The patron saint of my Hungarian family tree: St. Elisabeth of Hungary

A holy card printed in 1907 for the 700th anniversary 
of the birth of St. Elisabeth of Hungary. 

(Thanks to my daughter who gave me this treasure after finding 
it in a village flea market during her recent trip to Italy.)

St. Elisabeth of Hungary (Szent Erzsébet in Hungarian; Heilige Elisabeth in German) lived a short life (only to the age of 24), but she made such an impact that she was canonized by the Catholic Church only four years after her death. She was born over 800 years ago, but we know much about her family tree back to her great-great-grandparents' generation, and her incredible personal legacy of faith continues to this day. Today, November 17, is her feast day.

Born in the year 1207, at a very young age Elisabeth, daughter of King András II of Hungary, was betrothed to Ludwig IV of Thuringia and taken to live within the Thuringian court. The two became close childhood friends and enjoyed a short and happy marriage until Ludwig died of the plague, leaving Elisabeth a widow at the age of twenty with several young children.

A statue of St. Elisabeth holding roses in
Rózsák tere (Roses Square), Budapest, Hungary

Stories of her generosity to the poor and the miracles that accompanied her work are plentiful. She is best known for the legendary "miracle of the roses".  According to Holy Rulers and Blessed Princesses: Dynastic Cults in Medieval Central Europe by Gábor Klaniczay (published in English in 2002), the story "in which a disapproving father attempts to expose Elisabeth, who is secretly stealing alms for the poor in her apron, and finds her pious lie turn the contents of her apron into roses" first appears in written form at the end of the 13th century. Elisabeth is commonly depicted holding these miraculous roses. This is the reason (along with the fact that she was a princess) that many little girls (including my own) have chosen to dress as St. Elisabeth of Hungary on All Saints Day!

I was thrilled to see that much detail is known about Elisabeth's royal family tree. Here's hoping that someday I can find a family connection to her ancestral line.

Wikipedia has links to a number of articles about many of Elizabeth's
ancestors, including her grandfather King Béla III, one of the richest
and most powerful monarchs in European history.

Elisabeth's Hungarian heritage and the fact that my name derives from Elisabeth endear her to me, yet there is another reason that I've chosen her as patron saint of my continued efforts to uncover the roots of my Hungarian family tree. Like my great-grandmother Helen Ulaky, St. Elisabeth was a lay Franciscan associated with the Third Order of St. Francis of Assisi. In fact, just before his death in 1226 St. Francis, aware of her assistance to the poor thanks to Franciscan friars in Thuringia, sent a personal message of blessing to St. Elisabeth.

The Third Order of St. Francis had its start in 1221. Elisabeth's death in 1231 made her the first Third Order Franciscan to be canonized a saint. On her canonization she was declared the patron saint of the Third Order of St. Francis, a role she shares with St. Louis IX of France.

~

The beautiful holy card pictured at the beginning of this article was printed in 1907 in celebration of Elisabeth's 700th birthday. The year 2007 (the 800th anniversary of her birth) also saw a renewed focus on the history of and devotion to St. Elisabeth of Hungary with celebrations throughout Hungary, Germany, Austria and also worldwide through the Third Order of St. Francis. The town of Marburg, Germany was a special focus of the year since it was the place of Elisabeth's death and its Elisabethkirche was the location of her shrine and relics until 1539. The church was a place of pilgrimage for many Europeans during the medieval period. Today her relics are located in various churches throughout Austria, Germany and France.

One side of the German 10 Euro coin minted in
celebration of the 800th birthday of St. Elisabeth

Hungary Exchange: A new stop on the web for Hungarian genealogists

A new resource for Hungarian genealogy has set up shop on the web this week.  The Hungary Exchange website, put together by Nick Gombash, hopes to become a stopping point for many a researcher in search of Hungarian roots.  Nick created this new online resource in hopes of helping Hungarian genealogists to make new connections to further their research. He writes that the "main objective of the new website will be the sharing and exchanging of records and documents". Among its amenities are a surname database where genealogists can submit names and corresponding locales of research, and an online discussion forum and message board for those researching Hungary and countries formerly part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The Hungary Exchange website includes the following webpages:

• Hungarian Marriage Project
• Hungary Exchange Forum
• Databases
• Surname Database
• Links

The Hungarian Marriage Project, Databases and Surname Database pages are works in progress that are off to a good start and will become useful to more researchers as Nick adds data over time.  As Nick states on his blog, "The most important of these databases, a major project that I have undertaken, is the Hungarian Marriage Project. My plan is indexing the marriage records from pre-WWI and including them in a database. I'm hoping to eventually have help down the line, as well. I already have records from four parishes, soon to be five and with an estimated total near 5,300 marriages."

My Hungarian surnames are listed within the surname database - add yours today!  As Nick states in his announcement of Hungary Exchange on his genealogy blog, "Let's knock down all those brick-walls and find family!"

The Hungary Exchange website’s Links page includes both national and regional Hungarian resources helpful to genealogical research. It lists web addresses for archives (national archives and at least one for each county), maps and gazetteers, online databases, a Hungarian family tree website, genealogy societies, research aids/guides, translation services, and Jewish resources.

Nick Gombash was recently the subject of an edition of Gini Webb's "May I Introduce You to..." series on Thomas MacEntee's GeneaBloggers blog.  To learn more about Nick visit the article, stop by his blog, or visit his Gombash and Rodgers Family Website.

Don't forget to stop by Hungary Exchange Forum and also take a few minutes to send your Hungarian research locales and surnames to Nick for the Surname Database at Hungary Exchange.

This article has been posted as part of the Follow Friday series.  Visit Thomas MacEntee's GeneaBloggers for more suggestions for good online reading.

Around the world in one week: going back in time

Today our focus on geography for Geography Awareness Week (November 16-22, 2008) takes us back in time. A family historian can never be content with current maps of places of interest. Cities, counties and countries change over time and understanding places in the past requires a look at maps and images of former days.

The country of Hungary, on which you were quizzed on Monday, has changed much over the years. Try your hand at identifying its counties in an earlier time:

Quiz on the counties of Hungary until 1919

The former Austria-Hungary encompassed many modern countries, including Hungary and Croatia. If you have a little knowledge of this historic area, try your hand at the following:

Quiz on the nations of the former Austria-Hungary

If you've been trying out this week's quizzes and are feeling a little, let's say "geographically challenged", please know that you are not alone. We all need a refresher course every once and awhile to reacquaint ourselves with the amazing planet that we live on.

Stay tuned for additional challenges to your geographic knowledge about the world during this Geography Awareness Week 2008.

Image: Coat of Arms of Austria-Hungary, 1915.