Servant of God, Queen of Faith

Love seeks to honour every aspect of the Beloved. Thus Isabel's surpassing love of Jesus showed itself in her devotion to the Eucharist, the Blessed Mother and the Pope, who are the Real Presence of Christ, the Mother of Christ and the Vicar of Christ.

The Eucharist
Isabel wrote to the Bishops of Castile: “In many of the local churches of our diocese the Blessed Sacrament is not treated with the proper solemnity and reverence, nor is it kept in a silver container or replaced at the appropriate times. I wanted to write to you about this—she says to the bishops—asking you then to make a visit to these churches and give orders so that all the above-mentioned may be provided and done as it should be in the service of God our Lord.”

The Virgin Mother of God
370 years before the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was declared, Isabel co-founded in 1484 the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate Conception with her friend St. Beatriz de Silva. The order is still thriving today.

Queen Isabel wrote to Pope Alexander VI: “I entreat your Holiness to see that no one, whatever law or government he may live under, should dare to contradict the teaching about the Immaculate Conception, since from it so much good comes for the service of the Lord.”

The Pope--Christ's representative on earth
In a typical letter of hers to the Pope, Isabel wrote: “Very Holy Father. From Your devoted and very humble daughter, Queen of Castile, of Leon, of Aragon, of Sicily, of Granada, etc. I kiss your holy hands and feet and I commend to Your Holiness what I have written to my ambassador who resides in the court of Your Holiness, so that on my behalf he would ask you for some things concerning the foundation and endowment of a college. Very humbly I ask Your Holiness to hear him and believe him and to order it to be done the best way possible, which I will receive as a very singular grace and benefit from Your Holiness whose very holy person may the Lord Our God at all times guard and make prosper for the good ordering of His Universal Church. Written in Seville the 20th of March, 1500. Your Holiness I remain your very humble and devout daughter that kisses your holy hands and feet. The Queen of Castile, of Aragon and Granada.”

Isabel's piety was manifest in many other ways--her care for the weak and the poor, her generosity to the Church, her assistance every day at Holy Mass and reciting the Divine Office each day. This blog will post on each in due course.

[Image: Dream of St John Bosco, 1862; Basilica of Mary Help of Christians, Turin. The barque of St Peter is safely secured to the pillars of the Eucharist and the Virgin.]