St. Margaret of Scotland – Patron Saint of Mothers

St. Margaret of Scotland, also known as Margaret of Wessex, was a 12th century queen of Scotland and a renowned religious figure. She was born around 1045 in the Kingdom of Hungary and was the daughter of Edward the Exile, an Anglo-Saxon prince who had been exiled to Hungary.

As a young girl, Margaret was sent to the court of her uncle, King Malcolm III of Scotland, where she was raised. It is said that she was highly educated and deeply devout from a young age, and that she had a great influence on the court and the people of Scotland.

In 1070, Margaret married King Malcolm III of Scotland, and the couple had eight children, including the future King David I of Scotland. As queen, Margaret played an active role in politics and diplomacy, and was known for her generosity and compassion towards the poor.

Margaret was deeply religious and devoted her life to acts of charity and piety. She founded a number of religious institutions, including monasteries, convents, and hospitals, and was an active supporter of the Church. She also worked to promote education and the arts, and was known for her scholarship and learning.

Margaret was known to be a model of Christian piety and virtue, and is said to have been a powerful influence on the spiritual development of Scotland. She instilled in her children a deep love for God and encouraged them to live according to the Christian virtues of humility, generosity, and compassion.

On November 16, 1093, Margaret’s husband and two of their sons were killed in battle. Margaret used this tragic event to deepen her spiritual practices and prayer. She withdrew herself from the court life and began to live a much more secluded and religious lifestyle.

Margaret died on November 16, 1093, at the age of 47, and her cult quickly grew after her death. She was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1250, and her feast day is celebrated on November 16. She was known for her prayers for the sick, for mothers and for expectant mothers.

St. Margaret of Scotland is remembered today as a devoted queen, mother, and religious leader who worked to promote education, the arts, and the spiritual development of Scotland. Her charitable works, religious devotion and leadership, made her a role model for the Scottish people and helped to shape the spiritual landscape of Scotland for centuries to come.

The Life of St. Margaret of Scotland

She said to them: I know not how you were formed in my womb: for I neither have you breath, nor soul, nor life, neither did I frame the limbs of every one of you. But the Creator of the world, that formed the nativity of the world, and that found out the origin of all, he will restore to you again in his mercy, both breath and life, as you now despise yourselves for the sake of his laws.” (2 Maccabees, Ch. 7, v. 22-v. 23.)

When we think of Scotland, perhaps we imagine a picture of the misty hills and crags so poetically described by Sir Walter Scott. The haunting melodies of “Brigadoon” or “You Take the High Road” might sound in our ears. Perhaps we think of Mary, Queen of Scots and her sad life, or kilted dancers doing the highland fling to the tune of the droning bagpipe. We might even recall the treachery of the great Shakespearean tragedy, “Macbeth”.

One figure, still close to the hearts of the Scottish people, and famous in the history of that land, is Margaret, Queen of Scotland’s King Malcolm, who was the son of the famous Duncan murdered by that Macbeth, according to the annals of Scottish history upon which Shakespeare actually based his tragic drama. She had a very colorful and tempestuous life and one that would make a powerful scenario for a full length adventure movie of today.

 

St. Margaret of Scotland a Great Queen and Mother

To understand this great saint, who was not only one of the most famous queens in history, but also a devoted wife and mother, it would be well to know something of her lineage and background. One of the most powerful nobles in Scotland, Edmund Ironside, the paternal grandfather of Margaret, was brutally murdered in the year 1017.

Canute had taken over the throne of England, and made himself king of that country. Wishing to protect that throne, he sent the two little sons of the murdered Edmund Ironside, Edmund and Edward, to the King of Sweden, hoping that they would be disposed of, because they were the law ful heirs to the throne in the Saxon line. Instead of acceding to Canute’s base plan, however, the King of Sweden sent them to his relative, the King of Hungary to be reared and educated. Edmund, the older boy died, but Edward survived and later married Agatha, the sister of Hungary’s Queen. Three children were born of this marriage, Edgar, Christina, who became a nun, and Margaret.

St. Margaret’s Early Years Fleeing England

Margaret was born in Hungary in the year, 1046. Edward the Confessor, the uncle of Margaret had become King of England in 1041, and about eight years after Margaret’s birth, King Edward invited Margaret, her father Edward and her brother Edgar, to come to England from Hungary. He re received them graciously at London in 1054.

Margaret’s father died three years later, but apparently she and her brother, Edgar, remained there for about twelve years or so. After Edward the Confessor’s death there was a struggle for the throne of England. Edgar, the rightful heir in the Saxon line, could not make good his claim to the throne, and after he acknowledged William the Norman, in 1066, he secretly fled from his tyranny and left England.

The ship on which he and his sister Margaret had set sail for Hungary was driven by a severe tempest upon the coast of Scotland, but fortunately no one was lost. King Malcolm, who still remembered the help of their uncle, Edward the Confessor, whose assistance had helped him regain his own throne from the treacherous Macbeth, welcomed Edgar and Margaret and entertained them royally, He gave them sanctuary and they continued to live at his court.

St. Margaret & King Malcolm: A Model of a Holy Marriage

As time passed, King Malcolm became enamored of Margaret, whose beauty, intelligence and great virtue captured the admiration of the entire court. He sought to make her his consort, and after a time, when she was twenty-four years of age, he obtained her consent. They were married with great solemnity at the great castle at Dunfermline in 1070, and Margaret, at the same time was crowned Queen of Scotland. They continued to live at this massive and handsome castle which was in the midst of a large plain, surrounded by woods, rocky country and rivers.

Margaret had brought many treasures with her from England, among which was the famous “Black Cross”, a relic of the true cross which was venerated for succeeding centuries, but of all the treasures she brought to Malcolm and the Scottish people, the greatest were her piety, prudence, jus tice, a soul filled with grace, and a tender, compassionate love of God and all His creatures.

King Malcolm could be called a “diamond in the rough”, a gruff, somewhat unpolished man, but one who had no evil in his heart. Margaret, with her tenderness and condescension became entirely the queen of his heart as well as his kingdom, and she molded him into one of the greatest and most virtuous monarchs who ever graced the Scottish throne. By her saintly life, Margaret gained so much influence over her husband that he left all the domestic affairs in her hands and he even followed her prudent advice in affairs of government.

 

St. Margaret Patron Saint of Mothers

God blessed Malcolm and Margaret with a large family. Together they raised their children in the Catholic faith and served as models for their family and all of Scotland on how to raise a holy family. Together, Saint Margaret and King Malcolm had six sons and two daughters, one of whom, Mathilda, later became the queen of King Henry of England. Three of her sons, in turn, became kings of Scotland, each proving himself to be a worthy ruler, especially David, the youngest son, who ruled with great piety and courage. Today, the Catholic Church honors St. Margaret as the patron saint of Mothers and all those who are raising children.

In addition to her own children, Saint Margaret loved the entire nation as her own children and worked reverently for the salvation of the souls of Scotland. When Margaret ascended the throne of Scotland, she found many abuses in that country, but she left no stone unturned to root out the evils that confronted her. She enjoined the magistrates to forbid servile work on Sundays and Holydays. She saw that the strict observance of Lent was enforced. She visited the sick and those in prison, and daily she fed hundreds who gathered in the great hall of the palace of Dunfermline.

Devoted mother that she was to her own children, St. Margaret had a great fondness for orphans, and every day, we are told, she ordered nine little orphans who were utterly destitute to be brought to her at the first hour. She, herself, would take these little children upon her knee and feed them with her own hand. She did so much to civilize and polish the Scottish nation, to bring them to the love of God and the practice of moral and social principles that we cannot begin to measure the extent of her influence in her own country and the world of her time.

 

St. Margaret’s Love & Devotion to Her Family

One outstanding area of Margaret’s influence, however, was her solicitude and her training of the children whom God had sent her and Malcolm. She chose the ablest teachers for them, fortified them with sound instruction, and filled their young minds with a desire for virtue. St. Margaret, zealous mother that she was, examined the progress of her children, and often instructed them herself in their Christian duties. She watched over their tutors and took every pain that her offspring would never be taught erroneous doctrine of any kind. As the patron saint of mothers, St. Margaret is a wonderful example for the world of what it means to raise one’s family within the Catholic faith. 

In later years, Turgot, the Bishop of St. Andrew’s, who had been Margaret’s confessor, had the following to say about her great virtue as a mother and trainer of children: “Thanks to their mother’s religious care, her children surpassed in good behavior many who were their elders; they were always affectionate and peaceable among themselves, and everywhere the younger paid due respect to the elder.”

Children are replicas and reflections of their parents, particularly of their mothers with whom they often have the most frequent contact. One wonders if what Bishop Turgot wrote of St. Margaret and her children and their good behavior, could be said today of every Catholic family of our acquaintance, and even of our own families. How can we immolate the holy example of St. Margaret of Scotland, patron saint of mothers, in our own lives in order to raise our family within the Catholic faith and be holy examples for others?

St. Margaret Was Involved With Her Children Even While Ruling A Nation

St. Margaret of Scotland certainly was most careful to see that her eight children had the very best Christian education, and she supervised this training, herself, in many respects. How many Catholic mothers of today follow the example of this zealous mother? What percentage of mothers to day neglect to teach the young child his prayers, postponing that responsibility to the beginning of school, relegating this task to the busy Sunday school teacher or the hard working nun in the class room? In a great many instances, it never occurs to them to question the child about his current Catechism lesson, to inquire about the last time the Sacrament of Penance was received, or to ask for an occasional recitation of the Ten Commandments or the Act of Contrition.

There is no doubt that once Margaret of Scotland had selected the tutors for her children that she gave those teachers the necessary authority to train and discipline her children. How many modern parents, particularly emotional mothers who feel that their offspring can do no wrong, are perfectly content to delegate the training and education of their children to schoolteachers and religious educators, yet balk and criticize, and in some cases threaten lawsuits, if these overworked men and women ever use any type of physical discipline on some of our incipient delinquents?

 

St. Margaret Loses Her Husband and Son

In later years, when Scotland was engaged in battle with England about the border line of the two countries, Margaret’s husband, Malcolm and her son, Edward were slain. At the same time Margaret herself lay on her deathbed. She bore the tragic news with courage and resignation, and she called for her chaplain. The words that she uttered then showed that she was first a mother and secondly a queen. These words bespeak the meaning of her whole life, as they should for every modern wife and mother.

She said to her chaplain: “Two things I have to desire of you, that so long as you live, you remember my poor soul in your Masses and prayers; the other that you assist my children and teach them to fear and love God. These things you must promise me here in the presence of God, who, alone, is witness of our discourse.”

 

How to Emulate the Example of St. Margaret of Scotland Today

Following in the footsteps of St. Margaret of Scotland, Christian education and the real training of children honestly and basically begins in the home. It is the obligation of both parents, but as already noted, it is usually a task that falls more heavily upon the mother than on the father of the family.This means supervision, discipline and a firm sense of obligation, that manifests itself at all times in good example. Since King Malcolm was busy with the affairs of state, the ruling of a nation and the waging of war, it became necessary for St. Margaret to assume the predominant role in her children’s education.

Pope Leo XIII said: “The well-being of the individual and of the country depends chiefly upon the family and upon the home. It is in the home that the future man and woman is formed. If the children are to be adorned with Christian virtues they must have spent their earlier years under the elevating and perfecting influence of a good Catholic home.”

Some parents never bother to check up on the type of company the boy or girl keeps, issue no curfew or specific time at which they are to return home on a night out, and even, in some cases, allow liquor to be served to teenager’s and their guests in their own home! How do such parents then expect their children not to fall prey to the “easy drink” outside of the home, falsify their true age, and expose themselves to all manner of immorality?

The young people of our century are subjected to the most violent temptations, through bad reading and even worse licentiousness that masquerades as entertainment. Many campaigns are initiated by Catholic groups and by other spiritual and moral minded organizations against the foul literature so readily available today in their blatant unexpurgated form.

It is sad to see, however, that such drives so nobly begun, too frequently fizzle out, so to speak, before any widespread reformation is accomplished. How often, one wonders, does the Catholic mother of today, know what her boy or girl is reading, or check the ratings to determine if the movie to be viewed by her children is unobjectionable?

Did you know to make this easier the USCCB publishes a database of movie ratings and reviews to help guide parents in making informed decisions on appropriate movies and entertainment to show their children? 

The late Pope Pius XII, speaking on “The Christian Restoration of Society” had the following to say about these evils: “A series of shameless and criminal publications prepare the most disgraceful means of seduction and corruption for vice and crime. They conceal the ignominy of brutality and evil under the trappings of esthetics, art, ephemeral and deceitful charm, of false courage. The yield without restraint to a morbid desire for violent sensations, and novel, licentious experiences. The exaltation of immorality has reached the stage of parading itself in public and injecting itself into the rhythm of the economic and social life of the people, exploiting for profit the most tragic calamities and most miserable weaknesses of humanity.”

In the manner of Margaret of Scotland then, every Catholic mother who wishes to remain worthy of that title must never cease her supervision over her children, at home, at school or college, in their religious and social activities. In the early years they must not be misled by some of the exaggerated child psychology of today which advocates self expression in every form for the child with little or no discipline. Systems come and systems go, but the Fourth Commandment with its every obligation will never go out of style. The method and the motto of every Catholic mother in the tradition of Margaret of Scotland, not only for herself but for the guidance of those who are her delegates in the training of her children should be the words uttered by this great Scottish Saint upon her deathbed: “That you assist my children and teach them to fear and love God.”

 You may also be interested in discovering the incredible life of St. Margaret Mary who established the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Popular St. Margaret of Scotland Medal and St. Margaret of Scotland Rosary

PRAYER TO ST. MARGARET OF SCOTLAND:

O God, you inspired blessed Queen Margaret with a wonderful love for the poor. May our love for you grow deeper and deeper because of her intercession and example. Through Our Lord.

Prayer to St. Margaret of Scotland

Dear St. Margaret of Scotland, you were known for your deep love of God, your compassion for others, and your commitment to living a life of service and holiness. I turn to you today, asking for your intercession and guidance as I seek to follow in your footsteps.

Help me to grow in my own spiritual life, and to deepen my relationship with the Lord. Give me the courage to serve others, and to love others as Christ loves us. And may I live my life in a manner that brings others closer to the Lord, and that brings glory to His name. Amen.

A prayer for the Wisdom of St. Margaret of Scotland

Dear St. Margaret of Scotland, I pray for your wisdom today, that I may be guided by your example and your deep understanding of the Lord. Help me to find the wisdom to make good decisions, to follow the will of God, and to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

And may I live my life in a manner that brings others closer to the Lord, and that brings glory to His name. Amen.

A prayer for the Intercession of St. Margaret of Scotland

Dear St. Margaret of Scotland, I turn to you today in need of your intercession. You were known for your deep love of God, your compassion for others, and your commitment to serving others, and I ask that you intercede for me and for all those in need of your help.

Please pray for those who are struggling in their faith, that they may find comfort and hope in their trials. Pray for those who are seeking a deeper relationship with God, that they may find what they are looking for. And pray for all of us, that we may grow in our faith and deepen our own relationships with the Lord. Amen.

 

St. Margaret of Scotland: Patron Saint of Widows and Pregnant Women

St. Margaret of Scotland is the patron saint of widows and pregnant women. This designation stems from her own experiences as a wife and mother, as well as her deep devotion to God and her commitment to helping those in need.

St. Margaret was known for her compassion and her dedication to serving the poor and the marginalized. Despite facing numerous challenges and difficulties in her own life, she remained steadfast in her faith and her commitment to helping others. Her strong sense of compassion and her unwavering devotion to God made her a beloved figure, and she became known for her ability to provide comfort and support to those in need.

In recognition of her compassion and her dedication to helping those in need, St. Margaret was made the patron saint of widows and pregnant women. Those who venerate her believe that she has the power to bring comfort and support to those who are facing challenges and difficulties, and that she provides a special grace and protection to those who are expecting a child.

For those who are struggling with loss or facing the challenges of pregnancy, St. Margaret is a source of hope and encouragement. She reminds us that even in the most difficult of times, our faith in God and our commitment to helping others can sustain us and give us the strength to endure. Whether we are grieving the loss of a loved one, facing the anxieties of pregnancy, or simply in need of comfort and support, St. Margaret is there to guide and support us on our journey.

Reflection on the feast day of St. Margaret of Scotland

The feast day of St. Margaret of Scotland is celebrated on November 16th.

St. Margaret of Scotland was a queen, wife of King Malcolm III of Scotland, and mother of King Edgar, Alexander I and David I of Scotland. She was a devout Christian and known for her charitable works, including founding a hospital for the poor and establishing a ferry for pilgrims traveling to St. Andrews. She also played a key role in the promotion and spread of Christianity in Scotland.

On the feast day of St. Margaret of Scotland, we remember her deep faith, her devotion to God and her charitable works. She serves as a powerful example of how one person can make a significant impact on the world through their devotion to God and their willingness to serve others.

One of the things that stands out about St. Margaret of Scotland is her charitable works. She devoted her life to helping the poor, the sick, and the needy. She is a reminder to us that we are called to serve others, to love our neighbor, and to make a difference in the world.

As we celebrate the feast day of St. Margaret of Scotland, let us take inspiration from her example of deep faith, devotion to God and her charitable works. Let us be reminded that, as followers of Christ, we are called to love and serve others, and to make a difference in the world.

In addition, let us also remember St. Margaret of Scotland for her role in the promotion and spread of Christianity in Scotland, and how her actions helped to shape the spiritual and cultural identity of Scotland. Let us take this opportunity to reflect on the role of Christianity in shaping our society and how we can continue to spread the message of love and hope to the world.

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Saints Similar to St. Margaret of Scotland

You may also be interested in reading the St. Malachy O’More and the Biography of St. Martin of Tours and the Biography of St. Martin de Porres. These saints were known for their strong Christian faith and their contributions to the Church. St. Margaret of Scotland promoted Christianity in Scotland. St. Malachy O’More was an Irish archbishop. St. Martin of Tours and St. Martin de Porres were renowned for their piety and charitable works. Next up: Biography of St. Maria Bertilla Boscardin

 

Also check out our handmade St. Margaret of Scotland Medal and St. Margaret of Scotland Rosary and St. Margaret of Scotland Rosary Bracelet.