Saint Elizabeth of Schönau - June 18 (June 19 in Germany) Feast Day. Born to the German nobility. Raised and educated in Schönau Benedictine abbey near Bingen, Germany from age 12. Elizabeth came to …More
Saint Elizabeth of Schönau - June 18 (June 19 in Germany) Feast Day.
Born to the German nobility. Raised and educated in Schönau Benedictine abbey near Bingen, Germany from age 12. Elizabeth came to see the abbey as home, and took vows as a Benedictine nun in 1147. Friend of Saint Hildegard von Bingen. Abbess at Schonau from 1157 until her death.
In 1152 she began receiving ecstacies and visions of Jesus and Mary, received the gift of prophecy, and suffered the assaults of demonic forces. With the help of her brother Egbert, a monk and abbot, she wrote three volumes describing her visions. The periods in ecstacies weakened her already fragile health.
In 1115, her brother Egbert who was known for his fight against the Cathars,
met her in Schönau and began to transcribe
these visions of his sister into Latin. When
her Angel appeared, Egbert urged Elizabeth
to ask the Angel to clear some thorny questions.
Elizabeth had, more than one time, angelic
visions that attest to the truth of the transubstantiation,
a sensitive point in the fight
against the Cathar heresy. From her profound
bond of friendship with St. Hildegard of
Bingen, we have about 15 letters remaining
in which Elizabeth confides to St. Hildegard
some of these visions.
One day, when she was assisting a
religious sister who was about to die, she saw
two Angels who, simply with their presence,
put to flight the demons that surrounded
the religious sister seeking in every way to
harm her soul. The two celestial spirits made
vigil with the sick sister until her death, and
they left only to guide their protégé into
paradise. While the religious sisters were in
prayer next to the deceased, Elizabeth saw
another Angel of extraordinary beauty
remaining continuously in the cell, next to
the body, until the body was transferred to
the Church of the Monastery. Elizabeth saw
him yet again during the funeral and during
the burial of the religious sister.
Died
•18 June 1164 at Bingen, Germany of natural causes
•buried in the church of Saint Florin at the Schönau abbey
•most relics were destroyed by Swedish forces in 1632
•remaining relics enshrined in the parish church in Schönau
Canonized
•never formally canonized, but popular devotion went on for centuries
•added to the Roman Martyrology in 1584 by Pope Gregory XIII
Born to the German nobility. Raised and educated in Schönau Benedictine abbey near Bingen, Germany from age 12. Elizabeth came to see the abbey as home, and took vows as a Benedictine nun in 1147. Friend of Saint Hildegard von Bingen. Abbess at Schonau from 1157 until her death.
In 1152 she began receiving ecstacies and visions of Jesus and Mary, received the gift of prophecy, and suffered the assaults of demonic forces. With the help of her brother Egbert, a monk and abbot, she wrote three volumes describing her visions. The periods in ecstacies weakened her already fragile health.
In 1115, her brother Egbert who was known for his fight against the Cathars,
met her in Schönau and began to transcribe
these visions of his sister into Latin. When
her Angel appeared, Egbert urged Elizabeth
to ask the Angel to clear some thorny questions.
Elizabeth had, more than one time, angelic
visions that attest to the truth of the transubstantiation,
a sensitive point in the fight
against the Cathar heresy. From her profound
bond of friendship with St. Hildegard of
Bingen, we have about 15 letters remaining
in which Elizabeth confides to St. Hildegard
some of these visions.
One day, when she was assisting a
religious sister who was about to die, she saw
two Angels who, simply with their presence,
put to flight the demons that surrounded
the religious sister seeking in every way to
harm her soul. The two celestial spirits made
vigil with the sick sister until her death, and
they left only to guide their protégé into
paradise. While the religious sisters were in
prayer next to the deceased, Elizabeth saw
another Angel of extraordinary beauty
remaining continuously in the cell, next to
the body, until the body was transferred to
the Church of the Monastery. Elizabeth saw
him yet again during the funeral and during
the burial of the religious sister.
Died
•18 June 1164 at Bingen, Germany of natural causes
•buried in the church of Saint Florin at the Schönau abbey
•most relics were destroyed by Swedish forces in 1632
•remaining relics enshrined in the parish church in Schönau
Canonized
•never formally canonized, but popular devotion went on for centuries
•added to the Roman Martyrology in 1584 by Pope Gregory XIII