St. Margaret of Hungary

January 18th, we celebrate the feast of St. Margaret of Hungary (January 27, 1242 – January 18, 1270), a Dominican nun, who was known for her penitential spirit and innate kindness and the daughter of King Béla IV of Hungary and Maria Laskarina, the eighth daughter of ten children.

According to the vow which her parents made when Hungary was liberated from the Tatars that their next child should be dedicated to religion, Margaret, in 1245 entered the Dominican Convent of Veszprém. Invested with the habit at the age of four, she was transferred in her tenth year to the Convent of the Blessed Virgin founded by her parents on the Hasen Insel near Buda, the Margareten Insel near Budapest today, and where the ruins of the convent are still to be seen.

A young woman of extraordinary beauty, St. Margaret attracted the attention of suitors even though she was a nun. At one point her father arranged a marriage for her to King Ottokar II of Bohemia, who was determined to marry her, but she adamantly refused. Margaret replied, “I esteem infinitely more the King of Heaven and the inconceivable happiness of possessing Jesus Christ than the crown offered me by the King of Bohemia.”

She took vows at age 18. Much of the details of her life are known from the “Legend of St. Margaret”, written in the 14th century. She took upon herself the austerities practiced by the other sisters–fasting, hairshirts, the discipline (scourge), and night vigils.She did not glory in her wealth or parentage, but strove to imitate the saints in their holiness.

Margaret lived a life totally dedicated to Christ crucified and inspired her sisters by her asceticism, works of mercy, pursuit of peace and humble service. She lived in total humility, engaging in the most menial tasks even in the winter when her hands bled from the cold. She constantly fasted and refused nice clothes and royal comforts, remarking that she preferred the odor of sanctity when dead to smelling sweet only when alive. She spent her days in prayer, devotion to the Eucharist, and caring for the poor, lavishing on them whatever gifts her royal family sent her. Throughout Lent she scarcely ate or slept.

She had a tender devotion to Our Lady, and on the eve of her feasts, Margaret said a thousand Hail Mary’s. Unable to make the long pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to Rome, or to any of the other famous shrines of Christendom, the saint developed a plan by which she could go in spirit: she counted up the miles that lay between herself and the desired shrine, and then said an Ave Maria for every mile there and back. On Good Friday she was so overcome at the thoughts of Our Lord’s Passion that she wept all day. She was frequently in ecstasy, and very embarrassed if anyone found her so and remarked on her holiness.

A number of miracles were performed during Margaret’s lifetime and many more after her death because Margaret had an implicit faith in the power and efficacy of prayer.One of the convent maids fell into a well and was on the point of drowning but was saved by Margaret’s prayers. The princess nun was only 28 when she died. Her whole life was one unbroken chain of devotional exercises and penance.She was considered a saint during her life and after her death.

She died in 1270, and Pope Pius XII canonized her in 1943. Seventy-four miracles were ascribed to her intercession, most of them referring to curing illness, even someone coming back from the dead.In art she is usually depicted in a Dominican habit holding a white lily and a book.

Prayer

O God, who called your handmaid blessed Margaret of Hungary to seek you before all else, grant that, serving you, through her example and intercession, with a pure and humble heart, we may come at last to your eternal glory.

Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

St. Margaret of Hungary, pray for us