St. Margaret of Scotland 1045-1093 (June 10)

Called the Pearl of Scotland, today's saint is one of the patronesses of mothers with many children! Read on, Moms...

Saint Margaret of Scotland lived from 1045 to 16 November 1093. She was probably born in what is now Hungary, and her grandfather on her mother's side was thought to have been Yaroslav I the Wise, Prince of Novgorod and Kiev. The wider picture in Scotland at the time is set out in our Historical Timeline.

Margaret's great-uncle was King Edward the Confessor of England. When King Harold was killed by the Normans at the Battle of Hastings in 1066, Margaret's brother Edgar Atheling was regarded by the English as rightful heir to the throne. This was not accepted by William of Normandy, and together with their mother, Edgar and Margaret sailed from Northumberland to exile on the continent. A storm took them instead to Scotland, where they were given refuge by Malcolm III, who probably already knew them well from his own years of refuge in England, when Macbeth was on the Scottish throne.

Malcolm III was a widower with three children from his first marriage when he and Margaret married in 1070. Margaret's impact was dramatic. She favoured the Roman Catholic church to the Celtic Church and brought Benedictine monks to establish an abbey at Dunfermline. To allow her to feel more at home, Malcolm decreed that the language used at court should be Saxon rather than Gaelic. As a result Malcolm III was the first to be called "King of Scotland" in his own time.

Margaret also had built what is today called St Margaret's Chapel, in the highest part of Edinburgh Castle; she arranged for the rebuilding of the monastery of Iona; and she provided a free ferry across the Forth (at Queensferry) for pilgrims en route to the major religious centres at Dunfermline and St Andrews. More widely she caused a resurgence of religious life across Scotland.

Malcolm and Margaret had eight children: Edward; Edmund; Ethelred; Edgar; Alexander; David; Edith or Matilda; and Mary. The extent of Margaret's influence on the future direction of the Scottish crown and of Scotland more widely can be seen by comparing the Gaelic names of the three children from Malcolm's first marriage and the absence of Gaelic names among the eight from his second.

Malcolm III was keen to take advantage of the disruption caused by the Norman conquest of England to further Scotland's interests. More charitably, he was also interested in rolling back the Norman invasion of England to place the "rightful" Saxon heir, his brother in law Edgar the Atheling, on the English throne. He therefore embarked on a series of invasions of England, all unsuccessful.

The last invasion took place in 1093, by which time William II had succeeded William I on the English throne. Malcolm III was killed in battle against the English at Alnwick, Northumberland, on 13 November 1093, aged 62. His eldest son by Margaret, Prince Edward of Scotland, died alongside him. Margaret was told of the deaths by her second son, Edmund. She died on 16 November 1093.

St Margaret was canonised in 1251 by Pope Innocent IV.

St. Anselm - Feast Day April 21

Feast Day: April 21 

Born: 1033 :: Died: 1109

Anselm was born at Aosta, Piedmont in Italy to wealthy parents. He could see the Alpine Mountains from his home. As a child he was taught how to be holy and study well. When he was fifteen, Anselm tried to join a monastery in Italy but his father would not let him. 

Then Anselm became sick. Soon after he got better, his mother died. He was still young and rich and clever and began to think only of having good times. He had forgotten God. But soon Anselm became bored and wanted something better, something more important.

He argued with his father and ran away to France. There he visited the holy Abbot Lanfranc of the famous monastery of Bec. Anselm became Lanfranc's very close friend and the abbot brought him to God. Then at the age of twenty-seven, Anselm decided to become a Benedictine monk.

Anselm was a warm-hearted man who loved his brother monks dearly. Even those who first disliked him soon became his friends. When he was forty-five years old he was made the abbot of Bec.

He finally had to leave Bec to become archbishop of Canterbury in England, but he told the monks that they would always live in his heart. The people of England loved and respected Anselm. But King William II treated him badly.

Anselm had to leave the country and flee into exile in 1097 and again in 1103. King William even refused to let Anselm go to Rome to see the pope for advice. But Anselm went anyway. He stayed with the pope until the king died. Then he went back to his parish in England.

Even though he had many duties that kept him very busy, St. Anselm always found time to write important books of philosophy and theology. He also wrote down the many wonderful instructions he had given the monks about God.

They were very happy about that. He used to say: "Would you like to know the secret of being happy in the monastery? Forget the world and be happy to forget it. The monastery is a real heaven on earth for those who live only for Jesus."

St. Anselm died on April 21, 1109. He was declared a great teacher or Doctor of the Church.

St. Margaret of Scotland IEW

Feast Day: November 16
Born: 1046 :: Died: 1093

Margaret was an English princess who was born in Hungary and was the great-niece of St. Stephen of Hungary. She and her mother sailed to Scotland to escape from the king who had conquered their land.
They got ship wrecked on the Scottish coast and King Malcolm of Scotland welcomed them. He fell in love with the beautiful princess and Margaret and Malcolm were soon married. They had eight children, six sons and two daughters and they loved their children very much.

Margaret changed her husband and the country for the better. Malcolm was good, but he and his court were very rough. When he saw how wise his wife was, he willingly listened to her good advice.

Margaret helped him control his temper and practice the Christian virtues. She made the court beautiful and civilized. The king and queen were wonderful examples because of the way they prayed together and treated each other. They fed crowds of poor people. They tried very hard to imitate Jesus in their own lives.

Margaret was a blessing for all the people of Scotland. Many people had bad habits that kept them from growing closer to God. Margaret worked hard to find good teachers to help the people correct their evil ways.

She and Malcolm had new churches built. She loved to make the churches beautiful to honor God. In fact, Queen Margaret embroidered some of the priests' robes herself.

Their youngest son became St. David and one of their daughters St. Maud. But Margaret had sorrows, too. She was very ill, and she learned that both her husband and her son, Edward, had been killed in battle. They died just four days before Margaret's death. She died on November 16, 1093.


source: http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/1116.asp

Additional info: Baldwin Project! http://www.mainlesson.com/display.php?author=hallg&book=saints&story=scotland&PHPSESSID=7e124b8a15d18362b1c2d5a6086a4766 

St. Anselm IEW

Feast Day: April 21
Born: 1033 :: Died: 1109

Anselm was born at Aosta, Piedmont in Italy to wealthy parents. He could see the Alpine Mountains from his home. As a child he was taught how to be holy and study well. When he was fifteen, Anselm tried to join a monastery in Italy but his father would not let him. 

Then Anselm became sick. Soon after he got better, his mother died. He was still young and rich and clever and began to think only of having good times. He had forgotten God. But soon Anselm became bored and wanted something better, something more important. 

He argued with his father and ran away to France. There he visited the holy Abbot Lanfranc of the famous monastery of Bec. Anselm became Lanfranc's very close friend and the abbot brought him to God. Then at the age of twenty-seven, Anselm decided to become a Benedictine monk. 

Anselm was a warm-hearted man who loved his brother monks dearly. Even those who first disliked him soon became his friends. When he was forty-five years old he was made the abbot of Bec.
He finally had to leave Bec to become archbishop of Canterbury in England, but he told the monks that they would always live in his heart. The people of England loved and respected Anselm. But King William II treated him badly. 

Anselm had to leave the country and flee into exile in 1097 and again in 1103. King William even refused to let Anselm go to Rome to see the pope for advice. But Anselm went anyway. He stayed with the pope until the king died. Then he went back to his parish in England. 

Even though he had many duties that kept him very busy, St. Anselm always found time to write important books of philosophy and theology. He also wrote down the many wonderful instructions he had given the monks about God. 

They were very happy about that. He used to say: "Would you like to know the secret of being happy in the monastery? Forget the world and be happy to forget it. The monastery is a real heaven on earth for those who live only for Jesus." 

St. Anselm died on April 21, 1109. He was declared a great teacher or Doctor of the Church. 


source: http://www.holyspiritinteractive.net/kids/saints/0421.asp 

more resources: http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/anselm/

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2012-04-21 

http://www.anselm.edu/About-Saint-Anselm/Who-was-Saint-Anselm.htm