MARGHERITA, queen of SCOTLAND, saint. — Great-granddaughter of s. Edoardo the Confessor, b. ca. 1045 in Hungary, where her family was in exile, d. 16 November 1093.
Having returned to her homeland at about nine years of age, she was once again forced into exile with her family in Scotland after the defeat suffered by the Anglo-Saxons at Hastings at the hands of William the Conqueror (1066). She was received by King Malcom III, who lodged her in the royal castle of Dunfermline and then asked her to marry him (1070). The new queen was a blessing for her husband and for the kingdom. Malcom, uneducated and rough but of good disposition, was so deeply influenced by her that he was transformed into an amiable, humane, and devout king and became one of Scotland’s most virtuous rulers. For his subjects, in addition to the good example of a life wholly devoted to prayer and to the poor, she devoted her best efforts to turning them away from grave superstitious and scandalous abuses and calling them back to Christian practice, convening various synods, securing good priests, and herself working with the daughters of the nobility to provide the churches with vestments and sacred objects. Indeed, together with her husband she founded various churches, including that of the Most Holy Trinity at Dunfermline, where she was later buried. Having learned through divine revelation of the death of her husband and her firstborn son, which occurred during an expedition against William the Red (13 November 1093), she too prepared herself for death: she died three days later.
The feast of M. was extended to the whole Church by Innocent XII on 4 March 1693. Feast on 10 June.