It undoubtedly helps to assert oneself if born into a royal household. That, nevertheless, has never been a guarantee, and certainly was not in the 13th century, when today’s saint, Isabel, was born.

Isabel, from a young age, was very much Her Own Woman. She was a brilliant scholar with little inclination to hide her intelligence. Butler writes of Isabel when a child:

She . . . attained so perfect a knowledge of the Latin tongue, that she often corrected the compositions of her chaplains in that language.

One wonders if those priests were glorifying God that such wisdom should be granted such a young female as this!

This fearlessness did not depart from Isabel. When it came time to marry her off to cement a plum political alliance, Isabel announced to her mother, her brother (then king), and the pope that she would have no part of it! She told them all she’d rather spend her time helping the poor as a nun than become Empress, and found their arguments that she could do so much more for the poor as empress hollow. Isabel refused and they relented!

Isabel’s commitment to be self-determining–and to use the advantages life had given her for those without–was later exemplified when the king approached Isabel as she was making a cap. Thinking it a work of beauty, the king asked her to give him that cap as a gift. Isabel’s response? “This is the first work of the kind I have spun; I therefore owe it to Jesus Christ, to whom all my first-fruits are due.” Isabel gave the hat she was then working on to a poor man in need, and agreed only after that to make one for the King (as a favor).

Fearless, educated, generous, and her own woman. Frankly, I am pleasantly amazed that Isabel ended up on the Calendar of Saints!!