The Raccolta - Section LIII - St. Elizabeth of Hungary

186. PRAYER, "O BLESSED ELIZABETH," ETC.

By a Brief of August 9, 1861, his Holiness Pope Pius IX. granted -
300 days indulgence to all the faithful wino, with contrite hearts and devotion, shall say the following prayer to St. Elizabeth of Hungary, in any language, provided the translation be a faithful one.

THE PRAYER.

Blessed Elizabeth, vessel elect of exalted virtues, thou dost show forth to the world by thy example what the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity are able to do in a Christian soul.
Thou didst employ all the powers of thy heart to love thy God alone. Thou didst love Him with a love so pure and fervent, that it rendered thee worthy to taste upon earth beforehand those favours and those sweetnesses of Paradise which are communicated to souls invited to the nuptials of the Divine, adorable Lamb of God.
Thou, illuminated by supernatural light, and faith immovable, which showed thee to be a true daughter of the holy Gospel, didst see in the person of thy neighbour the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, sole object of thy affections; and therefore didst thou place all thy delight in holding converse with the poor, in serving them, in drying their tears and comforting their spirits, in assisting them with every pious good office in the midst of pestilence, and in the midst of the many miseries to which our human nature is subject.
Thou didst make thyself poor in order to succour thy neighbour in his poverty; poor in the good things of earth, to enrich thyself with the goods of heaven.
Thou wast so humble that, after thou hadst exchanged a throne for a poor hovel, and a royal mantle for the modest habit of St. Francis, thou didst subject thyself, innocent though thou wast, to a life of privation and of penance, and with holy grace didst embrace the cross of thy Redeemer, with good will accepting insults and the most unjust persecution; thou didst forget the world and thyself, to remember thy God alone.
O most lovable Saint, whom we will dare to call our dear St. Elizabeth, uniting our voices with the voices of so many souls devoted to thee; O thou who wast so beloved by God, vouchsafe to be the heavenly friend of our souls, and aid them to become friends of thy Friend, thy loving Jesus. Cast down upon us from the height of heaven one of those tender looks which, which thou wast upon earth, healed the most cruel infirmities of men. In the age in which we live, so full of moral revolutions, and at the same time so cold and so indifferent for the things of God,
we have recourse to thee with confidence, in order that, borrowing our light from thy light, we may rekindle within ourselves the fire of thy exalted love, and thus obtain peace of soul.
Whilst we bless the Lord for having glorified His name in this world with the splendour of thy heroic virtues, and by the eternal reward granted to them, do thou, dear Saint Elizabeth, bless us still from the seat thou dost occupy beside the Saint of saints, protect us in our dangerous pilgrimage, obtain for us by thy intercession pardon for our failings, and open to us the way to enter in and share with thee the kingdoms of God. Amen.