Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/31

19 ST. MARGARET 10 She was mnoh tempted and yexed by her natural instincts, bnt fled to Christ to save her from them, and soon experienced so complete a change as to become subject to visions and ecstasies. She had a deep conviction of her own sinfulness. The life of prayer was so strong in her that when her confessor had commanded her to sleep during Christmas night, and she had every intention of obeying, she thought she was only saying a short prayer before falling asleep, and lo I the morning dawned. She did not like to speak to any one but her confessor of her visions, etc. Thomas of Cantimpr^ praises her for this reticence, saying that most women who have anything of the sort to tell, make as much noise about it as a hen that has laid an egg. A life of her, translated into French, from that written in Dutch by Zegher, her confessor, calls her "Sainte Marguerite d'Ypr^s.'' H. Choquetius, Sancii Belgi Ordinis Pras- dicaUjtum^ 1618. Biog. Nat. de Belgique. Preger, DeuUehe Mystik im Miitelalier. Both these modem books quote her con- temporary Life by Thomas of Cantimpr6. B. Margaret (14) Rich, Aug. 15, Nov. 16, + 1257, prioress of Catesby. Sister of Alice Bich. Ferrarius. The Bollandists promise an account of her when they come to Nov. 16. St Marg^aret (15) of Hungary, O.S.D., Jan. 29, July 13, 1241 or 1242-1270. Patron against inundations. Daughter of Bela IV., king of Hungary, descended from the sainted Kings Stephen, Emeric and Ladislas; her mother was Mary, daughter of the Emperor Theodore LasoAris. Margaret of Hungary was sister of St. Cunbgund (4), queen and patron of Poland. In 1240, the year of the dreadful Tartar invasion of Europe when the whole of Hungary was laid waste, Bela appealed in vain to the Pope, the Em- peror, and his neighbours, to help him against the enemy of all Christendom. The royal family fled first to one place, then to another; and when in 1241 so many of their friends and kinsmen were killed in the desperate battle of Leignitz, the Queen of Hungary, daily expecting her confinement, fled to the farthest corner of her country and was at Klessa in Dalmatia, trembling lest the Mongols should make their appearance there also. Despairing of human aid, she sought the protection of heaven and vowed her un- born child to the Church. It was a daughter and she called it Margaret in memory of one of the fair young princesses whose early death had just been added to the calamities of the royal house. From the time of Margaret's birth the forlorn aflairs of Hungary began to mend and soon the Tartars were fieust leaving ,the countries to which they had proved such a fearful scourge. When she was four she was placed in the Dominican nunnery at Vesprim, accompanied by her governess, the Countess Olympia, who soon became a nun there for love of her pupil. Margaret demanded to be dressed like the nuns and insisted on having a cHicium. At twelve years old she received the veil from the hands of Humbert, General of the Order. She was remarkable for austerity, humility, kindness, and every virtue, and was credited with gifts of prophecy and miracles ; her love of dirt was almost a miracle in itself. She did all the lowest and most revolting work of the house and kept herself and her clothes so dirty that the other nuns were afraid to sit beside her. Not content with her fair share of scourging, she made her friends and maids give her some more in a dark room, whicl) often used to be miraculously illumined for the occasion. About 1261, Ottocar, king of Bohemia, who had just divorced his first wife, came to visit King Bela and Queen Mary, and begged to be allowed to see the princess, of whose holiness he had heard so much ; he was so charmed by her beauty and amiability that he entreated to be allowed to marry her, asking no dowry and ex- plaining that his elder children were debarred from the succession. Bela at first said it was useless to ask, as Margaret had been vowed to the cloister from her birth ; but, as Ottocar persisted in his suit, he told Margaret that if she would consent to the alliance, a dis- pensation might be procured, on the ground that the original vow had been made without her consent. Margaret, however, remained firm in her decision