Saint Elizabeth of Portugal

Elizabeth, daughter of King Peter III of Aragon and great-niece of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, was born in 1271 and at about twelve was married to King Denis of Portugal. At court she kept a life of prayer, cared for the poor and founded hospitals and convents, and raised her husband’s children by other women along with her own.

She was known as a peacemaker: when her son Afonso rose against his father, she rode out between the two armies, at Alvalade in 1323, and persuaded them to make peace. After Denis died in 1325 she lived beside the convent of Poor Clares she had founded at Coimbra. In 1336 she set out, in summer heat, to reconcile her son, now king, with the king of Castile, and died at Estremoz on 4 July. She was canonized in 1625.