The St Elizabeth Home Society is a not-for-profit Canadian charity supporting seniors who are experiencing conditions attributable to being aged.

For over sixty years, the St. Elizabeth Home Society has been supporting seniors who are experiencing conditions of ABA by providing accommodation, personal care assistance, geriatric education, religious services and the funding of other similar Canadian charities.

Assistance dealing with COVID-19:

In April 2020, the St. Elizabeth Home Society donated over $300,000 to help St. Joseph’s Healthcare Foundation and Hamilton Health Sciences Foundation as well as other charities to assist in purchasing equipment and delivering services to vulnerable seniors.

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

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

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

 

Sister Elisabeth Manhertz, Founder

Sister Elisabeth Manhertz founded the St. Elizabeth Home Society in 1956 to emulate, as closely as possible, the work of Saint Elizabeth in aid of the elderly and infirm.

With the assistance of many community supporters, her first task was to establish and run a nursing home in downtown Hamilton, Ontario. Years later, she would continue with her mission and establish the St. Elizabeth Village on Hamilton mountain which began construction in the 1980’s.

Sister Elisabeth embarked on many trails and tribulations throughout her life that helped give her the strength to succeed. To learn more about Sister Elisabeth’s exciting and controversial story, watch the award winning docu-drama illustrating her life’s work.

Watch the award winning docu-drama.

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

St. Elizabeth Village Chapel

Interesting Facts and Architectural Features

  • Located in the middle of the Village at St. Elizabeth Mills, the Chapel was built in 1982 as an extension of the St. Elizabeth Retirement Residence . Its purpose was to serve those living in the residence as well as the surrounding Village and community.  It was dedicated on June 27, 1982 by the Most Reverend P. F. Reding, Bishop of Hamilton.
  • The building is triangular which is meant to symbolically represent the Holy Trinity.
  • There are 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.

  • Sister Elisabeth with community members at the unveiling of one of the bells

    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 at 8:30am, Noon and 6:00pm.

  • In 2016, the members of the community, led by longtime Village residents, Mr. & Mrs. Theurer donated the corpus made by Canadian sculptor Timothy P. Schmalz. (He is most famously known for his bronze sculpture of the Homeless Christ that depicts Jesus as a homeless person sleeping on a park bench.)

NOTICE

The St. Elizabeth Village Chapel is closed for substantial refurbishment and improvement of accessibility. Due to some unforeseen issues, the expected completion is now December, 2020. Once reopened, the capacity will be limited to the City of Hamilton’s gathering limits and face masks must be worn.

There will be no entry beyond construction personnel to the Chapel during the renovation period.

The Chapel has been in need of upgrading for some time and during the pandemic, while places of worship remained closed, it was found to be a good opportunity to perform the much needed improvements. We thank you for your patience during the renovation process.

The plans include:

  • Creating  space within the chapel to provide for social distancing – new seating and pew layout as well designated seating for walkers and wheelchairs;
  • Installing automatic door openers where practicable;
  • Replacing existing lighting with brighter functional lighting;
  • Addition of a universal accessible washroom as well as repairing and reworking existing washroom;
  • Removing wallpaper, repairing the damage to the walls and painting;
  • Repairing ceiling water damage and painting ceiling;
  • Re-finishing naturally stained woodwork;
  • New millwork;
  • Repairing existing electrical circuitry;
  • Replacing flooring
  • Upgrading the confessional;
  • Adding new signage;
  • Cleaning and adding protection to stained glass windows;
  • Installing new digital exterior signage;
  • Replacing pavers;
  • Masonry;
  • New landscaping including an additional pathway;
  • Replacing eavestroughs and soffits;
  • Installing internet/wifi;
  • Thoroughly clean and sanitize throughout to government and public health Covid-19 standards.

Please check back here for more updates and photos of the renovation progress.

 

Stations of the Cross Park

Bishop A. Tonnos Stations of the Cross Park is closed.
400 Rymal Road West, Hamilton, ON

 

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.