ELIZABETH OF PORTUGAL, SAINT

born c. 1271 died July 4, 1336, Estremoz, Port.; canonized 1625; feast day July 4 byname The Peacemaker, or The Holy Queen, Portuguese Santa Isabel De Portugal, or A Pacificadora, or A Rainha Santa daughter of Peter III of Aragon, wife of King Dinis (Denis) of Portugal. She was named for her great-aunt St. Elizabeth of Hungary and received a strict and pious education. In 1282 she was married to Dinis, a good ruler but an unfaithful husband. Despite the corrupt court life, Elizabeth maintained her devout habits, helped the sick and the poor, and founded charitable establishments. When her son Afonso rebelled against his father, Elizabeth rode between the two armies and reconciled father and son. She also helped settle disputes among other royal relatives. After Dinis died in 1325, she lived at Coimbra, Port., near a Poor Clare convent that she had founded, and devoted herself to people in need. She died on her way to the battlefield to make peace between her son, then King Afonso IV, and Alfonso XI of Castile.