E lizabeth was born in 1207, the daughter of King Andrew II of Hungary.
At age fourteen she was married to Landgrave, Louis II of Thuringia, a man some years older than she and as noted for his cold-heartedness as she was for her piety, charity and beauty.

Louis was angered by her insistence on personally nursing the sick and distributing bread to the starving, and his family acted as though she was stealing from them to feed the poor. Elizabeth was forbidden to pursue her activities and confined to the castle.

But times were difficult, the winter bitter, and even in the relative comfort of her castle room, Elizabeth's heart heard the cries of those less fortunate. Unable to ignore her conscience she stopped eating and saved the food from her own meals until she had enough to fill a basket. She tried to slip out of the castle unnoticed.

Unfortunately she was stopped by her husband who demanded to know what was in the basket she carried. Elizabeth hesitated then lifted the cloth. The basket was filled with red roses. Knowing a miracle when he witnessed one, Louis changed his ways, and became, before he died, almost as saintly as his wife.

And is there any moral shut Within the bosom of the Rose.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson