This is one of the most known Portuguese legends that shows the goodness of Queen Isabel for her subedits, to who she took money and comfort.
The story begins when a nobleman tells his king, Don Dinis, that the Queen spent too much money in charity for church, donations to convents, and other charity actions and so the nobleman finally convinced the King to end it.
The King decided to surprise the Queen in the morning while she was going, with money, to give to charity, and he noticed that she was hiding something in her purse.
Questioned by Don Dinis, Queen Isabel informed that she was going to decorate the altars in the monastery with roses but the king insisted that he had been informed that the Queen had disobeyed his orders and she was taking the money to the poor.
Suddenly, and with confidence Queen Isabel answered:
-You are wrong my royal King, what I take in my purse is only roses.
The King thought:”How could she possibly have roses in January?” Angry because of her lies, he ordered her to show him what was inside of her purse. She was unsure of what she was going to do; she showed him her purse and right before his eyes a beautiful branch of roses appeared
The King, speechless, was finally convinced that a supernatural phenomenon had just happened, and immediately he apologized to the Queen. Happy that she wasn’t discovered, she continued to send money and food to the poor people.
The news of the miracle run trough Coimbra and everyone proclaimed her “Queen Isabel the Saint of Portugal”
