Margaret, Our Patron Saint

The little town of Laviano lies less than 20 miles southeast of the ancient village of Cortona, Italy. It was on a farm very near Laviano that our patron, St. Margaret was born in 1247. A happy, beautiful child, Margaret was adored by her parents. At the age of 7, her mother died and her father remarried. One day, after years of unrelenting harsh treatment by her stepmother who deeply resented Margaret, a stranger appeared in Laviano. He was a nobleman from Montepulciano, a city situated on a high mountain in central Italy. He'd come to the area after hearing reports of a beautiful young farm girl residing in the vicinity. The rich young man appeared on horseback at Margaret's home while her parents were away and the farmhands were in the fields. Shortly after they met, Margaret and the nobleman became lovers and Margaret agreed to return with him to Montepulciano.

She was 18 years old. For the next nine years Margaret lived with the nobleman in rich splendor and, as his mistress, bore him a son. Margaret hoped that one day she and her nobleman would marry. Although he did not believe in marriage, he was faithful to Margaret and was devoted to their son. Margaret then experienced a major turning point in her life: she discovered the body of her lover who'd been murdered by unknown assailants. She interpreted this event as God's judgment. She experienced shame and sorrow for her sins. Margaret then gave away all her possessions, dressed herself in a simple robe and left the castle. She returned to Laviano to be with her father and to raise her son as a farmer. Her father welcomed her home but her stepmother turned her father's heart against both Margaret and her son. Mother and son were cast out and wandered along the road that led to Cortona.

When they finally reached that village, Margaret thought they might have to sleep in the street, as she knew no one. Then, two women approached them - a woman of great nobility, accompanied by her daughter-in-law. These women were both widows. As they listened to Margaret's story of her life, they recognized a common bond: each of these three women had outlived the men they'd loved. The Cortona women took in Margaret and her son. Margaret worked at several jobs while living with her new friends. For three years she served as a midwife and nurse to the wealthy women of Cortona. She excelled in nursing the ill and the dying. Margaret attended daily mass, befriended and cared for the poor, and spent long hours in prayer. She experienced a calling to join the Third Order of St. Francis. She received the Order’s habit eventually, but spent a long period preparing, guided by a Franciscan friar who became her spiritual advisor and confessor. This priest, Friar Giunta, would alter write Margaret’s biography. Margaret continuously subjected herself to rigorous penances to atone for the sins of her former life. She slept on the floor and subsisted on a meager diet. After she received the habit of the Third Order of St. Francis, Margaret spent several years in a quiet contemplative life. She sent her son to a school in Arezzo to begin his academic and spiritual training. In time, he went on to become a Franciscan friar. Margaret made her home in a small structure attached to the church she had loved since coming to Cortona. She spent much of her time in deep self-examination, attempting to discern the mission to which God was calling her.

Eventually, she left the contemplative life and organized a number of Third Order Franciscans into a nursing society called the Poverelle (“little poor ones” in Italian). With the financial aid of a leading citizen of the city she helped to construct Cortona’s first hospital, which she named Our Lady of Mercy. In her latter years, Margaret is said to have received a message from the Lord: “Show now that you are truly converted; call others to repentance. The graces I have bestowed on you are not meant for you alone.” Obedient to this call, Margaret set about calling sinners to conversion. She did so with great success and many responded to her — not only from all over Italy, but from Spain and France as well. By the end of her life she was so well known and loved that on the day of her death at age 50 in 1297, she was acknowledged as a saint. On the morning of her death, she told her friends,”The way of salvation is easy. It is just enough to love.” The citizens of Cortona moved immediately to build a church in her honor. Although she wasn’t officially canonized until 1728, her annual feast day was celebrated for two centuries in the Diocese of Cortona and throughout the Franciscan Order.

Today, the body of St. Margaret lies uncorrupted at the church in Cortona, Italy which bears her name. Her traditional feast day is February 22, the anniversary of her death. But because this date is also the Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, an “alternate” feast day of May 16, was established in the late 20th century. Margaret is the patron saint of single mothers and midwives.