Our Patron Saint

The Feast Day of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland, patroness of our parish is November 16th. Who is this woman found worthy of being named a saint?

St. Margaret was born in Hungary in about 1046. She died in Edinburgh on November 16, 1093. Margaret, the daughter of the Anglo Saxon Prince Edward Atheling and Princess Agatha of Hungary, spent much of her youth at the court of her great-uncle Edward the Confessor in England. While attempting to return to Hungary in 1067 (after the battle of Hastings which had resulted in the death of her father), she and her family were shipwrecked off the Scottish Coast.

In 1070, Margaret married the Scottish King Malcolm III. Margaret had a great influence on her husband and his country. She initiated a series of ecclesiastical reforms that transformed the religious and cultural life of Celtic Scotland. In her role as Queen, Margaret used her resources to care for the poor and destitute. It is recorded of her that every day, during Lent, she washed the feet of six poor people, personally fed orphan children, and she and the king served food and drink to 300 poor people who were brought into the royal hall.

Her biographer, Bishop Turgot, sums up her life saying: "let us more worthily hold her in awe, because, through her devotion to justice, piety, mercy and love, we contemplate in her, rather than miracles, the deeds of the ancient fathers." May St. Margaret of Scotland help us to be people of justice and compassion in our world today.