SINCLAIR, MARGARET. - In religion Maria Francesca delle Cinque Piaghe, born in Edinburgh on 25 March 1900, died in London on 24 Nov. 1925.
Characteristic of her, from childhood onward, was her devotion to the Eucharist; she visited the Blessed Sacrament as often as possible; as a factory worker and shop assistant, in order not to forgo daily Communion, she often gave up breakfast so as not to be late for work; even in Protestant surroundings, which might have caused her considerable trouble, she always wore conspicuously on her breast the H. B. S. badge (“Hand-maid of the Blessed Sacrament”). To help her poor family, she had to begin working at the age of fourteen; yet she always won the esteem accorded to a saint, in the various environments, even hostile ones. In 1923 she entered as a lay sister among the Poor Clares of London; but her stay in the monastery was brief, for she had to be transferred (May 1925) to the Warley sanatorium because of tuberculosis of the larynx, which brought her to her end a few months later. After her death, the graces and extraordinary occurrences attributed to her intercession multiplied to such an extent that she was compared to little Teresa of Lisieux. The cause of beatification was introduced on 15 Feb. 1942.