Saint Margaret of Cortona
| Saint Margaret of Cortona | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Tender of Sick | |
| Born | 1247 Tuscany, Italy |
| Died | 22 February 1297 Cortona, Italy |
| Venerated in | Third Order of St. Francis, Roman Catholic Church |
| Canonized | 16 May 1728 by Pope Benedict XIII |
| Feast | 22 February, 16 May |
| Patronage | against temptations; falsely accused people; homeless people; insanity; loss of parents; mental illness; mentally ill people; midwives; penitent women; single mothers; people ridiculed for their piety; reformed prostitutes; sexual temptation; single laywomen; third children |
Saint Margaret of Cortona, T.O.S.F., (1247 – 22 February 1297) was an Italian penitent of the Third Order of St. Francis ("T.O.S.F."). She was born in Laviano, near Perugia, and died in Cortona. She was canonized in 1728.
She is the patron saint of the falsely accused, hoboes, homeless, insane, orphaned, mentally ill, midwives, penitents, single mothers, reformed prostitutes, stepchildren, and tramps.
Margaret was born of farming parents, in Laviano, a little town in the diocese of Chiusi. At the age of seven, Margaret's mother died and her father remarried. Little love was shared between stepmother and stepdaughter. As she grew older, Margaret became more willful and reckless, and her reputation in the town was one not to be envied. At the age of 17 she met a young man, according to some accounts, the son of Gugliemo di Pecora, lord of Valiano, and she ran away with him. Soon Margaret found herself installed in the castle, not as her master's wife, for convention would never allow that, but as his mistress, which was more easily condoned. For ten years, she lived with him near Montepulciano and bore him a son. Some day, he had promised her, they would be married, but the day never came.
When her lover failed to return home from a journey one day, Margaret became concerned. The unaccompanied return of his favorite hound alarmed Margaret, and the hound led her into the forest to his murdered body. That crime shocked Margaret into a life of prayer and penance. Margaret returned to his family all the gifts he had given her and left his home. With her child, she returned to her father's house, but her stepmother would not have her. Margaret and her son then went to the Franciscan friars at Cortona, where her son eventually became a friar. She fasted, avoided meat, and subsisted on bread and vegetables.
...
Wikipedia