Saint Margaret the Virgin

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Saint Margaret
Image:Margaret-antioch.jpg
martyr
Born	?, Antioch
Died	beheaded, exact location unknown
Venerated in	Anglican, Roman Catholic
Major shrine	Various
Feast	July 20, July 12 in Eastern Church
Attributes	slayed dragon
Patronage	childbirth, pregnent women, dying people, kidney disease, peasents, exiles, falsely accused people; Lowestoft, England; Queen's College, Cambridge; nurses,

Saint Margaret, also known as Margaret of Antioch, virgin and martyr, is celebrated by the Roman Catholic and Anglican Churches on July 20.

According to the legend, she was a native of Antioch, daughter of a pagan priest named Aedesius. She was scorned by her father for her Christian faith, and lived in the country with a foster-mother keeping sheep. Olybrius, the praeses orientis, offered her marriage as the price of her renunciation of Christianity. Her refusal led to her being cruelly tortured, and after various miraculous incidents, one of which involved getting swallowed by Satan in the shape of a dragon, from which she escaped alive, she was put to death.

The Greek church knows Margaret as Marina, and celebrates her festival on 17 July. She has been identified with Saint Pelagia -- "Marina" being the Latin equivalent of the Greek name "Pelagia" -- who, according to a legend, was also called Margarito. We possess no historical documents on St Margaret as distinct from St Pelagia.

An attempt has been made, but without success, to prove that the group of legends with which that of Saint Margaret is connected is derived from a transformation of the pagan divinity Aphrodite into a Christian saint. The problem of her identity is a purely literary question.

The cult of Saint Margaret became very widespread in England, with more than 250 churches are dedicated to her. Believers consider her a patron saint of pregnancy. In art, she is usually pictured escaping from the dragon.

Although her cult was suppressed in 1969, traditional devotions to her remain in effect. Margaret is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. She is one of the Saints who appeared to Joan of Arc.

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References

Acta Sanctorum, July, v. 24—45
Bibliotheca hagiographica. La/ma (Brussels, 1899), n. 5303—53r3
Frances Arnold-Forster, Studies in Church Dedications (London, 1899), i. 131—133 and iii. 19.

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