tbrg&ret was one of thooe nftturM who cnve affection. When About wventeen yean of acje she nude the ac- quaintance of a young cavaher, who. some say, was a ■on of Guff lielmo di Pecora, lord of Valiano, with whom she one night fled from her father's house. Margaret in bercmifeaaionsdoeBnot mention her lover'sname. For nine years she lived with him in liia castle near Monte-
Ciano, and a son waa born to them. Frequently she light lier lover to marry her; he as of ten promised to do 90, but never did. In her confeasiona ahe ex- piemly says that she consented to her lover'a impor- tunities unwillingly. Wadding and others who have described her in theae early years as an abandoned woman, either had not rightly read her legend, or had deepened the shadows of her early life to make her conversion seem the more wonderful. Even during this period Margaret was very compiaaaionate towards
the poor ajid relieved thi
tomed to seek out quiet places
where she would dream of a
life given to virtue and the
love of God. Once some of
her neighbours bade her look
to her soul before it was too
late. She replied that they
need have no fear of her, tor
that ahe would die a aaint and
that her critics would come aa
pilgrima to her shrine.
She waa at last set free from her life of ain by the tragic death of her lover, who waa murdered whilst on a journey. Margaret's first intimation of his death was the return of hia favourite hound without its master. The hound led her M his body. It was character- istic of her generosity that she blamed herself for hiij irregular life, and began to loathe her beauty which had fascinated bim. She returned to his relo- tivea all the jewels and prop- erty he had given her and left his home; and with her little son set out for her father's house. Her father would have received her, but hia wife re- fused, and Margaret and her
child were turned adrift. For . —
a moment ahe felt tempted ^- MABOAErr
to trade upon her beauty; Giovmnni Barbieri (Gui
but she prayed earnestly and in her aoul she seemed to hear a voice bidding her go (« the Fran- ciscan Friars at Cortona and put heraelf under their spiritual direction. On her arrival at Cortona, two ladies, noticing her loneliness, offered her assistance and took her home with them. They afterwards intro- duced her to the Franciscan FriorB at the church of San Francesco in the city. For three years Margaret had to Htrugele hard with temptations. Naturally of a gay spirit, ahe felt much drawn to the world. But temptation only convinced her the more of the nccea- sity of self-discipline a.nd an entire consecration of her- self to religion. At times remorse for the past would have led her into intemperate self -mortifications, but for the wise advice of her confeMors. As it was, she fasted rigorously, abataining altogether from fJeah- meat, and generally subsisting upon bread and herbs. Her great phyaical vitality made such penance a necessity to her.
After three veara of probation Margaret waa admit- ted to the Third Order of St. Francis, and from this time she Iive<l in strict poverty. Following the exam- ple of St. Francis, she went and begged her bread. But wbHat thus living on alms, she gave her services
freely to Others; especially to the Biek.poor whom ^
nuiaed. It waa about the time that she became a
Franciscan tertiary that the revelationa began which
form the chief feature ia her story. It was in the year
1277, as she was praying in the church of the Franciscan
Friars, that she seemed to hear these words: "Wliatis
thy wish, povereUat" and she rephed: " I neither seek
nor wiah for aught but Thee, my Lord Jeeus." Frmn
this time forth she lived in intimate commiminK with
Christ. At first He always addressed her as ptn»-
rella ", and only aft«r a time of probation and purifi-
cation did He call her "My child". But Margaret,
though coming to lead more and more the life of a
recluse, was yet active in the service of others. She
prevailed upon the city of Cortona to found a boepital
for the sick-poor, and to supply nurses for the hospital,
ahe instituted a congregation of Tertiary Sisters,
known as ie povertile. She also establiahed a confra-
ternity of Our Lady of Mert^;
the members of which bound
themsei vea to support the boe-
pital, and to h^p the needy
wherever found, and particu-
larly the respectable poor.
Moreover on several occasicmf
Margaret intervened in pubhc
affairs for the sake of putting
an end to civic feuds. Twice
in obedience to a Divine ctHn-
mand, she upbraided Gugliel-
mo Ubertini Paui, Bishop of
Areiio, in which diocese Coi^
tona was situated, because he
lived more like a secular
prince and soldier, than like a
pastor of soula. This prelate
was killed in battleat Bibbiena
in 1289. The year previous to
this, Margaret for the sake til
S;reater auiet hod removed her odging from the hospital she hadfounded to near the ruined church of St. Basil above the city. Thia church she now caused to be repaired. It wal here that she spent her last years, and in tlua church she was buried. But after her death it was rebuilt in more magnificent style and dedi- cated in her own name. There her body remains enshrined to thia day, incorrupt, in
as a beata from the ti
not canonized until 16 May, 1728.
The original "Legend of St. Margaret" was written by her director and friend, Fra Giunta Beve^ati. It is almost entirely taken up with her revelations, and was mainly dictated by Mar^ret herself, in obedience to her directors. It is published by the BoUandists in "ActaSS., mense Fobruarii, die 22". The most nota- ble edition of the " Legend " however is that published m 1793 by da Pelago, together with an Italian transla- tion and twelve learned dissertations dealing witb the life and times of the saint. In 1897 a new edition of da Pelago'a work, but without the dissertations, was published at Siena by Crivclli. An English veraicn of the greater part of the " Legend ", with an mtroductory es-suv. has lioen published hy Fr. Cuthbert, O.S.F.C. (London. 19061.
See aim Mahcbebe. Vila di 3. MaT^herila ^ome, 1074): CtlfcHANCE, Samic Marsuirilt de Carione. ti, O'CoHNOB tLoo-
Father Citthbeet,
King Bela I of Hungary and h
