Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 5.djvu/444

 ELIZABETH

388

ELIZABETH

Hippolytus (in Niceph. Call., Hist. Eccles., II, iii) ex- plains that Sobe and Anna their mothers were sisters, and that Sobe had married a " son of Levi ' '. Whether this indication, probably gathered from some apocry- phal writings, and later on adopted by the compilers of the Greek Menologium, is correct, cannot be ascer- tained. Elizabeth, like Zachary, was "just before God, walking in all the commandments and justifica- tions of the Lord without blame" (Luke, i, 6). She had been deprived, however, of the blessings of moth- erhood until, at an ad- vanced age, a son was promised her by the Angel Gabriel (Luke, i, 8-20). When, five months later, Elizabeth was visited in her home by the Virgin Mary, not only was her son sancti- fied in her womb, but she herself was enlight- ened from on high to salute her cousin as " the mother of my Lord" (Luke, i, 4.3). Accord- ing to some modern critics, we should even attribute to herthe can- ticle "Magnificat". After the birth and circumcision of John the Baptist, the Gos- pels do not mention Elizabeth any more. Her feast is celebrated on S .September by the Greeks, and 5 Novem- ber in the Latin Church. ViGOURorx, Diet, dc li Bible (Paris. 1898). s. v.; Calmet. Diet, de la Bible: Real enty. prol. Thfol. (I9m I, XII. 71 sqq.; BlRN in Diet, of Christ and the Gospels (New York, 1908). s. v. Magnificat. II, lOl-UVi; B.1RDENHEWER. BMische Studien (1901). VI. 187. Ch.\RLES L..SOUVAY

Elizabeth, Sistkhs OF S.\INT, generally styled "Grey Nuns". They sprang from an association of young ladies established by Dorothea Klara Wolff, in connexion with the sisters, Mathilde and Maria Merkert, and Franziska Werner, 1842, inNeisse (Prus- sia), to tend in theirown homes, without compensation, helpless sick persons who could not or would not be re- ceived into the hospitals. The members purposed to support the needy through the labour of their own hands. Without adopting any definite rule, they led a community life and wore a common dress, a brown woollen habit with a grey bonnet. For this reason they were soon called by the people the " Grey Nuns". As their work was soon recognized and praised every- where, and as new members continually applied for admission, their spiritual advisers sought to give the association some sort of religious organization. They endeavoured, wherever possible, to affiliate it with already established confraternities having similar pur- poses. But their foremost desire was to educate the members for the care of the sick in hospitals. Cireat difficulties arose, and the attempt failed, principally through the resistance of the foundres,ses, who did not wish to abandon their original plan of itinerant nurs- ing. Thus the as.sociation which had justified such bright hopes was dissolved, and many of the newly ad-

mitted members joined the Sisters of St. Charles Bor- romeo, while the foundresses left the novitiate which they had already entered. Klara Wolff and Mathilde Merkert died shortly after, in the service of charity. The other two began their work anew in 1850 and placed it under the especial patronage of St. Elizabeth. They speedily gained the sympathy of the sick of all classes and creeds, and also that of the physicians. New candidates applied for admission, and the sis- ters were soon able to extend the sphere of their activity beyond Neisse. Of especial importance was the foundation made at Breslau, where tlie work of the sisters came under the direct ■ 'bservation of the epis- mpal authorities. Soon after, 4 Sept., 1859, Prince-Bishop Heinrich I'orster was prevailed upon by the favourable reports and testimo- nials to grant the associ- ation ecclesiastical ap- probation. As such a recognition presup- posed a solid religious organization, a novitiate was established accord- ing to the statutes sub- mitted. In the following year the twenty-four eldest sisters made the three religious vows. State recognition, with the grant of a corpor- ation charter, was ob- tained by the confrater- nity 25 May, 1864, under the title,"" Catholic Charitable Institute of St. P^lizabeth", through the mediation of the Prussian Crown-Prince Frederick William, sub- sec juent Emperor of ( Jcrmany, who had ob- .served the beneficent activity of the sisters on the battle-fields of Denmark. The appro- bation of the Holy See was granted for the con- gregation on 26 Jan.. 1887, and for its constitutions on 26 April, 1898. The congregation has spread to Norway, Sweden, and Italy, and has (1908), dependent on the mother-house at Breslau, 305 filial houses, with 2565 sisters and about 100 postulants.

Heimbucher, Orden und Kongregationen (Paderborn, 1908), III. 389: JuNGNiTz, Die Kongr. der grauen Schweslem (Breslau. 1892 1; Kdnig in KircJienlex., s. v. Elisabelherinnen.

Elizabethans. See Third Order op St. Francis.

Elizabeth Associations (Elisabethenvereine^, char- itable associations of women in Germany which aim for the love of Christ to minister to the bodily and spiritual sufferings of the sick poor and of neglected children. On 10 December, 1842, eight ladies of Munich formed a society, of which the Princess Leo- poldine von Lowenstein was the head, for the purpose of visiting and aiding the sick poor in their homes. In 1851 it was made a religious congregation to which many infiulgences were granted by the Holy Father. In order to carry on better the visiting of the sick the first branch or conference of the association was founded in 1870. According to its statutes the mem- bers are divided into two classes: associate members.