St. Margaret of Scotland (about 1045–1093) was an English princess, born in exile in Hungary, who became Queen of Scots, raised eight children and every day fed and served the poor with her own hands. She was canonized in 1250, she is a patron saint of Scotland, and her feast day is November 16, the day she died at Edinburgh Castle. Below are her story, the prayer of her feast, prayers to St. Margaret for families and for those who govern, and what she is the patron saint of.
A short prayer to St. Margaret, written for this page:
St. Margaret, queen and mother,
you found Christ in the poor at your gate and in the children at your table.
Pray for our families, for all who govern,
and for everyone who is hungry today. Amen.
Who was St. Margaret of Scotland?
Margaret was born about 1045 in Hungary, where her father, Edward the Exile, a son of King Edmund Ironside of England, had grown up as a refugee. In 1057 the family was called back to England, to the court of St. Edward the Confessor, but her father died soon after they arrived. When the Normans conquered England in 1066, Margaret, her mother Agatha, her brother Edgar and her sister Christina fled north by sea. They landed on the Firth of Forth, according to tradition at the bay still called St. Margaret’s Hope, and were welcomed by Malcolm III, King of Scots. Margaret had hoped to become a nun; instead, about 1070, she married Malcolm at Dunfermline.
Almost everything we know of her daily life comes from her confessor Turgot, prior of Durham and later Bishop of St. Andrews, who wrote her life at the request of her daughter. He describes a queen who rose in the night to pray, and who began each day by feeding nine orphaned children herself, taking the smallest on her knee. Twenty-four poor people lived at her expense all year round. In Advent and Lent three hundred of the poor were brought into the royal hall, and the king and the queen waited on them at table. She washed the feet of the poor, paid the ransom of English captives, and kept a free ferry and hostels on the Forth for pilgrims on the way to St. Andrews; the towns of North and South Queensferry take their name from it.
Malcolm, a warrior who could not read, loved her so much that he had her prayer books covered with gold and jewels, and used to kiss the ones she liked best. With him as her interpreter she met the clergy of Scotland in council and brought local customs into line with the rest of the Church: Lent beginning on Ash Wednesday, Communion at Easter, and Sunday kept free from work. She asked Archbishop Lanfranc of Canterbury for Benedictine monks and founded with them the priory at Dunfermline that later became Dunfermline Abbey.
Margaret and Malcolm had six sons and two daughters. Three of the sons, Edgar, Alexander I and David I, reigned as Kings of Scots, and David is honored as a saint in Scotland. Their daughter Edith, known as Matilda, married King Henry I of England.
In November 1093 Malcolm and their eldest son, Edward, were killed in battle at Alnwick. Margaret, already very ill, heard the news from her son Edgar, thanked God for sending her this sorrow to purify her at the end, and died on November 16, 1093, at Edinburgh Castle. She was buried at Dunfermline. Pope Innocent IV canonized her in 1250. St. Margaret’s Chapel in Edinburgh Castle, built in her memory by her son David, is the oldest building still standing in Edinburgh.
The prayer of her feast
From the 1916 daily missal, where her feast was kept on June 10:
O God, who didst make the blessed Queen Margaret wonderful by her extraordinary charity to the poor, grant that through her intercession thy love may constantly grow in our hearts. Through Jesus Christ, thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God world without end. Amen.
The praise of the valiant woman, which fits her well (Proverbs 31:20, Douay-Rheims):
She hath opened her hand to the needy, and stretched out her hands to the poor.
Christ’s words that Margaret took literally (Matthew 25:40):
And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
A prayer to St. Margaret for mothers and families
Written for this page:
St. Margaret of Scotland, wife and mother of eight,
you taught your children to pray and to love the poor, more by what you did than by what you said.
Pray for mothers and fathers who are tired,
for children who have drifted from the faith,
for husbands and wives who do not pray together,
and for widows and all who grieve.
Make our homes places of prayer, welcome and peace. Amen.
A prayer for those who govern
Lord God, you gave St. Margaret a crown and a heart for the poor.
Give the same spirit of justice and mercy to all who hold authority among us,
so that the weak are protected and no one is forgotten.
Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
What St. Margaret teaches
- Holiness in an ordinary vocation. She became a saint as a wife, a mother and a ruler, through those duties and not in spite of them.
- Charity in person. She did not only give money: she fed, washed and served the poor herself.
- Gentle influence. Turgot says the king learned from her to keep watch in prayer and to care for the poor.
- Love of Scripture. Her own Gospel book still exists and is kept in the Bodleian Library in Oxford.
What is St. Margaret of Scotland the patron saint of?
St. Margaret is the patron saint of:
- Scotland, together with St. Andrew the Apostle (Pope Clement X named her patroness in 1673)
- Mothers and large families
- Widows
- Queens and all who hold public office
Feast day
The feast of St. Margaret of Scotland is November 16, the day of her death. In the General Roman Calendar it is an optional memorial, shared with St. Gertrude the Great; in Scotland it is kept as a feast. Before 1969 the universal calendar honored her on June 10.
Frequently asked questions
When is the feast day of St. Margaret of Scotland?
November 16.
Was St. Margaret Scottish?
By birth, no. Her father was an English prince and she was born in Hungary. She became Queen of Scots by her marriage to Malcolm III and lived in Scotland for more than twenty years.
How many children did St. Margaret have?
Eight: six sons and two daughters. Three sons became Kings of Scots, and one daughter became Queen of England.
Where is St. Margaret buried?
She was buried in Dunfermline Abbey, in Fife, where the base of her shrine can still be seen. Most of her relics were lost after the Reformation.
More saints
- St. Gertrude the Great, also November 16
- St. Elizabeth of Hungary, November 17
- St. Andrew the Apostle, patron of Scotland
- St. Louis IX
- St. Hedwig
- St. Monica
- Patron saint of mothers
- Catholic prayer for family
- Works of mercy
- Saint of the day
Texts and sources
- The Mass Every Day of the Year (1916), St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland (June 10), Collect, public domain (archive.org).
- Proverbs 31:20 and Matthew 25:40 (Douay-Rheims).
- Turgot, Life of St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland (about 1100), in the English translation of William Forbes-Leith (1884), public domain.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “St. Margaret of Scotland,” public domain (Wikisource).