St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland

SAINT MARGARET
Queen of Scotland
(1046-1093)

St. Margaret's name signifies pearl, "a fitting name," says Theodoric, her confessor and her first biographer, "for one such as she." Her soul was like a precious pearl; a life spent amidst the luxury of a royal court never dimmed its luster or estranged it from Him who had bought it with His Blood. She was the granddaughter of an English king; in 1070 she became the bride of Malcolm of Scotland, thereafter reigning as Queen until her death in 1093.

How did she become a Saint in a position where sanctity is so difficult? First, she burned with zeal for the house of God. She built churches and monasteries; she occupied herself by making vestments; she could not rest until she saw the laws of God and His Church observed throughout her realm. Next, amid a thousand cares, she found time to converse with God, ordering her piety with such sweetness and discretion that she won her husband to sanctity like her own. He would rise at night to pray with her; he loved to kiss the holy books she used, and sometimes would take them away with him, bringing them back later to his wife covered with jewels. Lastly, despite St. Margaret's great virtue, she wept constantly over her sins and begged her confessor to correct her faults.

St. Margaret did not neglect her duties in the world even if she was not of the world. God blessed this marriage with eight children, six princes and two princesses who did not fail to respond to their mother's teaching and examples. Never was there a better mother; she spared no pains in their education, and their sanctity was the fruit of her prudence and her zeal. And never was there a better queen. She was the most trusted counselor of her husband, who always found her counsels of great utility, and she labored with him for the spiritual and material improvement of the land. Malcolm, after having pacified his domains for several years, saw to the building of the cathedral of Durham and founded a monastery at Dumfermlin.

Living in the midst of all the world's pleasures, St. Margaret sighed for the true homeland and viewed death as a release. On her deathbed she learned that her husband and their eldest son had been slain in battle. She thanked God for sending this last affliction as a penance for her sins. After receiving Holy Viaticum, she repeated the prayer from the Missal, "O Lord Jesus Christ, who by Thy death didst give life to the world, deliver me." And at the words "deliver me," says her biographer, her soul took flight to Christ, in 1093, in her forty-seventh year.

Another view of this same Saint:

St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland
by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877


St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, was descended by her father's side from royalty , by her mother's side from imperial blood. She was born in Hungary at the time of the holy king St. Stephen, at whose court her father Edward and her mother Agatha resided. Her after life proved how piously she had been educated. Edward was the rightful heir to the English crown, but the power of his enemies had deprived him of it. After his death, Agatha resolved to go to England with Prince Edgar and the two Princesses Margaret and Christine, as she had been made to hope that Edgar would be placed upon the throne. A heavy storm arose when they were at sea and drove their ship to Scotland. The reigning king Malcolm received and entertained them most kindly, and making the acquaintance of the beautiful and virtuous princess Margaret, he asked her hand in marriage. Agatha gladly consented, and Margaret was obedient to her mother's wishes. The wedding was celebrated; and Margaret, in the 24th year of her age, was crowned Queen of Scotland.

She reigned for 30 years, and became famed for her wisdom and piety. On the spot where she had been crowned, she had a magnificent church built in honor of the Holy Trinity, in order that her own and her husband's souls might not be lost, and in case she should have male heirs, she might have grace to educate them in such a manner that they would not sacrifice eternal for temporal goods. She also built or restored several other churches and monasteries, and provided them with all things necessary, She desired to have every article used in church most splendid, and was therefore constantly occupied with her maids of honor in working for the churches. Her conduct towards the king, her husband, was exemplary, and by it she caused him to lead a Christian life. She changed everything at the court in such a way, that her husband was royally served and was honored by his subjects with increased respect. She exhorted him particularly to be impartial in the administration of justice; to be kind and liberal to the poor; but above all, to be zealous for the true faith, and to uproot many abuses which had crept into his kingdom. Following her counsel, the king assembled the bishops and represented to them those abuses which he wished them to abolish; which was accordingly done. The Queen herself was a bright light of Christian virtues to all.

In the midst of regal splendor, she led a very austere life, and was so assiduous in her prayers, that she gave to them even a part of the night. The reading of devout books was her greatest delight, and she led others to it also. To the word of God she listened with avidity and joy. She observed the prescribed fasts, and besides kept a strict abstinence of forty days before Christmas, even when she was sick. She evinced a more than motherly heart towards the poor and needy. Incredible is the amount of alms which she gave with her own hands to the poor, for whose benefit she founded many charitable institutions. She valued neither her own clothing nor her magnificent jewels where the poor were concerned. Almost daily did she wash the feet of some and provide them with money. Nine little orphans were at her court, to whom she often gave food with her own lands. Three hundred poor were daily fed in the royal hall, where she and the king frequently served them at table, and at times kissed their feet. The Almighty, who seldom fails to reward such deeds of kindness, even, in this life, blessed the pious queen with many children, whom she most carefully educated. She was not content with merely giving them to the care of such as were famed for piety and learning, but she also taught them herself as well in reading and writing as in virtue and the fear if God. She reproved them for the smallest faults, and never allowed one to pass unpunished. One of the best admonitions which she gave them was as follows: "My children, love and fear God; for they who fear God, have not to fear death; and they who love God with their whole heart, will not only be happy for the short space of time we live on this earth, but will be eternally blessed in the life to come." She also taught them to behave most respectfully and reverentially in Church and was in this, as in all other things, a bright example to them. She would not suffer one to address a single unnecessary word to another in church: " For," said she, "the Church is a place to pray and weep over our sins."

After the pious queen had for many years taken the utmost care of the education of her children, and great solicitude for the welfare of the land, God revealed to her the day of her death. For nearly half a year she suffered from a very painful sickness, which she bore with perfect submission to the divine will, manifesting an invincible patience. Having cleansed her conscience by a general confession, she told her confessor that she would not live much longer, but that he would survive her some years. She then requested him, first, that he would remember her in saying Mass as long as he lived; and secondly, that he would take all possible pains in the further instruction of her children. Four days before her death, the king was murdered, at the siege of the castle of Allwick. One of the royal Princes arrived to inform his mother of the sad news. She asked him, before he had time to speak, how her husband was, but he, seeing how ill she was, would have concealed the fact from her, fearing rightly that agitation and grief would shorten her days. She, however, said: "My son, I know the worst, but request you, by the love you owe me as your mother, to acquaint me with the whole occurrence."

These words obliged the prince to speak. Having given her an account of the melancholy event, the Christian heroine raised her heart and eyes to heaven, and exclaimed: "I praise Thee and give thanks to Thee, O great God, that it has pleased Thee to send me this great cross before my end, in order that by patiently bearing it, I may pay the debt I still owe Thee on account of my sins." Soon after, she repeated the most fervent exercises of virtue, and said at last: "Jesus Christ! Thou who hast given life to the world by Thy death, release me from the bonds of the flesh and take my soul into everlasting joy." Having pronounced these words, she ended her holy life. Her face, which from austere fasting and long sickness, was emaciated and pale, shone, soon after her death, with a wonderful beauty. The many and great miracles which God wrought in favor of those who invoked the holy queen, prove how powerful, is her intercession at the throne of the Almighty.



Practical Considerations
(In other words, get busy and teach your children the Faith!)

What is related above contains something instructive for men of almost all classes and conditions. Persons of high rank may learn how to live piously in their station, and particularly how they may occupy their time and conduct themselves toward the poor. Married people may learn from it to incite each other to virtue, restrain each other from evil and live in constant love and harmony. It may further instruct parents how to educate their children, and what principles they ought to impress deeply into their hearts. All may learn from this holy queen reverence in Church, zeal in listening to the word of God, pleasure in reading devout books; heroic patience, complete resignation to the divine will; strict observance of the ordained fasts, and other similar virtues. Of all this I will take into consideration only two points.

Margaret, a queen, herself taught her children to read and write, instructed them in religion and Christian conduct, punished their faults, and instilled into their hearts most wholesome principles in regard to the fear and love of God, reverence in Church and similar virtues. All these are marks of a Christian solicitude for the welfare and salvation of her children. How will those parents, in whom not one of these signs is found, justify themselves before God? Many neither instruct their children in religion nor have them instructed by others, but are much more anxious that they shall learn dancing, music, elegance of dress and manners, than their Catechism or the doctrines of their religion. They lead them rather to the theatre, or into society, than to Church or Holy Mass, to a sermon or to religious instruction. They give them a novel to read, rather than a devout book. Others again are too indulgent to their children, do not punish their faults, nor allow others to correct them. And why this? They say that they love their children too much, and that the little ones do not understand why they are punished.

But how blind, how silly must they be to speak thus. Does a parent's love consist in not punishing a child deservedly or in indulging it in everything? The Holy Ghost teaches the contrary when he says: "He that spareth the rod hateth his Son: but he that loves him correcteth him betimes." (Prov. xiii). Who is right, such parents or the Holy Ghost? "The children do not understand why they are punished," they say. I say, that through punishment they acquire the knowledge of right and wrong, learn what they are permitted to do and what not. If they are not punished, they become accustomed to do evil and continue in it without hesitation. Hence the Holy Ghost admonishes: "Withhold not correction from a child: for, if thou strike him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod and deliver his soul from hell" (Prov xxiii.). Heed the last words and see the benefit which is derived from just punishment, while the omission of it often leads children to hell. Which way your duty lies is therefore easy to see. You will spare the rod, because it hurts the child; but have you considered that the child will one day burn in hell in consequence? I shall give, to conclude this lesson, a few verses of the book of Ecclesiasticus or Sirach, which I desire all parents to read very carefully.

"He that loveth his son, frequently chastiseth him, that he may rejoice in his latter end and not grope after the doors of his neighbor. He that instructed his son, shall be praised in him, and shall glory in him, in the midst of them of his household. He that teacheth his son, maketh his enemy jealous and in the midst of his friends he shall glory in him . . . A horse not broken becometh stubborn, and a child left to himself will become headstrong. Give thy son his way and he shall make thee afraid; play with him, and he shall make thee sorrowful. Laugh not with him, lest thou have sorrow, and at last thy teeth be set on edge. Give him not liberty in his youth, and wink not at his devices. Bow down his neck while he is young, and beat his sides while he is a child, lest he grow stubborn and regard thee not and so be a sorrow of heart to thee. Instruct thy son and labor about him, lest his lewd behaviour be an offence to thee." These are the lessons of the Holy Ghost; from which it is easily to be perceived how children ought to be instructed and corrected, and how unwisely and sinfully parents act who do not punish them.

The salvation of her own, her husband's and her children's souls was the heartfelt desire of this holy queen: for which purpose she built a magnificent church. Although you have built no churches, you go often to church to pray: you offer divers devotions, have masses said, confess and go to holy Communion and ask the Saints to intercede for you. But why do you do all this? What is your intention? Ah! generally only temporal things. You desire to be released from some cross; you ask for temporal benefits for yourself or yours. Hence spring all your thoughts, all your devotions.

Why do you not turn them before all things upon the salvation of your soul, or upon receiving spiritual graces or being relieved from spiritual evils? Why not pray that you may shun sin, do good, and be aided to fight valiantly against temptation? Why not that you may gain salvation, and not be eternally condemned? Consider these points more frequently, as they are of greater importance than all else that you could seek or ask. David prayed thus in his Psalms: for, he often begs God to forgive his sins, to aid him in temptation, to give him grace not to be eternally cast into hell, but to go into life everlasting. "Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy; and according to the multitude of thy tender mercies, blot out my iniquity. Wash me yet more from mine iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. Cast me not away from thy face. Punish me not in thy wrath. O Lord, hasten to help me." These are words of the Holy Psalmist, which all regard the salvation of the soul. He confessed it to himself, saying: "One thing have I asked of the Lord, this will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life" (Psalm xxvi.). It was principally salvation for which he prayed; all his aspirations were directed towards it. Take my advice and follow the Psalmist.