Elisabeth, The Inkeeper's Wife

The Fontanini Nativity story of Elisabeth: Elisabeth, wife of innkeeper Thaddeus, was the mother of one son, Jacob. Though she wished for more children, she filled her life generously serving the guests that filled their inn. Late one evening, a family sought comfort in the inn - there was no room. They were housed in the stable. Elisabeth tended the family as her own, offering Mary her son's Jacob's bed for her new-born son, as well as ministering to the many pilgrims who had come, learning of a blessed birth. As the Holy Family at last prepared to leave, Elisabeth paid one last visit. She was blessed by the Virgin Mary for her gentleness, and devotion, and yes, with the gift of a long-awaited second child of her own.