St. Pontianus was Pope from the year 230 to 235, during the reign of Alexander Severus. The emperor”s successor, Maximinus, a cruel tyrant, banished the Pope, who died for the hardships of his exile.

(Source: The New Roman Missal, Rev. F. X. Lasance)

Elizabeth, “fragrant rose of charity,” daughter of Andrew, King of Hungary, and wife of Louis IV, landgrave of Thuringia, even before she could read was seen to cast herself before the altar, open a book of Psalms, fold her hands in prayer, and kiss the ground in token humility. Prayer was everything to Elizabeth. Her husband was also a man of piety.

They had three children, Herman, Sophia and Gertrude. Her greatest devotion was for the poor and the sick; she even brought lepers into her home to care for them. At her husband”s death she entered the Order of Penitents of St. Francis. Her brother-in-law then expelled her with her children, and she went forth poor, unable to find shelter for herself and her children. She died in 1231; the miracles obtained through her intercession brought about her canonization in 1235.

(Source: The New Roman Missal, Rev. F. X. Lasance)