MARGHERITA of Hungary, St. — Dominican nun, born at the end of 1242 or the beginning of 1243 to Bela IV, King of Hungary, and the Greek princess Maria; died in the monastery of the Isle of Rabbits on the Danube near Buda, 18 January 1270. She emulated the virtues of various members of the Árpád dynasty, including those of St. Elizabeth of Thuringia.
At the age of three and a half she was entrusted to the sisters of St. Catherine at Veszprém for her education, specifically to Sister Olimpiade, a noble widow. Twice she refused her father’s proposals of marriage: the first time at age seven, to Prince Bolesław VI the Pious, apparently; the second in 1260, to Ottokar II, King of Bohemia. In 1252 she was taken, with other nuns, to the new monastery founded by her parents on the Isle of Rabbits, dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In 1254 she made her profession in the hands of the Master General of the Dominican Order, Humbert of Romans.
It can be historically demonstrated that Margaret was favored by God with particular supernatural gifts and led an extraordinary life of penance and prayer. As for the stigmata attested by Italian artistic tradition and mentioned in the Neapolitan legend of St. Margaret (late 14th century), neither the ancient life nor the apostolic process of 1276 makes any mention of them.
The popular cult of St. Margaret, already alive before the apostolic process of 1276, became liturgical beginning in the 15th century; after various and laborious attempts for her elevation to the honors of the altar, she was canonized by way of equipollent canonization by Pius XII on 19 November 1943 (cf. decretal letter *Maxima inter munera*, in AAS, 36 (1944), pp. 33–40). Feast day, 18 January.