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St. Margaret is our 7 yo daughter's patron saint. In FHC CCD, the children present a report or project about their patron saint. She did hers today, because of the feast.

As a proud homeschool mom, let me show you St. Margaret as seen by a 7:

St. Margaret of Scotland

My great-great-great, 30 times, grandmother is my patron saint. Some other members of my family may be saints too, but I know Queen Margaret is, because the Church said so on June 19, 1250. The Church announces that someone is a saint by a process called canonization.

Saint Margaret was born in about 1045. Most people know that, in 1066, the Normans conquered England. However, the entire time of Saint Margaret’s life was full of wars and upheaval. Saint Margaret was a Saxon princess. Her father Edward the Exile was never crowned King of England, but her great-grandfather Ethelred and her grandfather Edmund II both were crowned kings.

At one point when Saint Margaret was a child her family fled to Hungary, where the king welcomed them. Margaret learned a lot about being a Christian ruler from the court in Hungary. Saint Margaret’s family returned to England from Hungary when her father has a chance to be king of England. Soon after they returned to England, Margaret’s father died. Edward the Confessor became King of England. When Edward the Confessor died in 1066, Margaret’s family fled in a ship.

They planned to return to Hungary, but were blown off course and ended up in the Firth of Forth in Scotland near Edinburgh. The king of Scotland, Malcolm, was the son of Duncan, whom Shakespeare wrote about in Macbeth.

Malcolm fell in love with the princess, married her and made her his queen. She knew that it was important to fully live her vocation as a wife and a queen. Queen Margaret totally changed life at the Scottish court. She encouraged beautiful clothes and decorations. She was well known for her beautiful embroidery.

Margaret built a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity around the chapel where she was married to Malcolm. Queen Margaret brought many of the Church teachings to Scotland, including observing Lent for a full 40 days, Latin in the Mass, obedience to Church law on marriage, and most importantly receiving Jesus in the Eucharist at Mass.

Queen Margaret had a Gospel book that she loved very much. Once, when they were crossing a river, the book fell into the water and was lost. Weeks later the book was found in the river, but the pages weren’t even wrinkled. It was as if it had never been wet. That book is in the Oxford library now. Margaret had eight children, including a boy David who was a saint too.