The St. Elizabeth Home Society is a non-profit registered Canadian charity based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

For over sixty years, we’ve established and managed affordable residences for seniors while delivering services to enhance quality of life. We also provide religious services to the public in accordance with the teachings and tenets of the Roman Catholic Church.

In April 2020, the St. Elizabeth Home Society reached out to Hamilton hospitals to ask how we could assist during the Covid-19 pandemic. We are proud to have donated $300,000 to St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation and Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation for much needed equipment.

NEWS:

St. Elizabeth Home Society Makes Donation to Help St. Joseph’s COVID-19 Pandemic Needs

St. Elizabeth Home Society helps Dementia Patients with virtual visits during Covid-19 pandemic

In 2019, the St. Elizabeth Home Society donated over $1 Million to charities including St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation, Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation, Good Shepherd Emmanuel House Palliative Care, Dr. Bob Kemp Hospice, Baycrest Foundation, St. Stephen of Hungary Church, The Dorothy Ley Hospice.

 

Sister Rita Gocsei, Director, St. Elizabeth Home Society at the plaque unveiling ceremony at St. Peter’s Hospital, Hamilton


Sister Rita Gocsei with Pearl Veenema (President and CEO Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation) and staff.


This Rehabilitation Gym is dedicated to The St. Elizabeth Home Society in recognition for their many years of support across Hamilton Health Sciences. St. Peter’s Hospital Foundation

Our Founder

Sister Elisabeth Manhertz was born in Pilisvörösvár, Hungary in the fall of 1918 and joined the Society of the Sisters of the Sacred Heart of Jesus (‘A Népleányok’) in Hungary when she was 17.

During the Second World War, Sister Elisabeth aided her convent and fellow nuns by scouring a war-torn land for food and rebuilding their bombed out convent.

In 1949, Sister Elisabeth defied torture and death by crossing minefields and a barbed wire fence on the western border of Hungary to ultimate freedom in Austria. From there she came to Canada to fulfill her Superior General’s instructions to go west to maintain the Order away from the harsh communist regime.

Throughout these trials, Sister Elisabeth maintained her good sense of humour, her kindness and her strength of faith.

That same year Sister Elisabeth arrived in Hamilton, Canada and with the aid of God, kindly benefactors and the teachings of her patron saint, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, she embarked on a mission to provide dignified and affordable housing to those who were elderly, sick and infirm.  It started with establishing a nursing home in downtown Hamilton followed by building a retirement home in Hungary, a second rebuilding of her Order’s convent in Hungary and a pioneering lifeleasing retirement community on Hamilton mountain called the St. Elizabeth Village.

Sister Elisabeth passed away in 2010 surrounded by her fellow Sisters and close friends. Her legacy lives on as the charity she began continues its mission.

To learn more about Sister Elisabeth, watch the award winning documentary.

SISTER ELISABETH: THE STRENGTH OF FAITH is also available on Amazon Prime Video.

St. Elizabeth Village Chapel

NOTICE

The St. Elizabeth Village Chapel is closed for substantial refurbishment and improvement of accessibility. Expected completion date September 30, 2020. There will be no entry beyond construction personnel to the Chapel during the renovation period.

Plans include:

  • Remove all wallpaper, repair any damages to walls, paint all walls;
  • Repair water damage to ceiling and paint ceiling;
  • Re-finish naturally stained ceiling wood beams and all interior woodwork;
  • Re-finish all interior doors and frames;
  • Provide automatic door openers for accessibility;
  • Provide new design for interior lighting to make it much brighter;
  • Re-work existing electrical circuitry;
  • Replace wall mounted space heater in the front vestibule;
  • Create more space within the chapel to provide for social distancing – new seating and pew layout as well seating with space for walkers and wheelchairs;
  • Clean existing stained-glass windows;
  • Clean existing statutes;
  • Repair tile floors as needed;
  • Rework sacristy and sound room layouts;
  • Upgrade confessional;
  • Add proper interior signage;
  • Re-work existing washroom and plumbing fixtures and provide automatic door lock and opener;
  • Add additional accessible washrooms as practicable;
  • Replace current exterior sign;
  • Repair exterior exposed decorative beam;
  • Repair and replace eavestroughs as needed;
  • Remove existing exterior planters and replace with seating;
  • Landscape exterior back area of church to provide for pathway and seating area;
  • Install internet/wifi;
  • Thoroughly clean and sanitize throughout to government and public health Covid-19 standards.

Contact:
365-366-7555
chapel@sehsh.org 

 

HISTORY:

Built in 1982 as an extension of the St. Elizabeth Retirement Residence (formerly the St. Elizabeth Villa), it was built to serve the residents of the St. Elizabeth Village and the surrounding community and is currently attended by visitors and residents alike. It was dedicated on June 27, 1982 by the Most Reverend P. F. Reding, Bishop of Hamilton.
The building is triangular which is an unusual shape, but it is meant to symbolically represent the most Holy Trinity. The building houses 24 stained glass windows that were designed by Msgr. C.H. Henkey and skillfully crafted by Dutch artist Jan Schoenaker. He used the same methods to create these pieces of art as those practiced in the Middle Ages to create the stained glass of the great Cathedrals. He mixed pigments, painted the designs and fused the glass by blowtorch. Some of the great personalities of more than 3000 years of salvation history are pictured on these windows. The stained glass windows were installed and blessed in 1987.
The building is also home to the three bells, St. Stephen, St. Ladislas and St. Elizabeth, a staple in the Village and surrounding community. The bells ring three times daily and can be heard to mark morning mass at 8:30am, Angelus at Noon and again at 6:00pm.

The newest addition is the Corpus that stands behind the altar. It was installed in 2016 and was donated by members of the Church community. It was made by Canadian sculptor Timothy P. Schmalz who is  known for his famous bronze sculpture of the Homeless Christ that depicts Jesus as a homeless person sleeping on a park bench. It provides ease and convenience for those residents who wish to attend Mass or partake in private meditation and prayer.

Stations of the Cross Park

The park is temporarily closed. We apologize for any inconvenience.

Bishop A. Tonnos Stations of the Cross Park is located at the intersection of Rymal Road West and Garth Street. The park is the home of the Stations of the Cross, a series of 14 stations that are artistic representations of Jesus Christ carrying the cross to his crucifixion before his death.

 

Szent Erzsébet Otthon

Szent Erzsebet Otthon (St. Elizabeth Home) was built by Sister Elisabeth to provide affordable independent and assisted living accommodations.
It is located in Pilisvörösvár, Hungary about 15 kilometers northwest of Budapest in the  beautiful setting of the Pilis Mountains.

St. Elizabeth Village

With news of Sister Elisabeth and her mission to help the poor, the old and the infirm, many supporters urged her to establish a living facility for older adults who were not yet  ready for a nursing home. She studied many forms of housing for seniors who couldn’t afford substantial mortgages and found that offering houses on lifeleases with refundable terms was the best option.
In 1981, Sister Elisabeth began construction of the St. Elizabeth Village, a lifeleasing  community located on Hamilton mountain. With over five-hundred homes it became one of the first gated retirement communities in Canada.
In 2014, the St. Elizabeth Home Society sold the St. Elizabeth Village to Novacare Retirement Communities Association, a non-profit company who continues to establish affordable housing for an active senior community while improving its infrastructure, services and amenities.