The Martyrdom of ‘the Most Beautiful Woman in Europe’, by K.V. Turley

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ABOVE: Princess Elisabeth in 1894. BELOW: Sister Elisabeth after 1905. (photo: Multiple / Public Domain)

“The Lord found that it was time for us to carry his cross. Let us strive to be worthy of that joy.”

By K.V. Turley, EWTN News, July 18, 2020

K.V. Turley is the Register’s U.K. correspondent. He writes from London.

Described as “the most beautiful woman in Europe,” she was to marry a prince. And yet that same woman was to end her last days in the service of the sick and the poor, wearing only the plain garb of a nun, eventually, to die in an industrial wasteland as a martyr for her Christian faith.

A journey that started for her on the Mount of Olives, and continued with the Cross being laid on her shoulders on a February day in 1905, was ended as she began an ascent of Calvary to make her final oblation in July 1918.

Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Elisabeth was born in Grand Duchy of Hesse on Nov. 1, 1864. She had been named after her distant ancestor, St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Ella, as she was to be known, was the second child of the Royal House of Hesse, a minor Germanic principality. Her upbringing was conventional; charming and bright, she was also beautiful. Many suitors were proposed or came hoping for her hand in marriage. One of these was a Russian noble, Sergei. …

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