St. Elisabeth of Portugal is known as a great peacemaker. She was actually born in Aragon, Spain, in 1271, the daughter of King Pedro III. Her great aunt was St. Elizabeth of Hungary, after whom she was named.

She grew up in a very pious home, with daily mass and the Liturgy of the Hours. At the age of 12, she was married to King Diniz of Portugal and became queen of the country before she was a teen. However, her husband was abusive and an adulturer. Still, they had two children and she prayed for his conversion and served the poor and the sick.

Her son, Prince Affonso, rebelled against the favors his fathers bestowed on his illegitimate sons and, in 1323, confronted the king's forces with his own. But Elizabeth rode onto the battlefield between them, and was able to bring reconciliation between father and son.

After her husband died in 1325, Elizabeth distributed her property to the poor and became a Franciscan tertiary. She retired to a monastery of Poor Clare, which she had founded at Coimbra.

However, she emerged on the battlefield as a peacemaker in 1336, when her son, now king, marched against his son-in-law, the king of Castile, to punish him for being a negligent and abusive husband. She died later that same year.

St. Elizabeth is the patroness of difficult marriages, victims of adultery, widows and royalty.

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