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416 416 B. ISABEL LUISA Some years afterwards, a still more pain- fnl dilemma called for her interrontion ; her son rebelled against his father, and although the king was angry with the qncen for her interference, she sncceeded in arranging a meeting between the &ther and son, when Don Alfonso apologized to his father, was forgiven, and his in- come restored to him. The trouble between them, however, broke out again, and the king rode out of Lisbon to meet his son and forbid him to enter the city. Their attendants, always ready for a fight, were soon engaged in a life-and- doath struggle. The queen heard of it, and instantly set off at the best speed of her mule, and rode into the middle of the battle, regardless of the stones and arrows flying about her. She made her way first to the king and then to the infante, and as each was unwilling to make the first advance, she returned to where the battle was thickest, and begged the soldiers to desist. They obeyed, for she had always been a great favourite with all classes, and when they laid down their arms, Alfonso advanced to kiss his father's hands, and peace was restored. After her husband's death, 1325, Isabel assumed the dross of a Franciscan nun and built a convent of that order, at Coimbra ; but never took the vows, although she spent her time as much as possible in devotion. At sixty-four, she made a pilgrimage on foot to the tomb of St. James at Compostella, begging all the way liko a poor pilgrim. Many more incidents of her piety and charity are Recorded in her life and in the history of Portugal. One more work of peace-making was reserved to crown her closing life. Her son, Alfonso, now King of Portugal, quarrelled with his nephew, her grandson, Alfonso, king of Castile. She recognized that it was the call of duty to leave her calm retreat, among the nuns, to exercise once more the wonderful gift she had received from God. It was the middle of summer, and her attendants represented to her that the heat and fatigue would be dangerous at hor age ; but she set out for Estremoz, where she met her son. She had no sooner given her injunctions and re- ceived the promise she desired than she sank under the fatigues she had sustained, and died as she was bom, in the exercise of her glorious mission of peace, July 4, 133G. Notwithstanding the excessive heat that prevailed during the seven days that the funeral train was on the journey back to Coimbra, the body of the saint remained fresh and snpple and the signs of youth and health returned to her face. She was soon recognized as a saint in Portugal ; but nearly two centuries elapsed before she was canon- ized and worshipped throughout the Church. Schiller's poem, Der Gang mark dfm Eisenhammer, is founded on an incident in the life of Isabel. The story told of St. Elizabeth of Hess and of some other saints, is related also of this queen; namely, that the king insisted on seeing what she was carrying to the poor in her robe, and found it full of roses, although it was mid-winter. One of her many charitable institations was the foundling hospital at Santarem ; the building was begun by a good bishop, but before it was completed, be found himself at the point of death and begged the queen, for the love of God, to take it under her care and carry out his benevo- lent scheme; which she did with hearty goodwill and great judgment. RM. AA.SS. Cardoso, Agiologio Lwi" tanOf iv. 41. She is commemorated by the Cistercians July 11, by the Benedic- tines July 9, by the Franciscans July 8. A.BM. B. Isabel (3) Luisa of Aveiro, O.S.D. + 1542. One of the first nuns of the Dominican convent of Jesus, at Aveiro in Portugal, where she lived in great sanctity and asceticism for eighty years after her profession. At the moment of her death, thirty nuns who were present heard joyful melodies being played on organs. They were angry that any one should play in the convent while they were grieving for so sad a loss, but when they went to the choir and found it empty, they under- stood that they had heard the angels rejoicing to receive the soul of Mother Isabel Luisa. This happened at the end of June, 1542, on the festival of the