Interior of Lady Margaret's Chapel on the grounds of Edinburgh Castle.
Margaret of Scotland, a Saxon, was born in Hungry, in the mid-11th century, during her father's exile after a Danish invasion of England. She was the niece of Edward the Confessor, and upon his death, her brother, Edgar, decided to make a claim to the English throne. Margaret returned to England with him.
However, William the Conqueror invaded and conquered England, and Margaret's family fled. Their ship wrecked on the Scottish coast, and King Malcolm III Canmore of Scotland gave them refuge and eventually married Margaret.
Queen Margaret was known for her piety and good works amongst the sick and the poor. She was a friend to monastics and welcomed the Benedictines to Scotland to establish monasteries there.
Hostilities between the Scots and the English continued off and on, and during the reign of William Rufus, the Conquerer's son, both Malcolm and their son, Edward, were killed in battle.
Margaret was already ill at the time of the battle, and she died four days after their deaths, on November 16, 1093 - some say partly from a broken heart.
READINGS:
Psalm 112:1-9
Deuteronomy 15:7-11
2 John 1-9
Luke 4:16-22a
PRAYER
O God, who called your servant Margaret to an earthly throne that she might advance your heavenly kingdom, and gave her zeal for your church and love for your people: Mercifully grant that we who commemorate her this day may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious crown of your saints; though Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen
Exterior view of Lady Margaret's Chapel.
When I toured Edinburgh Castle, I visited Lady Margaret's Chapel. Tradition holds that she prayed there, but that seems not to be so, as the chapel was, quite likely, built after her death. Nevertheless, it's a lovely place. I'm partial to small chapels, especially Norman chapels, and this one is a delight.
Information for this brief account of Margaret's life was taken from the website of the University of Pittsburgh and from the Catholic Forum and reposted with minor editing from Nov. 2007.
Image at the head of the post from Queen Margaret of Scotland Girls School Association.
Lower image from Edinburgh Castle - Royal Mile.
UPDATE: For a fuller and more excellent account of Margaret's life, see Tim Chesterton's sermon at To See and to Follow. Next year on the feast day, I'll simply copy and paste the sermon and give Tim the credit.
She is the "queen" in the hymn "I sing a song of the saints of God"
ReplyDeleteAnn, I didn't know that. Margaret is one of my favorite saints. She seems to have done so much good.
ReplyDeleteSHe is very special to me, too, for obvious reasons - the church I serve is named after her!
ReplyDeleteTim, I know. I thought of you and of my friend Margaret, who celebrates the feast day of her namesake, the anniversary of her ordination to the priesthood, and her beloved Joel's birthday.
ReplyDeleteOver 20 years ago when I was working for a consulting company and spending a year in England, I traveled around England and Scotland on a BritRail pass. I still remember being in Edinburgh on a chilly, rainy day in September and sitting her little chapel. I loved the intimacy, and though I wasn't a church-goer at the time I found myself wondering what it would be like to be saying the office with others in so intimate a space.
ReplyDeleteThe zigzag design in the chapel arch is also found in the Norman castle (now university dormitory) at Durham and the Norman priory ruins at Lindisfarne.
ReplyDeleteAs the designated genealogist in my family, I have discovered that Margaret of Scotland is my 24th great-grandmother through her daughter Mathilda. She had a pile of kids, which probably means a lot of descendants.
ReplyDeleteMary, I know what you mean. The chapel would be lovely for a small wedding, wouldn't it? Before clergy stop doing weddings, that is.
ReplyDeletePaul, thank you. I'll look at pictures of the places you mention.
Ormonde, how lovely. I'm humbled to be in such august company.
Ormonde...
ReplyDeleteI'm also a descendant of Margaret also through Matilda (aka Maud in Anglelonde) the Queen of Henry I.
As she is a grandmother of Edward III, who one geneologist estimated has over 60 million living descendants, we have an "awe"ful lot of distant cousins ;-).
I took pics when I was there in Durham and Lindisfarne; I will see if I can put some up at my place tonight.
ReplyDeleteGood, Paul. I haven't looked for pictures yet.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
ReplyDeleteSpider, why do I think you're selling something? I think that I don't want to know what you're selling. Bye.
ReplyDeleteActually Matilda daughter of Margaret is a bit further removed from the prolific Edward III. Matilda is mother of the Empress Matilda mother of Henry II father of John father of Henry III father of Edward I father of Edward II father of Edward III.
ReplyDeleteCousin Gerry!
ReplyDelete