By DEB PIROCH
Great rulers there have been many, but pious royals who fed the hungry, sheltered orphans, built churches and abbeys instead of empires — those are few. St. Margaret of Scotland did, however, and her confessor and chief biographer, Turgot, later bishop of St. Andrews, named her the “Pearl of Scotland.”
She was born in Hungary but came to England as a young girl about ten years old, her father having been called back to his country; her relative, Edward the Confessor, was childless and needed a successor to the throne. Unfortunately, Margaret’s father died soon after his arrival, but in time her brother became king. That is, until William the Conqueror prevailed at the Battle of Hastings in 1066 and the family fled. It is said that they were shipwrecked in Scotland, and there Margaret would catch the eye of King Malcolm III of Scotland.
A young widower, he asked her to be his queen, and they married when she was 24 or so years of age. Their union was very happy. She was pious and though he was not known for being devout, he was happy to “let her have her way” and through her, her piety spread to her family and her own people. The mother of eight, four of the six sons became kings in their own right and a fifth became a monk, subsequently beatified. Her daughter who married King Henry I of England was known as “Good Queen Maud,” whilst her son David, a Scottish king, was considered to be a saint.
Though a thousand years have passed since she lived, her legacy is still associated with her kindness to the poor and her devotion to the faith. Accounts recall that she kept Lent twice a year, at Lent and during Advent. During these times she rose to attend Mass daily at midnight, attended Matins — often with the king in attendance — ‘and on her return washed the feet of the poor and gave alms.
Unlike those royals consumed with riches and finery, she is said to have eaten sparingly, reserved time for prayer, and was rich in dispensing the corporal works of mercy. She cared personally for the sick, looked after orphans, ransomed captives, and even sheltered the needy in her palace, according to one biographical account. During the course of her lifetime, she and her husband must have fed hundreds to thousands of meals to the hungry.
Margaret founded several churches and also the Benedictine Abbey at Dunfermline, Fife. The latter is noted for having housed the most Scottish royals in death, including St. Margaret and her husband, except in perhaps the abbey at Iona! Prior to her canonization, she was disinterred per custom and her relics placed in a reliquary. As the story goes, the aim was to place this on the high altar but, when attempting to carry her remains past the grave of her dear husband, the weight became suddenly so heavy the men had to put down the reliquary. The solution found was to move her husband’s grave next to the high altar, for even in death, it was said, he could not bear to be separated from his dear wife.
With the help of the archbishop of Canterbury, she helped to standardize certain Church practices that had not yet reached Scotland. This included seeing that Lent began on Ash Wednesday, not later. There also existed many abuses among both priests and laity which she personally saw to ending, and due observance of Sundays and feast days was made obligatory. Among the repugnant practices stopped were incestuous marriages and usury.
Sadly, both her husband — always a warrior — and son were killed at the Battle of Alnwick on November 12, 1093. This broke Margaret’s heart and she died four days later. Among her last words: “I thank thee, Almighty God, that in sending me so great an affliction in the last hour of my life, thou wouldst purify me from my sins, as I hope, by thy mercy.” Shortly after, her final words were: “O Lord Jesus who by thy death has given life to the world, deliver me from all evil!”
Unfortunately, due to King Henry VIII and his rejection of papal authority, we know the English Reformation to have been the beginning of an assault against faithful Catholics. Unsuccessful in having his marriage to Catherine of Aragon annulled, and forbidden by Pope Clement VII to remarry under pain of excommunication, Henry’s rejection of all things Catholic began. In destroying every vestige of the Church, including the destruction of the monasteries, this included the Abbey at Dunfermline in 1560. At this point most of Margaret’s relics were most likely hidden. Her head was later in the possession of Mary, Queen of Scots, who we know was executed by Henry VIII’s daughter, Elizabeth I.
The head then found its way to the Scottish College in Douay, France, which became a refuge for Catholics, priests, and seminarians during those troubled times. The college had it in its possession until the French Revolution, when it disappeared for good, one assumes destroyed by those who hated the Church. Any remaining relics were said to have been sent to Spain but, on request by Scotland for their return, many reports state none were found.
Nonetheless, this data is incorrect. Eventually a thigh bone was found and permission was granted for its removal from the Escurial, a famed monastery of the 1500s. Thanks to an audience with the Pope, and with the consent of the Queen of Spain, in 1862 the bone reached the Ursuline Sisters at St. Margaret’s Convent, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is now housed at St. Margaret’s Chapel at Edinburgh Castle, which though the oldest existing building in Edinburgh, the chapel actually post-dates St. Margaret.
Though canceled for 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the fifth annual ecumenical St. Margaret’s National Pilgrimage had been set to take place this year. Interestingly, Anglicans also venerate St. Margaret and worship at a building at the ruins of Dunfermline Abbey. Its minister, along with a priest from the Catholic Chapel at the Castle, join together in an ecumenical service. This is followed by tours that include “St. Margaret’s Cave,” where she is believed to have prayed a thousand years ago. Following this is a procession headed by the relic, then next a Catholic Mass and finally, a blessing with the relic for all those who remain after Mass.
Let us hope and pray that this dedication to the patroness of Scotland for over four centuries, dear St. Margaret, resumes in 2021. She is variously listed as an intercessor for widows, parents of large families and orphans.
Margaret was canonized in 1250 and her feast day is celebrated on November 16.
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