The Patron Saint of the Lviv Church of St Elizabeth in the Homiletic Reflection of a Lviv Clergyman

Abstract

The article examines the figure of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary as presented in a Baroque sermon by the Lviv-born Dominican Fabian Birkowski. Set against the historical and architectural backdrop of the Lviv church dedicated to the saint, the study situates Birkowski’s Sermon for the Day of Saint Elizabeth the Widow (1628) within the broader religious and parenetic traditions of the Dominican order and post-Tridentine piety. Through meticulous analysis of the sermon’s theological and literary construction, the author reconstructs the homiletic image of Saint Elizabeth as a model of active charity, asceticism, and lay holiness. Drawing on hagiographic sources, medieval iconography, and scriptural references, Birkowski frames the life of Elizabeth as a spiritual journey towards evangelical perfection, marked by self-denial, mystical experience, and service to the poor. The article argues that the saint’s exemplary life served not only to inspire monastic audiences but also to articulate an ideal of sanctity accessible to the laity, particularly women, in the early modern Catholic world.