The Liturgical Calendar: The Church Remembers

Today the church remembers Margaret, Queen of Scotland, 1093.

When the Normans successfully invaded England in 1066 the Anglo-Saxon royalty fled from England. Margaret, a cousin of the defeated king, fled with her mother and sister to Scotland, where they found refuge in the court of King Malcolm. Margaret soon married King Malcolm and became Scotland's most beloved and revered queen.

She was always a deeply religious person, showing great interest in the church and great compassion for the poor. In her youth she considered a religious vocation and in her maturity she found one, as wife and mother. Her firm and loving influence on the king, the church, her children, and the people, virtually renewed the life of the whole nation of Scotland. Under her influence monasteries, schools, orphanages, and hospitals were founded and the quality of life greatly improved in the land. One tragic aspect of Scottish life about which Margaret could do nothing was that of clan warfare and blood feuds. Malcolm was treacherously slain at Alnwick in 1093 and the grief-stricken Margaret died a few days later. Their son, David, became one of Scotland's finest kings. Their daughter, Matilda, married the English King Henry I, and so Margaret and Malcolm are ancestors of the present British Royal Family.

As you did endue with zeal and charity your servant Margaret, so endue us. Amen.

Read the Wikipedia article here.

O God, you 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; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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