Today on the 4th of July besides Independence Day we are celebrating the life of St. Elizabeth of Portugal. Elizabeth is depicted in royal garb with an olive branch. At her birth in 1271, her father, Pedro III, who later became the king of Aragon, was reconciled with his family, James, the current monarch. This proved to be a foreshadowing of things that were to come. Under the healthful influences surrounding her younger years, she learned self-discipline and easily acquired a taste for spirituality in her later life. God Bless her faith!