Christ Church

The collect for today, the Feast of St. Margaret (1046-1093), Queen of Scotland, Philanthropist, Reformer of the Church (source):

O God, the ruler of all,
who didst call thy servant Margaret to an earthly throne
and gavest to her both zeal for thy Church and love for thy people,
that she might advance thy heavenly kingdom:
mercifully grant that we who commemorate her example
may be fruitful in good works
and attain to the glorious crown of thy saints;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Lesson: Proverbs 31:10-11, 20, 26, 28
The Gospel: St. Matthew 13:44-52

St. Margaret was born in Hungary to a Saxon noble family in exile. In 1057, she and her family were able to return to England, but they were forced to move to Scotland following William the Conqueror’s invasion in 1066. A few years later, the princess Margaret married Malcolm Canmore, King of the Scots, in Dunfermline.

Queen Margaret was married to Malcolm for almost twenty-five years; her death followed his by only a few days. She bore six sons and two daughters. Three sons ruled as kings of Scotland—Edgar, Alexander I, and David I (later saint)—while a daughter, Matilda, became the queen of Henry I of England.

Margaret, an inspirational monarch of great Christian devotion, undertook many works of charity. She protected orphans, provided for the poor, visited prisoners in her husband’s dungeons, cleansed the sores of lepers, and washed the feet of beggars. She encouraged and enabled the founding of monasteries, churches, and hostels. Her excellent education served Scotland well, for under her influence the Scottish court became known as a place of culture and learning.

An advocate of church reform, Margaret supported revival of observances that had lapsed into disuse, including Lenten fasts, Easter communion, and refraining from work on Sundays. She also had Iona re-built following its destruction by Viking raiders.

Queen Margaret frequently retired to a secluded cave on the banks of a stream near the royal residence for private prayer and meditation. A (possibly apocryphal) story has it that King Malcolm began to imagine his wife was seeing a lover. Full of suspicion one day, he followed her to the cave, only to overhear her praying for his safety.

Located near the bottom of a small ravine, the site known as St. Margaret’s Cave has been a place of pilgrimage for centuries. It was threatened with destruction in 1962 when the Town Council proposed to bury the stream and fill in the ravine in order to build a car park. After a public outcry, the cave was preserved and is now located 84 steps underground from the adjacent parking lot.

Artwork: Henry Shaw, Queen Margaret of Scotland (after a painting by Hugo van der Goes of about 1483 at Hampton Court Palace), 19th century, Private collection.