Elizabeth of Hungary, St (1207–1231)

Hungarian princess and saint. She married at a very early age Louis IV, Landgrave of Thuringia, and was responsible for his conversion to Christianity; in a celebrated miracle, when Louis demanded to see the contents of a bundle Elizabeth was carrying, the bread which she was taking to the poor was changed into red roses. Louis died in 1227, and Elizabeth thereafter lived as a Franciscan tertiary at Marburg, where she died. Four years later she was canonized by Gregory IX. Elizabeth was the daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary, and was born in Pressburg (modern-day Bratislava, capital of the Slovak Republic).