Born about 1045, died 16 Nov., 1092, was a daughter of Edward
"Outremere", or "the Exile", by Agatha, kinswoman of Gisela, the wife of
St. Stephen of Hungary. She was the granddaughter of Edmund Ironside. A
constant tradition asserts that Margaret's father and his brother
Edmund were sent to Hungary for safety during the reign of Canute, but
no record of the fact has been found in that country. The date of
Margaret's birth cannot be ascertained with accuracy, but it must have
been between the years 1038, when St. Stephen died, and 1057, when her
father returned to England. It appears that Margaret came with him on
that occasion and, on his death and the conquest of England by the
Normans, her mother Agatha decided to return to the Continent. A storm
however drove their ship to Scotland, where Malcolm III received the
party under his protection, subsequently taking Margaret to wife. This
event had been delayed for a while by Margaret's desire to entire
religion, but it took place some time between 1067 and 1070.
In her position as queen, all Margaret's great influence was
thrown into the cause of religion and piety. A synod was held, and among
the special reforms instituted the most important were the regulation
of the Lenten fast, observance of the Easter communion, and the removal
of certain abuses concerning marriage within the prohibited degrees. Her
private life was given up to constant prayer and practices of piety.
She founded several churches, including the Abbey of Dunfermline, built
to enshrine her greatest treasure, a relic of the true Cross. Her book
of the Gospels, richly adorned with jewels, which one day dropped into a
river and was according to legend miraculously recovered, is now in the
Bodleian library at Oxford. She foretold the day of her death, which
took place at Edinburgh on 16 Nov., 1093, her body being buried before
the high altar at Dunfermline.
In 1250 Margaret was canonized by Innocent IV, and her relics
were translated on 19 June, 1259, to a new shrine, the base of which is
still visible beyond the modern east wall of the restored church. At the
Reformation her head passed into the possession of Mary Queen of Scots,
and later was secured by the Jesuits at Douai, where it is believed to
have perished during the French Revolution. According to George Conn,
"De duplici statu religionis apud Scots" (Rome, 1628), the rest of the
relics, together with those of Malcolm, were acquired by Philip II of
Spain, and placed in two urns in the Escorial. When, however, Bishop
Gillies of Edinburgh applied through Pius IX for their restoration to
Scotland, they could not be found.
The chief authority for Margaret's life is the contemporary
biography printed in "Acta SS.", II, June, 320. Its authorship has been
ascribed to Turgot, the saint's confessor, a monk of Durham and later
Archbishop of St. Andrews, and also to Theodoric, a somewhat obscure
monk; but in spite of much controversy the point remains quite
unsettled. The feast of St. Margaret is now observed by the whole Church
on 10 June.
Acta SS., II, June, 320; CAPGRAVE, Nova Legenda Angliae
(London, 1515), 225; WILLIAM OF MALMESBURY, Gesta Regum in P.L., CLXXIX,
also in Rolls Series, ed. STUBBS (London, 1887-9); CHALLONER, Britannia
Sancta, I (London, 1745), 358; BUTLER, Lives of the Saints, 10 June;
STANTON, Menology of England and Wales (London, 1887), 544;
FORBES-LEITH, Life of St. Margaret. . . (London, 1885); MADAN, The
Evangelistarium of St. Margaret in Academy (1887); BELLESHEIM, History
of the Catholic Church in Scotland, tr. Blair, III (Edinburgh, 1890),
241-63.
G. ROGER HUDLESTON (Catholic Encyclopedia)
No comments:
Post a Comment