Month 11. Elizabeth's charity and her hospital in Marburg

After Elizabeth received a settlement for the dower or marriage property her husband had left to her, she used it to build a hospital for the poor in Marburg, which was dedicated to St. Francis. Pope Gregory IX sent her a relic of the blood from the stigmata on the saint's side for the hospital chapel, and granted it an indulgence in a bull dated April 1229. This was one of the first foundations dedicated to the newly canonized Poverello.

Once the hospital was built, she appointed a day when she would give what remained to her away to the pooor, who were gathered together in the hospital courtyard. When everything had been distributed, she had a bonfire lit, and served the people bread; she even saw to washing and oiling their feet. The poor people, restored spiritually and physically, began to sing. Elizabeth said to her companions "You see, I told you we must make people happy," and rejoiced with them. She wanted to remove the social barriers between rich and poor.

From this time on, she gave herself entirely to the service of God's poor. She would bathe the sick and put them to bed, she bound their sores and prepared their medicines. She played with the young children, including a little leper girl. She cared for poor pregnant women and their children. She earned money for herself and her sisters by spinning wool.

She wore a poor habit patched in the sleeves and lengthened with cloth of another color. She told her companion Irmingard, "The life of the sisters in the world is the most despised, and if there were a more despised life, I would have chosen it." She knew she was despised by the rich, but rejoiced to be serving the poor.