Catholic Saint

St Margaret of Scotland

Queen (c.1046 -1093) 

Saint of the day November 16

Daughter of the Anglo-Saxon Prince Edward Aetheling and Princess Agatha of Hungary and grand-daughter of King Edmund Ironside of England, Margaret was raised at the Christian court of Hungary during Canute’s Danish domination of England. In 1057, she returned to English soil when her father was sent for by St Edward the Confessor. However, the conquest of her country by the Normans in 1066 drove her family to seek refuge in Scotland, anً there in 1070 Margaret was married to King Malcolm III Canmore, whose father, Duncan, had been murdered by Macbeth.

A model of Christian virtue, Margaret, by her personal example of holiness, tact, humility and prudence, was able to greatly influence Kings and nobles including her own husband King Malcom to raise the Scottish people to new heights of Christian culture, prosperity and humanness. She also participated actively in the councils so as to bring the Celtic Church into conformity with Roman practiceS. Numerous churches and monasteries owe their foundation to her generosity while large numbers of Saxon slaves owe their freedom to this saintly woman who saw to it that justice was tempered with mercy h her still semi-barbaric country.

Margaret spent long hours in prayer and in ministering to the needs of the poor and destitute. Of her 8 children, two Sons became monks and three others successively ruled the country wisely and beneficently, one of whom named David became a saint. Her daughter, St Matilda, married King Henry I of England and is known to history as Good Queen Maud.

Margaret, who died on 16 November 1093 and was canonized in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV, is the Patron of Scotland.