Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/24

12 who she was. Finding she was of noble birth, he proposed to make her his wife. She refused that hononr and declared herself a Christian. He then assembled the chief men of the city and after hold- ing a grand feast in hononr of his gods, be inflicted on Margaret many horrible tortures which she endured with great courage. She was put in prison where the devil appeared in various forms, and when to terrify her he took that of a dragon, he swallowed her, but she made the sign of the cross and he immediately burst asunder, leaving her unhurt. She was comforted by heavenly visions. Next day she was subjected to new forms of torture. Condemned to be drowned, she was bound hand and foot and thrown into a great vessel of water. She prayed that this trial might be to her instead of baptism. Immediately an earthquake shook the place, her bonds were loosed and a dove carrying a gold crown lighted on her head. Many of the spectators were converted and became martyrs. As none of these tortures availed to change her opinions or even to do her bodily harm, Margaret was condemned to be beheaded. At the moment of her death she prayed that God would show mercy on all who were in trouble, particularly women in labour, who should call on the name of Jesus and remember her martyrdom. The legend is of Greek origin. It was re- jected as apocryphal by Pope Gelasius in the fifth century and her Acts were among those forbidden by him to be read in churches, as containing things more likely to deter sceptics from being converted than to edify Christians. Her story and her worship were made popu- lar in Europe by the crusaders of the eleventh century. Many churches in England are dedicated in her name. R.M, AA.SS. Villegas, Leggendario. Flo8 Sanctorum, Golden Legend, Mrs. Jameson. Annotated Prayer-hook, St. Margaret (2), V. M., a com- panion of Ukbula. Her head and those of two others of the same band of martyrs were preserved in the Fran- ciscan convent of St. Clara at Paris. Saussaye. St. Margaret (3) of Lerins, was the sister of St. Honoratus who, early in the fifth century, founded a monastery on the island now called St. Honorat, op- posite Cannes. Margaret, in order to be near him and profit by his advice and assistance, settled on the neighbour- ing island, then called Lero but now Ste. Marguerite. Honoratus, thinking the world had too strong a hold on his affections, intended to renounce the society of his sister, and would only yield to her entreaties so far as to agree to visit her when certain little flowers which covered the island were in bloom. Until that time these flowers had only bloomed for a very short time every year, but Margaret, convinced that her brother's visits would tend to the spiritual advantage of both, prayed that the flowers might blossom all the year round. Her prayer was granted, and flowers may be seen on the island at all seasons of the year to this day. Local legend. St. Margaret (4) called Brother Pelagian. A rich and beautiful maiden who was married by her family to a young man of rank equal to her own; but fearing the troubles and dangers of secular lii^, she fled on the day of her marriage, disguised as a man, and took refuge in a monastery where, under the name of Pelagian, she rose to the rank of abbot. It was a double monastery, having a house for monks and another for nuns. After a time, the whole com- munity condemned her without a hearing, on a charge of seducing a girl who lived near their gates; so they built her up in a cave, where the " cruellest " of the brothers brought her every day a scanty allowance of bread and water. At last, being at the point of death, she found means to write a letter re- vealing her namo and story and begging that the nuns might bury her. Legenda Aurea, B. Margaret (5), May 16, V. lOth century. A lady of rank, betrothed to St. Bernard of Mentone, but they were not married ; she became a nun and he a hermit. He founded the monasteries and hospices of the Great and Little St. Bernard, the former on a spot where he had destroyed an image of Jupiter and