|
4. Motherhood
Elizabeth and her
husband had three children: Hermann, heir to the rulership of Thuringia, who died, however, shortly after beginning
his rule, at the age of eighteen. Their second child, Sophia married Henry
the Duke of Brabant, had children and continued the family line. The
youngest, Gertrude, was born shortly after her father's death. Her parents
had determined before her birth to have her raised as an oblate in a
monastery so that she might be completely devoted to God. She later became abbess of the
Praemonstratensian monastery of Altenberg, and is herself venerated as a
saint.
Elizabeth knew and
believed that "Children too are a gift from the Lord, the fruit of the
womb, a reward" (Ps. 127:3); At
that time, the Catholic custom was to go to church forty days after a child’s
birth for the rite of purification and blessing, recalling the trip that
Mary, Joseph and Jesus took to Jerusalem after the birth of Jesus and the
Purification in the temple. Elizabeth would go
for this rite to the church in Eisenach,
barefoot, dressed in simple wool garments and carrying her child in her arms,
to offer the fruit of her womb to God in imitation of Mary. There she would
also have recalled the words spoken by Simeon in the Temple: “You yourself will be pierced by a
sword.” (Luke 2:35), foretelling the sorrow she would experience in her Son's
crucifixion. She knew that children
are a source of joy, but also require sacrifice.
Elizabeth would experience much sorrow and anxiety in regard to her children;
after her expulsion from her dower castle, she suffered from anxiety when she
did not know where to lay her children's heads or put food in their mouths,
and finally was forced to send them away so they could get enough to eat. She
also had to give up her youngest daughter Gertrude to the monastery. Her
children were one of the sacrifices she made to God.
Elizabeth wanted to have her children put God first in their lives. She once
said that she would have her son Hermann a poor Friar Minor than have him
become emperor. Even her pride in her children or what they might become was
not as important to her as their souls.
|
|
Word of God: You shall love the LORD, your God, with
all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. Take to
heart these words which I enjoin on you today. Drill them into your children. Speak of
them at home and abroad, whether you are busy or at rest. (Deuteronomy
6:5-7).
|