St. Margaret of Scotland

Biography

St. Margaret (c. 1045–1093) was born in Hungary, where her father, the English prince Edward the Exile, was living in exile. She was a granddaughter of King Edmund Ironside and grew up at the Hungarian court. Her family returned to England in 1057, but after the Norman Conquest of 1066 they fled north, and around 1070 she married King Malcolm III of Scotland. The marriage was a happy one, and her biographer Turgot, her confessor, describes how her faith and gentleness softened her husband's rough ways. They had eight children, including three future kings of Scotland, Edgar, Alexander I, and St. David I, and Matilda, who became queen of England. Margaret was devoted to prayer and Scripture and fed and served the poor daily, often washing their feet herself. She encouraged Church councils that brought Scottish practice into line with the wider Church, founded a Benedictine priory at Dunfermline, and provided a ferry and hostels for pilgrims traveling to St. Andrews, remembered today in the town of Queensferry. In November 1093 her husband and eldest son were killed in battle at Alnwick; Margaret, already ill, died a few days later, on November 16, at Edinburgh Castle. She was canonized by Pope Innocent IV in 1250. St. Gertrude the Great is also honored on this day.

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