Welcome to the ONE AND ONLY Saturday matchup of Lent Madness 2025! Today in a battle between two popular saints with fascinating backstories, it's Elizabeth of Hungary vs. Felicity.
Yesterday, Emily Cooper trounced Dunstan 82% to 18% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen.
We'll see you at church for the First Sunday in Lent (Great Litany, anyone?) and then see you back here first thing Monday morning for the first full week of saintly action as Gregory the Great takes on Hugh of Lincoln.
Vote now!
Elizabeth of Hungary
Elizabeth of Hungary is one of those saints whose halo hangs on a frame of simplicity. Though her young marriage was a political exchange, as they often were in 1221, she and her husband, Louis, seemed to have a happy noble marriage. She was highly influenced by the new Third Order of Saint Francis and began to give much of their wealth away, and though Louis did not share her pious leanings, was not bothered by it and believed her actions would bring them eternal reward in the long run. Elizabeth took up the cause of the sick, the poor, the friendless, the lonely, and the homeless.
Elizabeth would bake bread, mend clothes, and take things to people in need; while her husband didn’t mind her sharing her time and talent with the peasants, other nobility believed that she was actively stealing from the castle. When she came upon Louis and others while they were out hunting and she was delivering bread, she was asked what was under her cloak. The first of her canonized miracles is that it was not bread that she had baked for the poor with the castle’s flour, but roses, that fell out from her cope. This sufficed for the questioning gentry and comforted Louis that his wife was doing God’s will with God’s protection.
When Louis died only six years into their marriage, Elizabeth was terribly grief stricken, and it’s not hard to imagine why. She and her husband lived a simple life of caring for each other, but more importantly, of caring for those who God loved. She may have become a princess when she married Louis, but when he died, she was given her dowry back and used it establish a hospital; even in her grief she saw beyond her own need.
Elizabeth is the patron saint of the Third Order of St. Francis and received a blessing from Saint Francis before his death in 1226. She was canonized just four years after her death, in the throes of caring for those in need, by Pope Gregory IX, and we remember her on November 19th. Her halo is a simple story of a life dictated by faith and nobility, by dedication and devotion, and most of all by love and compassion.
Collect for Elizabeth of Hungary
Almighty God, by your grace your servant Elizabeth of Hungary recognized and honored Jesus in the poor of this world: Grant that we, following her example, may with love and gladness serve those in any need or trouble, in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
Felicity
In 203, in a small town just west of Carthage (in modern day Tunisia), a group of Christian catechumens was arrested. Felicity, along with five others, was transferred to Carthage to be tried in front of the emperor’s regent, Hilarianus. Her story, and that of her fellow martyrs, is told in the text of The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas.
Felicity is identified early in the text as a young slave woman. She was eight months pregnant when she was brought before the governor. Her crime was being a Christian.
Romans would not send a pregnant woman into the arena. Felicity and her friends were worried that she would not be allowed to join them in their martyrdom, being instead left to die with common criminals. They did not want Felicity to have to “travel alone on the same road to hope.”
Two days before their execution, they gathered together, filled with grief and in fervent prayer. Immediately after their prayer, Felicity went into a difficult labor. Her daughter was born and given to a fellow Christian who raised the girl as her own daughter.
Felicity was greatly relieved, as she would now be able to join the others in the arena. During games commemorating the fourteenth birthday of Geta, the younger son of the Roman Emperor Septimius Severus, Felicity and the other catechumens were sent to the arena. As they approached the spectacle, The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas reports,
“With them also was Felicitas, glad that she had safely given birth so that now she could fight the beasts, going from one blood bath to another, from the midwife to the gladiator, ready to wash after childbirth in a second baptism.”
Wild beasts were unleashed on the men and a mad heifer was prepared for the women. The women were initially dragged naked in nets into the arena. Seeing their youth and that Felicity had so recently given birth, the crowd was horrified. The women were therefore clothed in unbelted tunics and forced to face the angry cow.
Miraculously, both Felicity and Perpetua survived being trampled. Felicity was injured but helped up by Perpetua. At once they were sentenced to death by the sword. Again from The Martyrdom of Saints Perpetua and Felicitas,
“And so the martyrs got up and went to the spot of their own accord as the people wanted them to, and kissing one another they sealed their martyrdom with the ritual kiss of peace. [They] took the sword in silence and without moving.”
Felicity is a patron saint of mothers who have lost their children.
Collect for Felicity
O God, the King of Saints, who strengthened your servants Perpetua, Felicity, and their companions to make a good confession and to encourage one another in the time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith, and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
248 comments on “Elizabeth of Hungary vs. Felicity”
I guess I like the idea of a saint being happily married and doing these wonderful things with the support of her loving spouse. Martyrdom is not the only way!
I, too, got a thank you for your vote message when I have not even voted! I want to vote for Felicity
I was thanked for my vote without having voted?
Rigged madness?
Today's match-up was fairly easy for me.
I have regard for Felicity.
But my vote goes to Elizabeth of Hungary, aka Elizabeth of Thüringia because of her marriage to Louis IV, Landgrave of Thüringia.
Special reason here.
In 1983 I made a grand tour of Germany (both West and East), to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Martin Luther's birth. Visited several sites, including Marburg where Elizabeth has her shrine in the Cathedral.
(Incidentially, I found the final resting place of Paul von Hindenburg, late Field-Marshall and President of Germany in the Cathedral as well.)
I have never had any problem voting over the many years I have participated in Lent Madness. I wonder what device or server people are using who do have problems. I'm sorry this is happening to you, but want it known that it is not a universal problem. Thanks. (I use a Mac laptop and iphone with Chrome browser).
Unable to vote!
I was not able to vote. It’s still morning and it appears voting is closed already.
In honor of all the mothers in Gaza who have lost their children, I voted for Felicity.
Site already voted for me. What’s up with that?
I was thanked for my vote but didn’t vote!
My phone also said I'd already voted, though I hadn't. Logging in from a different device allowed me to vote.
In her diary, Perpetua describes her period of captivity: “What a day of horror! Terrible heat, owing to the crowds! Rough treatment by the soldiers! To crown all, I was tormented with anxiety for my baby…. Such anxieties I suffered for many days, but I obtained leave for my baby to remain in the prison with me, and being relieved of my trouble and anxiety for him, I at once recovered my health, and my prison became a palace to me and I would rather have been there than anywhere else.”
Once again, my vote isn't allowed. Maybe because my husband and I are using the same computer????? We vote tooclose together?
I did not get to vote, though I am thanked for voting!
Respectfully, I enjoy the different voices of the Advocates and the diversity of faithful responses represented in the lives of these saints. I am not in favour of calls to have one Advocate per matchup.
Elizabeth is utterly admirable and bless her for her ministry.
I too am sickened by martyrdom. However I am voting Felicity today. She was forced into an awful choice but she was not cowed by powers using fear, violence, and othering to engineer submission and incite mobs to view horrors as entertainment. I stand in solidarity with one who stood firmly for faith and values that endure, against the despair of meaninglessness and the cruelty of temporary tyrants.
("Cowed". OK I'm hearing it now, and I guess she sort of was, but you know what I mean...)
It will not allow my vote, saying I already voted. I want to vote for Elizabeth, day 3.
Again, I was thanked for my vote before I ever voted!
I didn’t get to vote but got a “Thank you for your vote” message. I really want to vote!
I had to vote online because when I opened my email and clicked to todays contest, it showed I had already voted, which I had not. More irritating, it showed results with Elizabeth far ahead of Felicity.
Couldn’t vote today. It was like I had already voted.
Tried to vote twice, but was denied--the doomed “Error 2” message!
I cried as I read about Felicity. I remember her name being said every Sunday in church (Roman Catholic, 1960s, ..." Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy ..." I never actually learned the whole story though. I was intending to vote for Elisabeth in the beginning. Sadly, I can't vote - it says I already have... add 1 more for felicity for me! Unless I can log in with another browser and pass around however maybe someone else voted as me? I have shared links, but I cannot imagine how that works with this system.
Both ladies are worthy, but as an elderly male, I cannot relate well to the youthful martyr. I can relate to losing a beloved supportive spouse and serving bread to others over many years.
I copied and pasted the URL into Opera instead of Chrome and I was able to vote.
Before I could vote this morning, the post told me “Thank you for your vote” - ?
Try changing to a different browser - that worked for me. I suppose also that whole process of clearing the cache works as well, but that is fuss and bother I don't have time for.... Chrome, Firefox, Opera, etc. or one of the ones that come with your computer brand such as Edge or Safari...
Yesterday I was not allowed to vote. Today someone voted for me. Would one of the editors explain how this happened I have been enjoying participating in Lent Madness for years. Now it is just maddening
I switched from my phone to my laptop and then was able to vote. But now it looks like it would allow me to vote again!
Today it shows I already voted. Thursday barred from voting. Are other experiencing tech problems, too?
Interesting that in the first round, my vote was not accepted and today when I am trying again, it tells me I have already voted. Something seems awry . . .I have happily participated in Lent Madness since its inception on this same iPad and iPhone. Please help.
Gratefully,
Alice