Princess Elisabeth of Hesse

Grand Princess Elizaveta of Hesse and Russia (1864 - 1918), second daughter of Princess Alice, and granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She married Grand Prince Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia whose assassination in February 1905 made her withdraw from society to devote her time and resources to charitable work. She founded the Martha and Mary Convent of Mercy, an order of nursing nuns, to work in Moscow's poorest districts. She took the veil herself in 1910 and was raised to the rank of abbess, adopting an ascetic way of life with complete sincerity. However, she was still the Tsar's aunt and his wife's sister. Around Easter 1918 she was arrested with one of her nuns and taken east to Ekaterinburg where they joined a larger group of Romanov prisoners deported from Petrograd. In June they were all imprisoned in the schoolhouse at Alapaevsk, and on the night of 17/18 July all eight prisoners were pushed down a mineshaft in the nearby forest. Grenades were thrown in after them and the shaft covered: the bodies were found by investigators of the White Army and taken to China. In 1920 Ella's family arranged for her body and the body of Sister Varvara to be buried in the Orthodox Church of St Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem. Ella was canonised in 1995

Abbess Adopting Alexandrovich Arranged Ascetic Aunt Buried Canonised Charitable Convent Deported Devote Districts Ekaterinburg Elizaveta Ella Ellas Granddaughter Grenades Hesse Imprisoned Investigators Joined Larger Magdalene Mercy Mineshaft Moscows Nearby Nuns Orthodox Petrograd Poorest Pushed Rank Resources Romanov Schoolhouse Shaft Sincerity Thrown Varvara Withdraw

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