Do you suppose that holiness runs in families? It certainly is not genetic, since it is entirely a personal response to God; on the other hand, think about the sacrament of matrimony. By calling marriage a sacrament, the Church is telling us that God means us to use this as a specific and powerful source of grace for her members. So many times, people take it for granted that if you " have a vocation" that means you are supposed to be a priest. Do people who love God above all ever get married? And if they do, are their children any holier than others? What do they have to show for entering marriage as a vocation of grace instead of sliding into it as the "obvious" thing for men and women to do?In other words, what odes it mean to call marriage a sacrament?A number of couples point to the answer: Alice of Montbar, who expected to be a num until her father suddenly married her off to a Teutonic warrior, took to marriage with all the spiritual energy she had and raised St. Bernard and his brothers to renew European monasticism. Henry and Cunegunda, the Emperor and his queen of the Holy Roman Empire, had no children, but they renewed their whole country with their leaning and love. Zelie and Louis Martin both set out for religious life but were hindered; their five daughters became prayer warriors in the French Carmelite monastery of Lisieux; only one, St. Therese, was canonized, but all were known for their holiness.
Still, the most dramatic and in some ways the most romantic married saint may be Margaret of Scotland, and if the blood of martyrs is the seed of the Church, surely the sainted queens are its flower, for God truly means us to build up his dingdom here "on earth as it is in heaven" and this must mean having Christian sovereigns from time to time.Christianity began as a small and energetic, yet peaceful movement of grace, among the followers of Jesus. Very soon, however, its membership was subject to vast persecutions under the imperial authority of Rome. These sufferings continued on and off for a few hundred years. Once legal, Christianity prospered, but one prosperous, it became infected by the corruption of the regime under which It lived, and before long its high positions became attractive to those who sought wealth and power. By the time the Roman Empire fell, corruption in the Church was widespread, yet already, through Benedict and Patrick, God was raising up monks who would call his people to holiness once more.After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was a long period of lawlessness when Christianity, once more purified by becoming ddespised, was the only force for civilization. It had to contend with the internal chaos of Rome's ongoing collapse and with the piracy and chaos of paganism. Gradually, the worst of the pagan domination was overcome, and nation states began to develop all over Europe. Then, in the eleventh century, a serios of wise and powerful, yet selfless, kings and queens established a Christian order within much of central Europe. In England, St. Edward the Confessor held the throne from 1042 to 1066, in Germany, Sts Henry and Cunegunda ruled from 1002 to 1024, exercising their imperial discipline with a beautiful spirit of holiness; in Hungary, St. Stephen reigned from 1001 to 1038. And then there was Margaret herself, the Pearl of Scotland.
Margaret of Scotland was the daughter of a Scottish nobleman named Edward, a grand nephew to St. Edward the Confessor, King of England. Her mother was a Hungarian princess, either the daughter or the niece of St. Stephen of Hungary. (Does holiness run in families?) She was born in 1045 or so (records are not complete here) and spent her childhood in the Hungarian court. Since Hungary was located on a major trade route between the East and the West, she grew up with exotic silks, spices, and metalwork of the Orient as well as the highest culture and leaning of Western Christendom.When Margaret was 10 or 12, Edward the Confessor became king of England, and, because Margaret's father was in line for the royal succession unless Edward the Confessor had children, the family moved to that island country at the edge of the European continent. Shortly after their arrival, however, Margaret's father died. Then, King Edward died and their was a great upheaval in England. Margaret's brother Edgar was the rightful heir to the throne, but was not disposed to fight for it, so the family fled England. Just in case that was not enough turmoil for a young lady (she was twenty) their ships were caught in a storm and wrecked on the coast of Scotland.As luck (or Providence) would have it, they were rescued and brought to Dunfermline by -- guess who? The King of Scotland's own men. And the King, Malcolm, was himself in Dumfernline to greet the tattered travelers.
Now, let's be clear about this king. We call him king how, but he was barely king of a Scotland which was divided four ways. He was working (fighting, that is) to unite the country securely. His father, Duncan, had been murdered by someone named Macbeth who has remained famous because the greatest of all Catholic English playwrites told the story of this murder in a famous play named after the murderer.So it was a violent world that Margaret had been shipwrecked into, and she thought it would be a fine thing to become a nun and pray for its salvation. She said so.Malcolm had a different idea. He was forty, a widower, and much taken with the fair and cultured lass that suddenly appeared at his table. He went to her brother and explained that when you are shipwrecked, you should show a proper gratitude to your hosts to who you owe your life. Edgar got the point and spoke to Margaret. Her mother and sisters became nuns, but Margaret became Malcolm III's queen in 1070.Again, this king was not as we now imagine kings, well-dressed, cultured, and secure. He was a near barbarian -- coarse, loud, illiterate, and not very pious though very willing in all such matters to learn from his beautiful wife.Margaret went after her task with the limitless energy of a saint. She reformed the law courts of Scotland so that cases for the poor were processed quickly. She forbade royal soldiers to loot Scottish homes and she ransomed the slaves that Malcolm won in battle. She insisted on laws against buying and selling on the Sabbath, and she started the first ladies' guild, inviting her friends to embroider altar linens and vestments while they spoke of the gospel, instead of gossiping.She left her palace regularly to hold court for the poor, sitting on a big stone in a field where they would not hesitate to come and speak of their problems.Furthermore, she had eight children, and she raised them herself and saw to their education by finding the best tutors possible. She taught them to seek holiness above all, but she educated them in literature and the arts so they were well-prepared to -- and did -- become the Christian royalty of the next 200 years. The Angel of Scotland must have smiled when Margaret said "yes" to Malcolm.Margaret also took in orphaned and helped feed them every morning while she had her own breakfast. She tended the sick and provided hospices for travelers and ferries for pilgrims. She convoked a synod which drew up regulations for the Lenten fast, and she persuaded the Scottish clergy to accept the leadership of Rome, which, because of their great distance, had been somewhat neglected. In other words, she kept Scotland in the fold of Christianity at a time when it was leaning towards a split from its center.It is to Margaret, who knew the intolerability of chaotic meals, that we owe the custom of grace after meals, which she introduced as the custom of the blessing cup. It stopped the men from their careless and disorderly wandering in and out of the dining hall.
Thus, at every level of her influence, Margaret brought civilization and sanctity to bear on the young nation of Scotland.This is the woman we have chosen as our patron. She was a mother with a vigorous sense of responsibility to form the culture, both by her own family life, and by looking beyond to the poor nearby and to her nation.For more information click on the Catholic Information Network, St Margaret.
