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 2019, the St. Elizabeth Home Society donated over $1 Million to charities.

The St. Elizabeth Home Society is a proud supporter of:
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 of Hungary Church

Join us for Roman Catholic Mass. Everyone is welcome!

Mass Schedule:

Sundays at 9:30 am
Monday – Saturday at 8:30 am

Holy Hour – 1st and 3rd Saturday of the Month (after the Mass)

Donations to the St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church can be mailed or dropped off to:
384 Rymal Road West, Hamilton, Ontario, L9B 1B8.

About The Church
The St. Elizabeth of Hungary Church was built in 1982 and was dedicated on June 27 of that year by the Most Reverend P. F. Reding, Bishop of Hamilton. 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.
The building is triangular which is an unusual shape for a Church, but it is meant to symbolically represent the most Holy Trinity. The Church 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 were installed in 1987 and blessed on July 12.
The Church 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 to the Church 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.The Church is directly connected to the St. Elizabeth Villa (Retirement Residence) through a wheelchair accessible hallway. It provides ease and convenience for those residents who wish to attend Mass or partake in private meditation and prayer.

Bishop A. Tonnos 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.