Sacred Calendar
The Roman year ordered for memory, penance, feasts, saints, and the daily pilgrimage of the faithful.
Calendar standard
Pre-1955 Roman usage
The calendar follows the universal Roman year under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X, with the Roman Martyrology preserved as a distinct daily witness.
The day is presented for prayer, recollection, study, and perseverance in the City.
Daily observance
Today in the City of God
The Church keeps this day in holy time. The Pilgrim's Companion gathers the feast, daily quote, Martyrology, meditation, prayer, and related chapters into one daily path through the City.
Choose a date
Daily observance
St. Elisabeth of Hungary, Widow
Tuesday, November 19, 2030
Season: Time after Pentecost
The day is set within the Roman year so its feast, Martyrology, daily quote, prayer, and reading path may be received together without blurring their proper sources.
Today's pilgrimage
St. Elisabeth of Hungary, Widow
Rank: Double
Color: white
Quote for the day
Holy Scripture
“The mouth of the just shall meditate wisdom, and his tongue shall speak judgment.”
Psalm 36:30, Original Douay-Rheims
The pilgrim's devotional rhythm
Keeping the month and the weekday in prayer
This chosen devotional rhythm does not change the feast, rank, or obligations shown above. It gives the passing days a steady intention, helping the pilgrim honor God, intercede for souls, and carry one Catholic practice into the day. It is a household aid to devotion, not another law of the Roman Calendar.
November intention
The Holy Souls in Purgatory
Christian charity crosses the boundary of death. Remember the faithful departed who can no longer merit for themselves, and let prayer for them keep judgment, mercy, and eternity before your own soul.
Intention
For the relief of the Holy Souls, especially the most forgotten, and for the grace of final perseverance for the living.
A faithful act
Offer a prayer, indulgenced work under the Church's conditions, or sacrifice for a forgotten soul in Purgatory.
Prayer
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord; and let perpetual light shine upon them. May they rest in peace. Amen.
Tuesday remembrance
The Holy Angels
God has appointed His angels as ministers of His providence. Honor them by greater purity, recollection, and prompt obedience to grace, never forgetting that their whole service leads the soul to God.
Intention
For protection against temptation, guidance in duty, and the defense of children, travelers, and souls in spiritual danger.
A faithful act
Before a difficult duty or conversation, ask your Guardian Angel to help you act without sin and for God's glory.
Prayer
Holy Angel, my guardian, keep me from sin and direct me in the faithful accomplishment of today's duties.
Roman Martyrology
Roman Martyrology - November 19
At Marburg, in Germany, the demise of St. Elizabeth, widow, daughter of Andrew, king of Hungary, of the Third Order of St. Francis. After a life passed in the performance of pious works, she went to heaven, having a reputation for miracles. — Tie same day, the birthday of St. Pontian, pope and martyr, who, with the priest Hippolytus, was transported to Sardinia,, by the emperor Alexander, and there, being scourged to death with rods, consummated his martyrdom. His body was conveyed to Rome by the blessed pope Fabian, and buried in the cemetery of Callistus. — At Samaria, the holy prophet Abdias. — At Rome, on the Appian road, the birthday of St. Maximus, priest and martyr, who suffered in the persecution of Valerian, and was buried near St. Xystus. — At Caesarea, in Cappadocia, St. Barlaam, martyr, who, though unpolished and ignorant, yet armed with the wisdom of Christ, overcame the tyrant, and, by the constancy of his faith, subdued fire itself. On his birthday, St. Basil the Great delivered a celebrated discourse. — At Ecijo, the blessed bishop Oispinus, who obtained the glory of martyrdom by decapitation. — At Vienne, the holy martyrs Severinus, Exuperius and Felician. Their bodies, after the lapse of many years, were found through their own revelation, and being taken up with due honors by the bishop, clergy and people of that city, were buried with becoming solemnity. — The same day, St. Faustus, deacon of Alexandria, who was. first banished with St. Denis, in the persecution of Valerian; later, in the persecution of Diocletian, being far advanced in age, he consummated his martyrdom by the sword. — In Isauria, the martyrdom of Saint Azas and his military companions, to the number of one hundred and fifty, under the emperor Diocletian and the tribune Aquilinus.
Highlighted saint
St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Widow and servant of Christ in the poor.
The Roman calendar honors St. Elizabeth of Hungary as widow, and the Martyrology remembers her pious works and reputation for miracles.
Her feast teaches that rank, widowhood, sorrow, and wealth can all be turned into mercy when the soul sees Christ in the poor.
The commemoration of St. Pontianus, pope and martyr, joins mercy to exile and Roman suffering. Charity is not weakened by loss; it is purified when it continues under humiliation.
Virtue to practice
Merciful charity in widowhood.
Error to resist
The charity that helps for sentiment or reputation while forgetting Christ and the soul.
For the pilgrim in exile
Ask St. Elizabeth for noble mercy. Possessions, wounds, and responsibilities become safer when placed at Christ's feet.
Imitate today
- Give alms or practical help according to your state.
- Bear sorrow without closing the heart.
- Serve the poor with reverence for Christ.
- Pray for faithful authority under exile and humiliation.
Sources
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, 1953, Proper of Saints, November 19, printed pp. 1683-1684.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, November 19.
From Matins
Royal sorrow poured out in mercy.
Matins - Second Nocturn - St. Elizabeth of Hungary, Widow
Roman Breviary, Proper lessons for St. Elizabeth of Hungary
“She consecrated herself to works of mercy.”
Doctrine taught
- The Breviary remembers Elizabeth ordering married duty, royal responsibility, nocturnal prayer, and care for widows, orphans, lepers, and the starving beneath one love of God.
- After widowhood and dispossession she accepted poverty without closing her heart, serving the sick while living on the poorest food herself.
- Her charity was Christological rather than decorative: rank and suffering were emptied into works of mercy and preparation for heaven.
For the pilgrim in exile
Let sorrow become mercy rather than enclosure. Whatever remains after loss - time, possessions, strength, attention - can still be placed in the wounds of Christ's poor.
Full Breviary lessons
Fourth Lesson - Royal Duty and Works of Mercy
Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew II, King of Hungary, was born in the year 1207. She began to fear God even from a little child, and grew in grace as she grew in years. In her fourteenth year she was married to Lewis, Landgrave of Hesse and Thuringia, and thenceforth gave herself up to the things of her husband, with as much zeal as to the things of God. She rose in the night to make long prayers. She consecrated herself to works of mercy. She waited continually on widows and orphans, the sick and the needy. When a sore famine came in the year 1225, she provided corn bountifully from her own house. She founded an house of refuge for lepers, and would even kiss their hands and feet. She built also a great hospital for the suffering and starving poor.
Fifth Lesson - Widowhood, Poverty, and Patience
Her husband died on his way to the Holy War, on the 11th day of September, 1227. Then Elizabeth, more utterly to be God's only, laid aside all the garments of earthly state, clad herself in mean raiment, and entered the Third Order of St Francis, wherein she was a burning and shining light of long-suffering and lowliness. Her brother-in-law stripped her and her three little children of all their goods, and turned them out of their own house. She was deserted by all, and assailed with insults, gibes, and calumnies, but she bore it all with patience, yea, even rejoicing that she suffered such things for God's sake. She gave herself to the meanest services toward the poor and sick, and sought for them the needfuls of life, while she lived herself only on potherbs and vegetables.
Sixth Lesson - A Pilgrimage Completed in God
In these and many other holy works she prayerfully passed the rest of her life, till in the twenty-fourth year of her age, the end of her earthly pilgrimage came, as she had already foretold to her servants. With her eyes fixed on heaven, absorbed in the thought of God, by Him wondrously comforted, and strengthened by the Sacraments, she fell asleep in the Lord, upon the 19th day of November, in the year of salvation 1231. Forthwith many miracles were wrought at her grave, which being known and duly proved, Gregory IX numbered her name among those of the Saints.
Sources
- The Roman Breviary, translated by John, Marquess of Bute, 1908, vol. IV, Autumn, Second Nocturn for St. Elizabeth of Hungary, lessons iv-vi, printed pp. 751-752.
- Bute 1908 is used here as an accessible pre-Pius X Breviary witness and is cited distinctly from the 1936-1937 Benziger / Burns Oates edition.
Breviary Witness
Royal sorrow made merciful.
Matins - St. Elizabeth of Hungary
Breviary witness
- The traditional remembrance of St. Elizabeth honors a widow whose pious works and charity were remembered by the Church.
- Her witness teaches that rank and grief can become mercy when the soul serves Christ in the poor.
For the pilgrim in exile
Turn sorrow outward in charity. Mercy is most Catholic when it sees Christ and helps both body and soul.
Sources
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, 1953, Proper of Saints, November 19, printed pp. 1683-1684.
- Roman Martyrology, 1916 Baltimore edition, November 19.
Meditation
Royal Charity Beneath the Cross
St. Elisabeth used rank, possessions, widowhood, and suffering as material for charity and penance. She did not love the poor from a safe distance; she allowed mercy to cost comfort and reputation. Ask whether your generosity gives only what self-love will not miss.
Related paths
Walk the day through the City.
Today's chapters
Read with the feast.
Prayer
The day should become prayer.
O Lord, through St. Elisabeth, loosen my hold upon possessions and make me recognize Thy suffering members without sentimentality or delay.
Thought for the pilgrim
Christian almsgiving gives to Christ and accepts a real cost.
Practice
The day should become obedience.
Give something useful that costs you more than loose change, or perform a demanding work of mercy.
Source notes
Universal Roman Calendar under the rubrics of Pope St. Pius X
Fasting and abstinence according to the laws observed in 1952
Daily quotations and pilgrimage excerpts ordinarily come from eligible Catholic sources issued no later than December 31, 1954: Scripture, Fathers, Doctors, saints, Roman Pontiffs, traditional catechisms, approved devotional works, and received liturgical texts. Legitimate additions promulgated under Pope Pius XII may be retained when identified precisely; this does not adopt the reformed Holy Week or later rubrical changes.
The Roman Martyrology, Baltimore, 1916, published by John Murphy Company; the local 1916 text is displayed and traceable to its source lines.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Liturgical Calendar, pp. xvii–xxviii.
- St. Andrew Daily Missal, Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, O.S.B., 1953 edition; proper Mass or devotion named in this entry.
- 2 Machabees 12:43-46, Douay-Rheims.
- Psalm 90:11 and Matthew 18:10, Douay-Rheims.