No one knows exactly how old she as when she gave birth to John the Baptist, except that she was thought to be beyond the normal age for bearing children. How she and Mary were related is also not known, although St. Hippolytus of Rome and the Byzantine Church believe that Mary's mother (St. Anne) and Elizabeth's mother (Sobe) were sisters.
Elizabeth is mentioned in several apocryphal gospels. According to the infancy narrative of the Gospel of St. James, when King Herod decided to kill all male babies under the age of two, Elizabeth hid herself and the infant John in the hills which (through God's intercession) opened up and concealed her. When the soldiers couldn't find Elizabeth and hunted down Zachariah in the Temple. When he refused to disclose his family's whereabouts, the soldiers stabbed him to death. Elizabeth is said to have died 40 days after her husband's murder.
St. Elizabeth is the patron saint of pregnant women, and the Catholic Church celebrates her feast on November 5.
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw