THE MORE OBSCURE CATHOLIC SAINTS - PART TWO

This new Saints series has taken off well. Robert is learning new things about his favourite saints and has been inspired to run his own series titled 'Sinners'. See: HERE


Here's number two in the series - Saint Elizabeth of Palo Alto.

Saint Elizabeth of Palo Alto

1956 – 2016.

A trust fund kid embraces Sister Poverty


Today’s saint was also known as Lizzie Child of the Clouds Harmony when a teenager and through to her mid 20s. She was born into wealth with her parents owning a well known plasticware business in Los Angeles. Being a Catholic family there were a couple of saints in its bloodline - Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and Saint Elizabeth of Poland who were her namesakes.
In the 1960s Elizabeth spent a rebellious time indulging in alcohol, drugs and embracing the Hippie 'flower power' culture that prevailed and took on her 'Lizzie Child of the Clouds Harmony' name to replace her family name of von Thuringen. It is said that this lifestyle and her ingestion of powerful hallucinogenic drugs at Woodstock and other festivals enabled her to see The Blessed Virgin Mary and Jesus in visions. This was verified by her friend at the time Father Awaythebetter who played double bass for a West Coast 'Acid' rock band. Father Awaythebetter was a virgin, a state that was perpetualised by his choice of musical instrument and he too, after ingesting the same drugs saw The Blessed Virgin Mary, Jesus and The Holy Ghost. "Cool man" he recorded afterwards "That Holy Ghost Dude was awesome." It was Father Awaythebetter who convinced the Californian Catholic Diocese to promote Elizabeth of Palo Alto's canonisation which happened after her death in 2016.
Elizabeth had the luxury of leisure due to her wealth and status. She was able to freely move around embracing the freedom of communes without actually having to slum it as she went home to her parents Bel Air mansion during the week to 'recharge her batteries'. This freedom and rootlessness took on greater significance after her miraculous visions of The Virgin Mary and Jesus as she could dedicate time to Mass, to prayer, and to her spiritual exercises. Her resources of time and money also allowed her to assist the poor, which she did generously, even to the annoyance of her parents who soon tired of having hippie VW Combi vans parked on their lawns and bought her a series of 3 story condominiums in Palo Alto which she named 'Harmony in the Clouds'. It is easy to say that money doesn’t matter when you have money. Only people with money, in fact, say that money is not the only thing. Money did not matter to Elizabeth, precisely because she did not lack it. She simply gave it away. And she fortified her financial generosity with her personal example of prayer, fasting, poverty, and holiness, edifying her people.

After her parents died, Elizabeth, now in her 40s and with no income, entered the convent of the Poor Lizzies which she herself had founded in the 70s which was dubbed then 'The Dizzy Lizzies'. She took vows as a Mail Order Franciscan and lived in relative obscurity with the other sisters. The convent derived it's income, after Elizabeth's funding ran out, by making and selling, initially by mail order and then via the internet, little plastic and wood statues of Jesus on a cross. These were colloquially known as 'kebabs'.
After Elizabeth had given away all that she had, she gave away herself, and then there was nothing left to give. She was a model Catholic Saint and is the patron saint of clouds, harmony and. of course kebabs. Saint Elizabeth of Palo Alto, help us to see all wealth, of time or money, as a gift and an opportunity to serve the Lord and our fellow man. You promoted peace in your mind and in your communes. Help us to do the same.