Wartburg to celebrate St. Elizabeth Week

Nov. 11, 2005

WAVERLY, Iowa —Wartburg College will celebrate St. Elizabeth Week Monday through Friday, Nov. 14–18, an observance devoted to community activism and service.

To begin the celebration, featured speakers Jerome Popagee Johnson and Liberty Rashad will present “New Orleans: Firsthand Experience with Devastation and Rebuilding” at 11 a.m. Monday, Nov. 14, in McCaskey Lyceum of Saemann Student Center. Johnson, founder of the New Orleans Music Hall of Fame, was trapped in his home for eight days during the hurricane.

On Tuesday, Nov. 15, Thomas Euchas will present “Social Work Ethics: Current Issues and Practical Solutions” from 8 to 11 a.m. in Saemann Student Center. Next, Pulitzer prize-winning author David Shipler will present “The Working Poor: Invisible in America” at 11:30 a.m. in Neumann Auditorium. Shipler’s presentation is part of the Wartburg Convocation Series.

Also on Tuesday, the Wartburg Volunteer Action Center (VAC) will host a volunteer opportunity at the Waterloo Salvation Army from 1 to 3 p.m. Later, Bill Lofty will present “Advocation for Social Justice” at 3 p.m. in Saemann Student Center.

On Wednesday, Nov. 16, Dr. Susan Vallem, professor of social work, will speak at 10:15 a.m. in the Wartburg Chapel. Mat Forstater, director of the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability and professor of economics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, will present “The Economic Impact of the Hurricanes” at 11 a.m. in the McCaskey Lyceum of Saemann Student Center.

A Volunteer, Service and Career Extravaganza will also take place Wednesday from 12:30 to 3 p.m. in the ballroom of Saemann Student Center. The event will provide a forum for nonprofit and service organizations to highlight volunteer opportunities. In addition, the VAC will host a volunteer opportunity at the Northeast Iowa Food Bank in Waterloo from 3 to 5 p.m.

To conclude Wednesday’s events, a Eucharist prayer vigil will take place at 9:30 p.m. in the Wartburg Chapel.

On Thursday, Nov. 17, Saul Shapiro, editor of The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, will present “Media Coverage of the Hurricanes” at 11:30 a.m. in the McCaskey Lyceum of Saemann Student Center. Later that night, a St. Elizabeth’s dinner will be offered from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Mensa of Saemann Student Center.

Wartburg considers St. Elizabeth the world’s first social worker, and she has ties to the Wartburg Castle in Eisenach, Germany. Born in 1207, Elizabeth married Ludwig of Thuringia, the landgrave of the Wartburg Castle. Through her commitment to a life of service, she is known for developing a hospital near the castle and feeding up to 900 poor that came to the castle gates each day.

St. Elizabeth is associated with the legend of The Miracle of the Roses. According to the legend, Elizabeth smuggled bread and leftovers from the castle kitchen to share with the poor. The practice was forbidden, and so she hid the food in her robe. When accosted by suspicious courtiers on one of these trips, they demanded she open her robe. When she did so, the hidden bread had turned to roses. After her death in 1231, Pope Gregory IX proclaimed her a saint.