cáelites beátior,
Et premit astra, docens
Quae vera sint regni bona.
Patri potestas, Filióque gloria,
Perpetuumque decus
Tibi sit, alme Spíritus. Amen.
Translation by Fr Edward Caswall:
Pure, meek, with soul serene,
Sweeter to her it was to serve unseen
Her God, than reign a queen.
Now far above our sight,
Enthroned upon the star-paved azure height,
She reigns in realms of light;
So long as time shall flow,
Teaching to all who sit on thrones below,
The good that power can do.
To God, the Father and Son
And Paraclete, be glory, Three in One,
While endless ages run. Amen.
(A setting of this hymn in alternating polyphony and chant was composed by Matías García Benayas [†1737].)
Lauds Hymn and the Miracle of the Roses
This hymn references a miracle also attributed to several other saints, including her great aunt and namesake of Hungary: the Miracle of the Roses. As the story goes, Elizabeth was carrying food in her cloak to the poor when King Denis stopped her. Accused of wasting royal resources, she opened her cloak—revealing roses instead of bread, despite it being winter. This story is very much out of keeping with what we know of King Denis’ character, and in this case is generally regarded as apocryphal.
Opus decusque regium relíqueras,
Elísabeth, Dei dicáta númini:
Recepta nunc beáris inter Angelos;
Libens ab hostium tuére nos dolis.
Praei, viamque, dux salútis índica:
Sequémur: O sit una mens fidelium,
Odor bonus sit omnis actio, tuis
Id ínnuit rosis operta cáritas.
Beáta cáritas, in arce síderum
Potens locáre nos per omne sáeculum:
Patríque, Filióque summa gloria,
Tibíque laus perennis, alme Spíritus. Amen.
Translation by Fr Caswall:
Riches and regal throne, for Christ’s dear sake,
True saint, thou didst despise;
Amid the angels seated now in bliss,
Oh, help us from the skies!
Guide us; and fill our days with perfume sweet
Of loving word and deed;
So teaches us thy beauteous charity,
By fragrant roses hid.
O charity! what power is thine! by thee
Above the stars we soar;
In thee be purest praise
To Father, Son and Spirit, evermore. Amen.
