Margaret of Hungary

ON B. MARGARET OF HUNGARY, VIRGIN, OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS.

Year 1271.

Margaret of Hungary, Virgin of the Order of Preachers (B.)

From various sources.

Section I. The illustrious lineage of B. Margaret.

[1] The most devout Order of Preachers once undertook great labors for the promotion of piety in Hungary and brought back splendid fruits, having been first introduced there by the most holy men Paul the Hungarian and Sadoc, of whom the latter at Sandomir Dominican convents in Hungary, and the former elsewhere afterwards obtained the crown of martyrdom. Very many monasteries of that order were founded there, of which S. Antoninus treats in part 3, title 23, chapter 13, section 2; and in section 3 he enumerates the convents of nuns of the same Order that existed in his time in various provinces of Europe, and, what is pertinent here, he says: "In Hungary, four monasteries." Among which the principal one is that founded on the Island by the King of Hungary.

[2] The primitive discipline, But concerning those convents of nuns of his own Order (for he himself was also a son of the same most holy family of S. Dominic), he pronounces universally as follows: "I believe that all these monasteries from the beginning of their foundation served the Lord with great fervor and devotion in the holiness of purity and the justice of religious observance. But in the course of time, the Fathers of the Order, perceiving that through these monasteries shipwreck could easily occur, sought to absolve themselves from their care at the Roman Curia, but were unable to do so. Provision was, however, made for the future that the care should not be so easily assumed, nor new convents built without great consideration. But since in these times iniquity has abounded and charity has grown cold, so that the convents of the Friars Preachers themselves have been emptied, as it were, down to the very foundation of the regular life; Elsewhere relaxed, so also the monasteries of nuns have been relaxed and have become a snare for the Friars and a scandal to the people, on account of the things that happen daily which are less than honorable and sufficiently notorious — except for a few reformed convents restored to regular observance, and very few monasteries of nuns faithfully rendering their vows to the Lord." These and many other things S. Antoninus says.

[3] Among those very few was the monastery of Veszprem, in which Margaret was first trained in piety, as is evident from the testimony of Peter Ranzanus who, as we shall say below, was a contemporary of S. Antoninus or even somewhat later, Long retain it, and having spent a long time in Hungary, writes thus: "There is in the town called Veszprem a monastery famous for the good and blessed life of its inmates." But these things are of old; scarcely any traces now survive of that former piety, since that Hungary, once most flourishing in men and virtues, has been partly reduced to the power of the Turks, partly widely disfigured by the fury of heretics. John Michael Pius, in book 2, On the Progeny of S. Dominic, chapter 63, cites letters of Vincent Justinian, Master General of the same Order, prefixed to the Acts of their General Chapter held at Avignon in the year 1561, in which the following is attested: Now almost all destroyed. "In the most ample kingdom of Hungary, scarcely one or two small convents remain to us."

[4] Margaret won a great name for the holy Order there long ago, secured great favor from the King and the Nobles, had many illustrious imitators of her virtues from every sex and age, and kindled a splendid and lasting flame of piety in the hearts of her countrymen by the constant light of her miracles. And although the discipline of this most wise Order wonderfully cultivated the holiness of the divine Virgin, she drew that holiness divinely, The ancestors and kinsmen of B. Margaret are Saints yet her character was also formed by the examples of her forebears and kinsmen; nor ought the branch to have been unlike either the root or the rest of the tree. For to pass over those more ancient ones — S. Stephen, King and Apostle of his nation, who is celebrated with solemn rites on 20 August; his son S. Emeric, who is celebrated on 4 November; and S. Ladislaus the King, who is celebrated on 27 June — assuredly the father of the Virgin, Bela IV, and her grandfather, Andrew II, were most pious Kings. The sister of her grandmother Gertrude was S. Hedwig, married to Henry the Bearded, Duke of Greater Poland, whose life we shall give on 15 October. The sister of Bela, and Margaret's aunt, was S. Elizabeth, Landgravine of Thuringia, who is venerated on 19 November; whose husband Louis's feast John Thurocz writes in his Chronicle of Hungary, part 1, chapter 73, is devoutly celebrated at Jerusalem. And B. Salomea, Queen of Halicz in Russia, who preserved her virginity by mutual consent with him, was married to Margaret's uncle Coloman; as also B. Cunegunda, or Kinga, Margaret's sister, did with Boleslaus the Chaste, King of Poland, the brother of the same Salomea. We shall give the life of Cunegunda on 24 July, and of Salomea on 17 November.

[5] The remaining sisters of B. Margaret were Anna, Constance, Yolande, and Elizabeth. Anna, the eldest, married the Duke of Croatia, as John Longinus, or Dlugosz, writes in the life of B. Cunegunda. Constance married Leo, Duke of Rascia, Five sisters, who, buried near the city of Lvov, is said to have shone with singular sanctity in proportion to the merit of her works and to have been resplendent with miracles. Elizabeth married Otto, Duke of Bavaria. Boleslaus called the Pious, Duke of Greater Poland, betrothed the youngest Yolande and had by her an only daughter Hedwig, who in the course of time married Vladislaus called Lokietek, Duke of Cuiavia, who was raised to the kingship of Poland, and bore Casimir, King of Poland, a man and prince of rare probity and immense excellence, whose name is most celebrated and renowned on account of the outstanding works he performed for the kingdom of Poland (for he was the first to bring it to legitimate laws and a notable polity, by which it is governed to this day; and he left in brick what he had found in wood). This Yolande, too, widowed of her husband, professed the Order of S. Clare at the monastery of Sandec and there died a blessed death and was buried. These things Dlugosz says. Cromer writes that Yolande was also called Helen.

[6] John Tomko Marnavich records two other daughters of Bela, sisters of Margaret — Catherine and Margaret — whom he says were lost at the time when the Tartars were devastating Hungary and Bela himself was in exile in Dalmatia, in the nearby fortress of Clissa; Likewise two others; he buried them above the main door of the most noble temple once dedicated by the Emperor Diocletian to the impure Jupiter, but now by Christian piety the ornament of the Metropolitan Church of Salona, in the city of Split, where they rest to this day, with the following verse added, in the manner of those times:

"Catherine resplendent and illustrious Margaret Lie in this narrow tomb, bereft of life, Daughters of Bela the Fourth, King of the Hungarians, And of Mary Lascaris, Queen of the Greeks. By the perfidious Tartars they were then put to flight, They died at Clissa and were transferred to Split, In the year of the Lord one thousand two hundred And forty-two besides, for the reader's information."

[7] These were the sisters of Margaret; her brothers were two: Bela the Duke, buried with his father and mother at Esztergom in the church of the Friars Minor, Two brothers; built in honor of the glorious Virgin, which the Lord King Bela himself while still living had caused to be begun with sumptuous and beautiful workmanship, as John Thurocz writes in his Chronicle of Hungary, chapter 76. The other brother was Stephen V, who succeeded his father Bela in the kingdom.

[8] Who Margaret's mother Mary was may be asked. Thurocz calls her the daughter of the Emperor of the Greeks. Who her mother was. If that epitaph of the daughters could be established with certainty as having been composed at the very time they were buried, we would more readily agree with the same Tomko, who writes that she was the daughter of Theodore Lascaris, King of the Greeks in Asia. John Pistorius of Nidda in his Genealogy of the Kings of Hungary states that she was the daughter of the Greek Emperor, or, as others would have it, of Micislaus of Halicz. And indeed Mescislaus is mentioned by Cromer, book 7, and other writers of Polish affairs, to whom the Dominion of Halicz was asserted by arms by Casimir, King of Poland, his uncle. He is then narrated to have been carried off by poison, and Volodimir was substituted for him; when Volodimir died in the year 1197, Romanus succeeded, and after Romanus, Coloman, the brother of Bela. Mescislaus, the son of the elder Mescislaus, is said to have captured Coloman and to have detained him with his wife Salomea in custody for an entire year. Did Bela, the brother of Coloman, then marry the daughter of Mescislaus, and was peace thus ratified? But many call her the daughter of the Emperor of the Greeks, and not a few say of Theodore Lascaris (the elder, obviously, who had his imperial seat at Nicaea and died in the year 1222, having designated as his successor his son-in-law John Ducas). Longinus makes her the daughter of Alexius, Emperor of the Greeks, who, he says, reigned at Constantinople for many years. But no daughter of either Alexius Angelus Comnenus, who was stripped of his empire in the year 1203, or of Lascaris is recorded by the Greek writers Nicetas Choniates or Nicephorus Gregoras as having been married to a Hungarian. But if Mary was born of either of them, she certainly turned out very different from her son-in-law in the end, since from the daughters a judgment can be made about the mother's piety and character.

Section II. The sanctity of B. Margaret publicly attested.

[9] These were the external distinctions of Margaret, derived from the nobility of her parents and the sanctity of her sisters and kinsmen; yet they are not altogether vain, for in pearls too it is asked whether the Indian Ocean has sent them, or the Persian Gulf, or Taprobane or another of the remotest islands; what was the quality of the dew imbibed; whether they were conceived under a threatening sky or in the brightness of the morning; and other things are weighed which Pliny, book 9, chapter 35, pursues. The origin and crowning value of our Margaret too For the canonization of B. Margaret is established by the life-giving breath of the Divine Spirit and by the power that is especially approved by the Saints in heaven. And indeed there was in her a splendor of virtue that would turn toward itself the eyes and hearts of all, and after death would radiate with innumerable prodigies. Wherefore the Apostolic See (over which Gregory X then presided) was continually petitioned to decree heavenly honors on earth for her whom so many and such extraordinary prodigies testified to have been received into the company of the Blessed in heaven.

[10] Innocent V, the successor of Gregory, and after Innocent himself John XX, ordered that a legitimate inquiry be made into her life and miracles, Proceedings were conducted; as will be evident below from the letters of those Pontiffs themselves and from the Acts of the Inquirers. The premature death of Innocent and of John intervened to obstruct the pious intention and the sacred triumph of the Virgin. Then, in the year 1306, Andrew the Hungarian of the Order of Preachers was sent as a Legate to Clement V by the King of Hungary (or by one of the three candidates for the kingdom), The Pontiff petitioned again: who asked him to pronounce judgment at last upon Margaret's attested sanctity and to allow her to be venerated with the public celebration of sacred rites. The Pontiff appointed Andrew Archbishop of Antivari; but the business of the sought canonization he was unable to dispatch, the public affairs of the Church being variously disturbed. Fernand de Castillo writes this in his History of the Order of Preachers, book 3, chapter 6, and part 2, chapter 11.

[11] Whether anything was subsequently attempted to advance this cause, we do not know. Luke Castellini in his book On the Certitude of the Glory of Canonized Saints writes thus: "S. Margaret, daughter of Andrew, King of Hungary, a nun of the Order of S. Dominic, She does not yet appear to have been canonized. whom the Roman Martyrology, Surius, Fernand de Castillo, S. Antoninus, Peter Ribadeneira, and others call a most illustrious Virgin. It is not established that she was canonized, but only that proceedings were formed to that end concerning the admirable sanctity and miracles of this holy Virgin, with which God deigned to distinguish this Virgin — by the illumination of the blind through her merits, and by the healing of other sick persons and the raising of the dead. The authors mentioned above, in her Life." But correct the error of memory in Castellini: Margaret was not the daughter of Andrew, but of Bela; nor is there any mention of this Margaret in the Roman Martyrology. Although she is called a Saint. Ribadeneira writes the Life of the Most Illustrious Virgin S. Margaret. Surius calls her a Most Illustrious Virgin, but in the Index of the Lives for January he has: "On S. Margaret, Virgin, daughter of the King of Hungary, of the Order of Preachers." Francis Haraeus simply calls her a Saint, as does, three hundred years earlier, the author of her Life, Garinus.

[12] Her name is found inscribed in certain Martyrologies. For the Carthusians of Cologne in their Additions to Usuard have this: Her name inscribed in Martyrologies: "Of Margaret, Virgin of Hungary, of blessed memory." Molanus: "On the same day, the death of the Most Illustrious Margaret, Virgin, daughter of the King of the Hungarians, of the Order of Preachers." The German Martyrology: "In Hungary, of the illustrious and holy Virgin Margaret of the Order of Preachers, who, born a Queen of Hungary, devoted herself entirely to prayer, humility, and the religious life." Philip Ferrari in his General Catalogue of Saints: "At Veszprem in Pannonia, of S. Margaret, Virgin and Queen of Hungary." The same Ferrari on 13 July: "At Pozsony in Pannonia, of B. Margaret, Virgin, daughter of King Bela of Hungary, of the Order of Preachers." He cites in the Notes the Records of the Church of Esztergom — or of Trnava, he says, where the Archbishop of Esztergom, after the loss of Esztergom, exercises his functions. He adds concerning Margaret — whom he appears to consider different from the one he gave in the month of January: "Her body is at Pozsony, where she died in the twenty-eighth year of her age, deposited in the convent of S. Mary Magdalene, in which she lived." But she did not live at Pozsony, nor did she die there or at Veszprem; rather, at Veszprem she was clothed in the sacred habit and served her novitiate of the religious life; thence she was brought to the Island of Hares — which was then called S. Mary's Island by Bela's command, and afterward S. Margaret's — to a new convent founded for her sake, and there she died a holy death.

[13] Concerning her body, S. Antoninus writes thus, part 3, title 23, chapter 13, section 3: "There (in the monastery on the Island) rests Sister Margaret, a nun of the said monastery, daughter of the King of Hungary, The body formerly on the Island of S. Margaret, of outstanding sanctity, who was renowned for miracles both in life and after death." John Longinus in his Life of B. Cunegunda seems to place that monastery at Buda, because it is not far distant from Buda, for he writes thus: "Margaret, loathing the world and all its pomps, having professed the Order of Preachers in the convent of nuns at Buda, was carried off by a premature but salutary death while she was in her eighteenth year." It is more likely, as others relate, that she died in the twenty-eighth year of her age. John Tomko Marnavich writes thus concerning Margaret's body: "The sacred little body of the Virgin, after various translations of it throughout Hungary, Now at Pozsony, today rests, translated, in the most ample city of Pozsony; but, as a proof of her angelic purity, so intact that it seems to have been deposited not four centuries ago but only a few years. Still intact. Which so long-lasting miracle, and wonderful trophy of her virginal excellence... I wished to restore here to the immortal glory of the true celestial Margaret."

Section III. The Life of B. Margaret.

[14] Life written by Garinus in the year 1340. The Life of B. Margaret was abridged from the more extensive Acts, into which testimonies concerning her life and miracles had been reported by the Apostolic Inquirers, in the year 1340 by Fr. Garinus of the Order of Preachers, Doctor of Sacred Theology. Tomko Marnavich expressed the date of Garinus erroneously when, in his book entitled The Fecundity of Illyrian Royal Sanctity, he says that Life was written one hundred and ninety years ago; he meant to write two hundred and ninety, for he himself published his own book at Rome in the year 1630.

[15] This Life was published by Laurence Surius, but with the style changed throughout for the reader's benefit, as he acknowledges; and — which he either did not notice or concealed from the reader — mutilated, without the miracles. We publish it in its original phrasing, Whence it is here published: from a trustworthy MS. codex of the College of the Society of Jesus at Paderborn; from which we also publish the letters of Popes Innocent V and John XXI concerning the examination of her life and miracles.

[16] We give another Life from the Epitome of Hungarian Affairs by Peter Ranzanus, Another by Peter Ranzanus who, having served for three years on a legation to Matthias Corvinus Hunyadi, King of Hungary (on behalf of which Prince or Republic we have not yet ascertained), not only examined all the histories of Hungarian affairs but also inspected the still-intact monuments of ancient piety — a man exceedingly inquisitive, as can be seen from what he writes in his first Index: "I confess that I have not traversed the whole of Pannonia with such care or diligence that I could give too exact an account of the matter which I promise to write about in this place" (namely, to explain the names of the new peoples and cities, as he wrote immediately before). "But I provided for myself in this way: that I brought to my assistance several Hungarian men who were experts on the places, from whom I received and learned the names and situation of the places which I undertook to mention." Ranzanus divides his entire history, or epitome, into 36 Indices; John Sambucus, who published it, appended a Supplement. But when Ranzanus wrote that history (although he often mentions Matthias as still living) is more clearly indicated in Index 36, where he has this: "But when at last he (King Matthias) had perceived that he was being given empty words (by the Emperor Frederick III), Written before the year 1490: thinking that nothing should be delayed any further, he took up arms, invaded Austria, which borders on the kingdom of Hungary, subdued it in a prolonged war, and today possesses it most peacefully with no one resisting." Matthias took Vienna on the Kalends of June 1485, after besieging it from 17 March; Maximilian I recovered it on 22 August 1490, since Matthias had died on 5 April of that year.

[17] After Surius, various authors published the Life of B. Margaret: Haraeus and others in Latin, Others published by others. in the vernacular our own Peter Ribadeneira and Herbert Rosweyde, James Doublet, Silvanus Razzi, Rene Benedict, and William Gazaeus. John Tomko Marnavich, in the above-cited book On the Fecundity of Illyrian Royal Sanctity, has a Life of the same most holy Virgin, and attests that another was published by him in the Illyrian language, printed at Venice, and dedicated to his own sister Dominica, then the foundress and first Abbess of a convent of nuns in the city of Trogir, as a model for establishing a new community.

PROCEEDINGS FOR THE CANONIZATION OF B. MARGARET THE VIRGIN.

Margaret of Hungary, Virgin of the Order of Preachers (B.)

From MSS.

Letters which the Inquirers into the life and miracles of Margaret the Virgin, of venerable memory, of the Order of Preachers, daughter of the King of Hungary, sent to the Lord Pope John XXI, whose feast is on the fifth day before the Kalends of February.

[1] To the Most Holy Father and Lord John, by the grace of God Supreme Pontiff of the Holy Roman Church, Ubertus Blancus, his most devoted Chaplain, although unworthy, and Master de la Corra, Doctor of Decrees, Canon of the Holy Apostles of Verona, offer kisses of his blessed feet. May Your Holiness know that we received letters from Your predecessor of happy memory, in this form: Innocent, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons Master Ubertus Blancus, our Chaplain of Piacenza, and de la Corre, Doctor of Decrees, Canons of the Churches of the Holy Apostles of Verona, greeting and the Apostolic blessing. Some time ago, on the part of the King of Hungary of illustrious memory, humble supplication was made to Pope Gregory, our predecessor of happy memory, that, since the Almighty — By command of Pope Gregory X, who, mercifully working the cause of our salvation in His Saints, frequently honors in the world those whom He crowns in heaven, and works signs and prodigies at their memorial, by which the depravity of heretics is confounded and the Catholic faith is strengthened — works so many and such great miracles through the merits of Margaret the Virgin, of venerable memory, Sister or nun of the monastery of the Glorious Virgin on the Island in the Danube, of the Order of Preachers, in the diocese of Veszprem, whose body rests in the same monastery, that it would be unworthy not to invoke her intercession among the rest, he would deign to enroll her in the catalogue of the Saints.

[2] But although human devotion ought with ready affection to honor those whom the divine dignity honors, nevertheless, since it was fitting for the predecessor, guided by prudence, to be slow to act hastily and deliberate in doubtful matters, so as to proceed by a safer path, he gave commandment by his letters in a certain prescribed form to the Archbishop of Esztergom of good memory, and to our venerable brother the Bishop of Vac, and to the beloved son the Abbot of Dacon of the Cistercian order of the aforesaid diocese, that, diligently inquiring, according to the prudence given them by God and the interrogatories which the said predecessor transmitted to them enclosed under his seal, into the truth of her character and the power of her signs — that is, her works and miracles — An inquiry was made into the life and miracles of S. Margaret: they should faithfully report to him through their letters, containing the series of Apostolic letters, what they had found. Then, when the said Archbishop, while the matter remained unresolved, paid the debt of nature, the aforesaid predecessor substituted our venerable brother the Bishop of Barad in this business. The same Bishops and the Abbot, having conducted the proceedings for the inquiry into these matters, took care to send back to the same predecessor the inquiry which they had made on this matter, enclosed in their letters.

[3] But since through that inquiry full instruction on the aforesaid matters could not be obtained, we, desiring to proceed in every and especially in so solemn a matter with every cloud of doubt dispelled, and with the solidity of certainty and the fullness of clarity, Again by command of Innocent V, by Apostolic letters command your discretion that you should strive to inquire diligently a second time, under the aforesaid conditions, according to the interrogatories which we send you enclosed under our seal; and you are to apply such diligence in the aforesaid matters that you report to us the depositions of the witnesses — whom you are to receive on this matter, and other things which you may find for their elucidation — writing them down in detail, at length, and explicitly, in the order in which they have been deposed, together with the very words of each witness by which they were deposed, so clearly and plainly through your letters, containing the tenor of these presents, together with the same interrogatories, that no doubt arising from them, we may, with the Lord as our author, be able to proceed with a secure conscience in this matter. Given at the Lateran on the day before the Ides of May, in the first year of our Pontificate.

[4] Innocent, Bishop, servant of the servants of God, to his beloved sons Ubertus Blancus, our Chaplain of Piacenza, and de la Corre, Doctor of Decrees, Canons of the Churches of the Holy Apostles of Verona, greeting and the Apostolic blessing. The interrogatory having been sent; Take care to examine diligently the lawful witnesses whom you must receive concerning the life, conduct, and miracles of Margaret the Virgin, of venerable memory, nun of the monastery of the Glorious Virgin on the Island in the Danube, of the Order of Preachers, in the diocese of Veszprem, after an oath has been taken; and question them concerning all that they shall say: How do they know? At what time? In what month? On what day? In whose presence? In what place? At whose invocation? And with what words interposed? And concerning the names of those about whom the miracles are said to have been performed. And whether they knew them before? And how many days before they had seen them ill? And how long they had been ill? And how long they seemed well? And from what place they are born? And let them be questioned diligently concerning all circumstances, and around each heading let the series of the testimony be drawn up, as is proper and customary; and let the words of the witnesses, as they have been uttered in detail and at length, be faithfully put into writing. Given at the Lateran on the eighth day before the Kalends of June, in the first year of our Pontificate.

[5] In accordance with which the inquiry was made. Desiring therefore to carry out the aforesaid mandate reverently, as we are bound to do, going in person to the said monastery, we made with all diligence an inquiry into the life, conduct, and miracles of the aforesaid Virgin Margaret of venerable memory, the aforesaid nun, as is set forth below. The depositions of the witnesses, whom we received in detail, at length, and explicitly, in the order in which they were deposed before us, concerning these and other matters that we received for their elucidation, faithfully put into writing by the public hand of Bertold de Bosant, Notary, under our seals, we have thought fit to report to Your Holiness; together with a copy of all that we transmit to Your Holiness, word for word, adding or diminishing nothing, under the aforesaid seals, together with the letters of Innocent V of happy memory, your predecessor, sent to us.

LIFE

BY FR. GARINUS OF THE ORDER OF PREACHERS.

Margaret of Hungary, Virgin of the Order of Preachers (B.)

BHL Number: 5332

By Garinus, from MSS.

The legend written below concerning the life and miracles of B. Margaret, Virgin, of the Order of Preachers, daughter of the King of Hungary, was extracted in summary and, as it were, point by point, from the rolls or extensive depositions of witnesses sworn before the aforesaid Inquirers appointed by the Apostolic See for this purpose, in the year of the Lord 1340, at the Roman Curia at Avignon, by Brother Garinus of the Order of Preachers, Master of Theology, by command of Brother Hugo, the sixteenth Master of the same Order. Blessed be God, Amen.

CHAPTER I.

The birth of B. Margaret. Her piety.

[1] Blessed Margaret (a Sister in the monastery of the Island of the Blessed Virgin, below the Danube, in the diocese of Veszprem, of the Order of S. Dominic, the first founder of the Order of Preachers), noble by birth but nobler by her character, Margaret devoted to God before she was born, was the daughter of the illustrious King of Hungary, Bela, and of Queen Mary. For when the aforesaid King and Queen feared the invasion of their kingdom by the Tartars, which was imminent, they vowed to God that if He would free the kingdom from the Tartars and give them a daughter, they would offer her to God and to the Sisters of S. Dominic, to serve Him forever. The Tartars withdrew; the Queen conceived and bore a daughter, whom she called Margaret.

[2] When she was three years and six months old, her parents offered her to the monastery of Veszprem, At four she becomes a Religious, with her nurse, and out of love for her the Lady Olympias the Countess, who had been her nurse, entered the monastery and received the habit of the Sisters, in order to serve God and to guard the noble girl. Margaret immediately devoted herself to devotion, and within half a year of her entrance she learned the Hours of the Blessed Virgin perfectly and began to recite them with the others. In her infant age she fled from childish games, Serious, and while the others played she devoted herself to prayer, and she drew those who wished to play to praying, saying: "Let us enter the church; let us salute God Wonderfully pious, and the Blessed Virgin; let this be our play." If the Mistress wished to draw her from prayer, lest her little body be overburdened, she wept so long until the Mistress, overcome by her tears, allowed her freely to remain at her prayers.

[3] She was most profoundly humble, and did not wish to be called the King's daughter, but complained with tears Most humble, that an insult had been said to her, because she was called the King's daughter. For this reason she rarely wished to speak with her parents, lest she should be thought more glorious from their conversation. She once said: "Would that God had granted me this grace, that I had not been the daughter of a King but of a peasant; not a noblewoman but a poor handmaid! For then I could more freely serve God." When she was about ten years of age, she was transferred with many others to the monastery on the Island of the Danube, founded by her parents for the love of God.

[4] Extraordinarily devoted to the veneration of the Holy Cross. When she was still four years old, seeing a certain cross, she asked the Sisters what it was. They replied that this was the sign of the cross, on which God the Son of God shed His blood for our redemption. Hearing this, she immediately began to embrace and kiss the cross, and prostrated herself before it, and adoring the Crucifix said in a loud voice: "Lord, I commend myself to Thee." From then on she had such great devotion to the cross that wherever she saw a cross, by whatever impediment she was held, she prostrated herself and adored it. She also always carried with her a small cross containing wood of the holy cross, and kissed it devoutly many times day and night. When others went to the place of refreshment, she always prayed before the image of Christ Crucified that was in the Chapter House, and sometimes she remained so long in prayer that she did not eat until the second table. She prayed almost habitually before the altar of the Holy Cross or before the image of the Crucifix.

[5] She also had such great devotion to the name of Jesus that she almost always had it on her lips. Nor did anything seem pleasant to her And to the sacred name of Jesus, and to the Eucharist: unless the name of Jesus sounded there. She revered the Body of Christ in the Sacrament of the altar with the utmost devotion, and at the hour of its elevation in the Mass she wept most copiously, and frequently from the hour of the elevation until after the sacred communion she remained, out of devotion, so abstracted from the senses of the body that she seemed almost dead.

[6] When she was to receive holy communion, She prepares herself for communion with singular care: she fasted the preceding day on bread and water and remained the entire night in prayers. She received the Sacrament itself with great devotion and an outpouring of tears; and she was sometimes so enraptured that she then seemed almost dead. She was seen several times elevated between heaven and earth by more than a cubit, Elevated from the earth: using none of the bodily senses. After she had received communion, she held a small cloth on one side before the faces of those approaching for communion, to this end: that she might see the Body of Christ again and again. Also on the day on which she had received communion, she stood continually in prayers until nightfall, and then she took very little food.

[7] She devoutly venerates the Blessed Virgin. She also venerated the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God, with particular affection, and wherever she saw her image, on bended knees she uttered the Angelic Salutation. On the vigils of the Nativity of Christ and of the four solemnities of the Blessed Virgin, when the solemnity of the following day was announced in the Chapter, she showed wonderful devotion, prostrating herself, and praying with tears, giving thanks to God; and on the aforesaid vigils she always fasted on bread and water. On each of the feasts of the Blessed Virgin, and during the Octaves, she offered to the Blessed Virgin one thousand Angelic Salutations, and at each one of them she made a single prostration.

CHAPTER II.

The vileness and harshness of her clothing. Scourges.

[8] She seeks out the vilest garments. She displayed humility and love of poverty especially in her clothing. The cloth with which she was dressed was rougher, coarser, and more worthless than the garments of the others. She wore garments torn and patched, nor would she wear a new garment unless patches had first been sewn onto it. She took old cloaks and made one out of two. When her parents sent her fine cloth, with the permission of the Prioress she gave it to the poorer Sisters or to the lay servants, and taking their more worthless garments, she clothed herself in them. She wore garments so long until they were torn to pieces, whence her garments, from excessive age, were almost always torn about the elbows and knees. The veil for her head she never wore of fine cloth but of coarse; and if a fine veil was given to her, she gave it to others who had a rough one And harsh ones; and took from them one that was rough and coarse.

[9] She never wore linens, neither on her head, nor on her body, nor in her bed. Throughout the whole of Lent she did not change her garments, and at other times very rarely. She does not allow them to be cleaned: Her garments were very rarely washed, and therefore, because of their age and long wearing, they contracted filth and had many worms; and on account of this, many avoided sitting near her, lest they should be infected by her worms. When the Sisters urged her to have her garments cleaned and purged of worms, she said to them: "Permit my body, for the love of Jesus Christ our Lord, to be lacerated by these worms. Do not trouble yourselves; I alone bear and feel it."

[10] She rarely used baths, very rarely ointments, and rarely the washing of her head. She avoids soft things: During Lent she never removed her shift from her fifth year of age onward, and then she never wore linens next to her skin, whether in health or in sickness. About her seventh year she began to wear a coarse hair shirt next to her skin, and from then on throughout her whole life during Advent and Lent, the fasts of the Ember days, the vigils of Christ and the Blessed Virgin, the Apostles, and the principal Saints; She wears a hair shirt, and at other times from Thursday until the Compline of the following Saturday.

[11] From her twelfth year, in which she made her express profession, her Confessor secretly provided and gave her a coarse, most rough hair shirt, An extremely rough one: made of horsehair and pig bristles, with many knots, fashioned in the manner of a net. The Virgin concealed her hair shirt as much as she could, and so that it might be seen by no one, she sewed sleeves of old cloth to the hair shirt from the elbow downward. She urged her secret companions to wear a hair shirt next to their skin. She employs other bodily mortifications. Besides this, she had under her hair shirt an iron circlet, by which her bare flesh was tightly constricted; and for a belt when lying down at night she had a belt of hedgehog skins, with their spines. She frequently had her bare arms bound with hemp ropes and constricted so tightly that the ropes entered the flesh and broke and lacerated it. She also had small iron nails with sharp points inside her shoes, so arranged that whenever she walked or stood, the points of the nails pricked the soles of her feet and lacerated them until they bled. Sharp nails in her shoes:

[12] She also scourged her body with many blows every night. She receives the discipline daily. After the discipline of lashes received in common with the others, when the rest had withdrawn, she had another discipline given to her with rods. Every night she beat her flesh with rods, or with thorny branches, or with small switches wrapped with skins and hedgehog spines. She had herself beaten by others until the blood flowed; and although they shuddered at this, nevertheless, not daring to refuse, they obeyed unwillingly, and wept as they struck her. She led them to secret places, so that she might be beaten secretly and not be seen by the others. Some were so exhausted from beating her that they could scarcely breathe. And although she received such blows every day, During the three days before Easter, at each Hour: especially on the holy day of the Last Supper and during the three days before Easter at each of the daytime and nighttime Hours, she used such beatings and scourges that blood poured from her body in great quantity. Her chamber is divinely illuminated.

[13] For on a certain night, when it was very dark, she led a certain Sister to a very secluded chamber, so that she might be beaten there secretly by her hands. When she had stripped herself and exposed her bare flesh, a copious light descended upon her from heaven and illuminated the whole room, and it lasted until, the beating having been completed, she put her garments back on; when they were put back on, the light vanished. And two Sisters who had seen this came running and commended themselves to her prayers.

[14] Also on a certain day, when she was still ten years old, She causes the sun to shine in darkness for others, finding some young girls playing in the infirmary and seeing little or nothing because of the darkness of the overcast weather, she said to them: "Do you wish me to make the sun appear for you?" When they desired this but thought it impossible, she marked a certain spot with her finger quite nearby and said to them: "I shall go to that spot and return to you, and before I return you will see the sun shining clearly." She went and prayed, and immediately the sun appeared and, shining clearly, illuminated the whole room. Also at a certain time, For herself at midnight. when around midnight she was in the ambulatory which is before the Sisters' dormitory and was thinking of heavenly things, the sun and moon appeared to her shining in the middle of the sky.

CHAPTER III.

Fasts. Menial tasks in the convent.

[15] She also wasted her flesh with continual abstinences and fasts. She wastes herself with fasts: Frequently when she sat at table with the others, for the greater part of the time during which the rest were eating, she veiled her face and prayed in silence. If a more delicate food or a better wine was prepared, she grew angry and refused to take it, wishing to use only the common food and drink. From the Exaltation of the Holy Cross until Easter she fasted at all times; and if the Prioress wished her to make use of dispensations, she wept so long that she overcame the Prioress with her tears, so that she would allow her to fast at her pleasure. Not only on the vigils of the Nativity of Christ and of the Blessed Virgin, but also of Pentecost, and of the Apostles, and of the vigils of any solemn Saints, and throughout the whole of Lent, and every Wednesday and Friday, she customarily fasted on bread and water; and on those days, by special permission, she ate in secret so as not to be seen by others. She always abstained from meat throughout the whole time of her life, unless she was held by a grave and evident infirmity.

[16] She concealed her infirmities as much as she could, lest on account of them she should be forced to lie in the infirmary She conceals her illnesses: and eat meat. Once she suffered a severe flow of blood for forty days, and she continued to eat with the others in the refectory, slept in the dormitory, and performed the duties of the monastery as if she were well — only a certain Sister knowing this in secret, whom she had forbidden to reveal it to others.

[17] From the fourth year of her age she always fasted on Good Friday; She spends Holy Week devoutly: and during the whole three days before Easter each year she did not enter her bed, nor sleep, nor eat or drink; but continually, either standing erect with her eyes raised to heaven or lying prostrate before the altar of the Holy Cross, except when the Divine Office was being sung, she prayed, read the Psalter, wept, and beat her body more harshly than usual until a copious flow of blood. Her body, because of abstinence, vigils, and other mortifications, was so emaciated and pallid that it aroused wonder in those who beheld it.

[18] She showed herself to the Sisters in all their tasks as the most humble of servants. She voluntarily and diligently performs humble ministries: She swept the church, the cloister, the dormitory, the refectory, and the other offices. She washed bowls and pots in the kitchen, scaled fish with her own hands, and from this the skin of her hands was frequently cracked in winter, and blood flowed. She often served in the refectory, and after she had placed the food before the Sisters, she ran secretly to the church and prayed until they had eaten, and then returning again she served.

[19] And she served not only the healthy but even more gladly and devoutly the sick. She was the first to know of their illnesses, She serves the sick with extraordinary charity; and immediately offered herself to serve them. She prepared food for the sick in the kitchen, lit the fire, carried meat for them on her own head-cloth or around her neck; she made the beds, swept the infirmary and under the beds, and carried away the filth of the sweepings with her own hands and on her own shoulders. She prepared baths, drew water from the well, and carried the water and firewood on her own shoulders. She carried the feeble to the church and back again, placed them upon the privy, put them in their beds, turned them, and turned them again. Once, while she was roasting meat on a spit for a certain sick woman, a certain Sister asked her to stop and said she herself would turn the spit in her place. To whom she replied: "It shall not be so, dearest Sister, because you would acquire for yourself the merit of humility, and I would be deprived of it."

[20] She shuddered at the filth of no sick person Even in the vilest matters, and those provoking horror and nausea, nor fled from their stench. She scraped and anointed with her own hands the scabby heads of girls, seething with pus and worms; and sometimes she scraped and anointed seven in a single day. She scraped and anointed a certain lay servant afflicted with scab, whose flesh was reddened and peeling as if leprous, and served her in other ways. If sick women vomited and a vessel for receiving it was not at hand, she received it in her hands or in her tunic and carried it outside. She also carried the excrement and urine of the sick to the privies. For a certain Sister, when the physicians had ordered a poultice made from the dung of an ox, and all abominated it and were unwilling to put their hand to it, she herself prepared it, applied it, and bound it. For a certain sick woman who desired bondellos, or the intestines of a pig, she had them prepared for her; and when they had been brought with the filth just as they had been extracted from the pig, she emptied out the filth, and that filth was scattered over her garments, and she did not care or change her tunic, but prepared the food for the sick woman and served it to her.

[21] A certain woman, bedridden for eighteen years, at last came from a flux of the stomach and vomiting to such weakness that she could not move herself; and she smelled so foul Which others therefore refused: that no one was willing to serve her. Margaret asked the Prioress that the woman be entrusted to her. She agreed, but imposed the condition that she should have a companion; but the companion could not bear the stench. Margaret asked her to withdraw, lest she be burdened; and she alone served the sick woman in all things, and often carried the basin with its filth to the water and washed it.

[22] She ran about through the places of the monastery to find someone she could serve; running on account of her services through rains, snows, She cleans the filth of the monastery. and mud, she had garments made foul. She frequently made broths for the sick whom she tended. Her garments reeked, and with such garments she went about by day and lay down by night. She frequently cleaned the privy of the monastery, and entered with those who were cleaning it, whether they wished or not, to help them; and sometimes she was plunged in that muck up to her knees, and coming out she was regarded by the others with abomination. And she did not care, but rejoiced at this.

CHAPTER IV.

Obedience. Kindness.

[23] She observed the regular observances more perfectly than all the others her whole life long. She obeys most promptly: She was always supremely ready to obey. And if the Prioress imposed any obedience upon the Sisters without distinction, she was always the first to carry it out, and she provoked all the others to prompt obedience by her example. She did not wish that she should be spared the penalties imposed upon her fellow Sisters. Whence once she asked the Provincial Prior She asks that penances be imposed on her for faults, as upon the rest: to impose upon her, as upon the others, the penalty due for breaking silence; and so it was done: for she sat on the ground with the others and ate bread and water.

[24] She was also most gentle, compassionate, and kind; she bore with those who injured her. Kind and gentle toward all. If any sister wronged her, she prostrated herself at her feet, asked her pardon, and promised amendment. She brought those who were in discord and disturbance back to peace. If any sister had not spoken to her for several days, she sought her out and, prostrating herself, asked pardon, fearing that the other might have something against her.

[25] She guards her virginity with the utmost zeal: She always preserved and especially loved the virginity of heart and body. Whence she refused the marriages of the Duke of Poland, the King of Bohemia, and finally of Charles, King of Sicily. And when she was told that the Pope would dispense from the solemn vow of continence which she had already professed, she replied that she would sooner cut off her nose and lips and pluck out her eyes than consent to marriage with anyone whatsoever. And in order to escape such assaults, she received the virginal blessing from the Archbishop of Esztergom. When it was said that the Tartars were coming into Hungary and would among other evils violate the virgins, Margaret said: "I know what I shall do: I shall cut off my lips, and when they see me thus disfigured, they will leave me untouched."

[26] Merciful toward the poor. She was very merciful and compassionate toward the wretched. When her parents sent her gold, or silver, or jewels, she did not first touch any of it with her hands, but through the hand of the Prioress she had it distributed to the poor of the monastery, to churches, and to priests, and to other needy persons. When fine cloth was sent to her for a garment, she gave it to the poorer Sisters and took their poor and worthless garments. If through the window of the Choir she saw a poor person, she ran to the Prioress She even gives her garments to a beggar: and asked her to give alms according to the quality of his need. Once also, seeing a naked poor man freezing in the fierce winter cold, she removed the better tunic she had, and with the permission of the Prioress gave it to the naked poor man. She sent garments and linens to the lay servants when they fell ill. The dishes placed before her at table and the gifts sent by her parents she frequently distributed among the sick, so that she very often rose from the table without having eaten.

[27] She encourages the Sisters to works of mercy: She urged the Sisters that, since they could not perform corporal alms, they should at least pray for the poor whom they saw. She therefore had compassion on all the needy and consoled the desolate. If any sister grieved on account of the death, illness, or misfortune of her friends, she grieved with her She comforts the afflicted. and strengthened her. When she saw the blind, the lame, the withered, and others who were deformed, she mourned and gave thanks to God, saying: "I give thanks to God, because He would have made me subject to such defects, if it had pleased Him."

CHAPTER V.

Devotion to prayer. Ecstasies.

[28] She prayed constantly, and from her seventh year of age, wherever she saw Sisters praying, she ran to them and prayed with them. At all times she rose for Matins, nor did she ever in her life miss Matins, She prays constantly day and night; Mass, or the canonical Hours, unless a grave illness hindered her. She was the first of all to reach the church. Long before the bell was rung for Matins, she prayed before her bed; and hearing the bell, she placed herself in bed, lest the Sisters rising should find her praying before her bed. Before she rose from bed, arming herself with the sign of the Cross, she took the Cross and kissed it and pressed it to her eyes, and carrying it with her she went before the altar of the Holy Cross or the image of the Crucifix, and there she prayed with tears until the Sisters entered the Choir. After Matins until dawn or nearly so she remained in prayers, and thus she kept vigil and prayed for almost the entire night. From dawn until the midday meal she devoted herself to Masses and prayers, keeping so strict a silence that she was unwilling to speak to anyone, not even to her parents, brother, or sister, or their messengers, unless she was compelled by the Prioress. Once, when her sister came to her, Nor is she easily distracted: a board fell upon the head of the praying woman; but neither because of the fall of the board nor because of the arrival of her sister did she leave her prayer. She sought out secret places for praying. Before she went to the midday meal she always first prayed before the image of the Crucifix in the Chapter House.

[29] After the midday meal she was continually either working with her hands She avoids idleness: or serving the sick or the healthy, or praying. She never grew weary of praying. After Compline she remained praying in the church until the door was closed, and she frequently asked the Sacristan to close the door later, so that she might pray longer. When the doors were closed, she prayed in the Chapter House before the image of the Crucifix. At night she devotes herself to prayer: After this, when all the doors were closed, she prayed before her bed until cockcrow, and then she roused a certain companion and led her to a secret place, in which she received the discipline from her hands. Before she gave herself to sleep, she walked silently through the dormitory, searching out whether any Sister was weeping, groaning, or in need of anything; if she was in need, she provided for her; and so she went to bed. Yet it could scarcely be known whether she entered her bed at all, but spreading a hide before the bed She scarcely goes to bed: and placing a stone under her head, she slept. She entered the bed, however, at the time when the others were about to rise, so that she would be thought to have lain in bed throughout the entire night.

[30] On the vigil of the Nativity of Christ she said the Our Father a thousand times, and on the vigil of Pentecost the Come, Holy Spirit a thousand times; She spends the more solemn feasts devoutly: and on the four vigils of the Blessed Virgin Mary the Hail Mary a thousand times, with as many prostrations. On the said vigils she also kept vigil and prayed throughout the entire night within the church. She weeps constantly while praying: During her prayers she always wept. Her cheeks were scorched by the flow of tears, and she consumed many handkerchiefs by wiping them. The veil of her head was sometimes so soaked with tears that it was as if it had been bathed in a spring. Because of her constant prostration, she had her garments torn under the elbows and knees. The skin of her knees was also broken, and at last calluses grew there, hardened almost like eggshell.

[31] During the entire fortnight before Easter she was occupied with the memory of the Lord's Passion, She carefully recalls the Passion of Christ: and she had the history of the Passion read to her in the vernacular and explained. She listened with groans and tears; and during those days she was always either standing erect or prostrate, never sitting. Sometimes on Palm Sunday, while the Passion was being read in the church, she was so struck in her heart that all believed she would die suddenly. On Good Friday, at the hour when the Cross was unveiled, she prostrated herself and uttered great laments, so that she could be heard outside.

[32] On the vigils of Martyrs she also had their passions read and explained to her, She desires martyrdom: and, desiring to imitate them, she said many times: "Would that I had been in that time when there were persecutions of the Martyrs, and that I had been martyred with them! Would that there were a time of some persecution, so that I could suffer martyrdom for Christ! For I would wish out of love for Him to be beheaded and burned, and, so that the pain might last longer, to be torn limb by limb and afflicted by every kind of torment." She praised especially the Virgins who had suffered martyrdom for Christ, and she wished, if it were possible, that she had been their companion in their martyrdoms. When the rumor ran that the Tartars were coming into Hungary, the Virgin said with a desire for martyrdom: "I shall pray that they not come, so that they not harm the Christian people; but as far as I am concerned, I would wish that they had already come, so that I might suffer martyrdom at their hands."

[33] And because her mind was borne to heaven by desire, her body also followed. Whence many times on Holy Good Friday She frequently undergoes ecstasies, and on the vigils and solemnities of All Saints and of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, her body was seen elevated between heaven and earth by more than a cubit; and she remained so for a long time, using none of her bodily senses, and she seemed almost dead.

[34] Once on the vigil of All Saints, while she was praying, she suddenly fell as if dead, Even prolonged ones: and remained as if dead so long that the Sister attending her said the entire Psalter slowly through; and then, supposing her dead, she made an uproar and cried out. But accomplishing nothing, she called others and announced that she was dead. They came and saw her in that state; at last she returned, and said to them that she had remained for such a short time. Once also while she was praying, having been called seven times she heard nothing; but at the eighth call, which she considered the first, she answered. Returning from prayer, she frequently appeared so beautiful in face She returns more beautiful from prayer: that the Sisters did not dare to look at her.

[35] Once during Advent, while she was praying at night, she was suddenly enraptured, and a ball and flame of fire appeared above her head. The Sister attending her called her many times, A flame appears above her as she prays: and when she did not answer, she ran to the Choir, where she found many Sisters praying. They came and saw and stood there for a long time; they made many signs, but she, rapt in the spirit, did not notice. At last, as if awakened, she returned. They told her therefore that fire had been above her head; but she brushed it away with her hand and asked them to tell no one what they had seen. After the flame disappeared, a most sweet odor remained in that place. Finally, she drew a burning pot She is not harmed by fire. and a white-hot iron tripod from the middle of the fire with her bare hand without injury to her hand.

CHAPTER VI.

Various miracles during her lifetime.

[36] By her prayers she calms the wind. Once, when she and another Sister were carrying leavened bread on a board to the oven, covered with a cloth, and the other Sister feared the strong wind, which had already transported the covering of the Chapter House roof into the orchard, and they stood in the courtyard, she prayed, and immediately the wind ceased.

[37] When a certain Friar would not agree to her prayers that he should stay She breaks a wagon and repairs it; and preach the next day, by her prayers his wagon was broken — no one touching it — and so he was compelled to stay. When the sermon was delivered, he asked the Virgin to restore his wagon. She prayed with tears, and immediately the wagon, no one touching it but many watching, was divinely repaired. And another likewise. A similar thing happened on another occasion to a certain Friar who, refusing to stay, had proceeded to the end of the village; by the Virgin's prayer his wagon was broken, and after his sermon was delivered, it was repaired.

[38] She produces rain. When yet another Friar was unwilling at her entreaty to stay and preach, and as he was departing the weather was very fair, the Virgin, as she had threatened him, prayed God to send a good rain so that he would be compelled to stay; and immediately there was such a rain that he could not go where he had come from, but was compelled to remain.

[39] She stirs up and turns back the flooding of the Danube. At a certain time, when the Danube in flood had been entering the Sisters' courtyard for three days, and the Provincial Prior did not believe Margaret when she reported this to him, she, blushing that she was thought a liar, prayed God to show that she had spoken the truth; and immediately the flooding Danube entered the cloister and the offices of the Sisters, and the Sisters fled to the upper story. The Provincial Prior placed himself upon the wall of the cloister, and the flooding lasted until Vespers. Then Margaret, having been asked by the Sisters, prayed that the water would recede; it immediately receded, and within the hour of Matins all the places were so dried out that no trace of water or mud remained there.

[40] A certain girl sent by her on Easter night to fetch her tunic, when the night was dark She saves a girl from death. and there was a great rain, fell into a deep well. She was sought for a long time and not found, until the holy Virgin prayed, and she appeared on the surface of the water; and with effort she was drawn up, having all the limbs of her body broken and shattered, lacking sense and motion, and she seemed dead. They reproached the Virgin, saying that she had been the cause of her death. But the blessed Virgin prayed with tears, and immediately the girl, alive and well, having no injury, rose, walked, prostrated herself at her feet and gave thanks, and afterward lived for many years.

[41] When the Sisters were once applying remedies to the bone of her shoulder blade, which had been dislocated, She heals a woman who murmured against her and was promptly punished, and a certain Sister murmured about this, immediately the bone of her own shoulder blade was similarly dislocated, until she came to the Virgin and confessed her fault, and asking pardon was immediately healed at her word.

[42] A certain Sister suffering from a severe pain in her finger asked her She heals another's finger: whether, if she had a gem effective against such pain, she would give it to her. She held and pressed her finger, and immediately the pain ceased. The Provincial Prior asked her to cure his companion, a Lay Brother, from a quartan fever Another suffering from quartan fever. which he had had from the feast of B. Dominic until the Purification of the Blessed Virgin. She prayed for him, and he was immediately and completely cured.

CHAPTER VII.

Prophecy. Death. Funeral rites.

[43] She was also renowned for the spirit of prophecy. She predicts her father's victory: For when King Bela her father had gone to war against the Duke of Austria, she told Queen Mary, her mother, that the King would kill the Duke and would have the victory — which indeed came to pass. To a certain novice who was thinking about the beauty of secular garments and ornaments and was therefore thinking of returning to the world, she told what she had been thinking, and thus confirmed her in the love of the Order.

[44] She brought back to the love of the Order a certain Sister who was repenting in her heart that she had left the world, She discerns and drives away the temptations of others: setting forth to her the entire course of her thoughts. She pacified another who was tempted by anger, telling her fully the thoughts she had had about this. She calmed another who was suffering a motion of anger and was unable to pacify herself, telling her the reason why she had fallen into such a passion and what she had thought while the passion lasted.

[45] She also foresaw and foretold her own death a full year beforehand; She foretells her own death: and at last, on the ninth day of January, while she was still well in body, she said in the presence of many that she would die on the tenth day, on the feast of S. Prisca; she asked the Sisters about the place of her burial, and foretold to them that from her body after death no stench would come forth.

[46] On the third day after she had foretold these things, She dies on 18 January. she was laid low by a fever, which was continuous until the day of S. Prisca; and meanwhile, always praying and thinking of God, having received the Ecclesiastical Sacraments with the utmost devotion, coming to her final hour she began that Psalm: "In Thee, O Lord, have I hoped." And when she had said: "Into Thy hands I commend my spirit," she sent her happy soul to heaven. Psalm 30. She died in the year of the Lord 1270, in the twenty-eighth year of her age; and she had led a holy life in the Order for twenty-four years or thereabouts.

[47] After the passing of B. Margaret, her face shone with exceeding beauty. Beneath her eyes was a golden color, More beautiful after death: and she had never seemed so beautiful while she was alive, insomuch that the Archbishop of Esztergom said to the Sisters that they ought not to weep for her as dead, because she was truly blessed and was with Christ in glory, A sweet odor from her body: and in her body the marks of the resurrection appeared. From her body also there proceeded a most sweet odor surpassing all spices, and it was perceptibly felt by all who came, and it lasted for many days. On the fourteenth day also, when an unworked stone was placed over her, and after three months when the marble tomb was placed upon it, the said odor breathed forth.

[48] Her death is revealed to someone absent. On the night of her passing, Brother Peter, a Lector of Lauria, sleeping after Matins, heard in his sleep a voice saying: "The Lamb is dead." In the morning he said this to the Brethren, and all interpreted it as referring to the passing of Margaret; and immediately he came to the monastery and found that she had departed that night.

[49] The same Brother suffered a severe toothache and a swelling in the face A certain man is relieved of toothache by invoking her, for four days and nights. At the beginning of the night he prayed to S. Margaret to free him, promising that he would kneel daily in her honor if he were freed; and in the morning he was entirely freed.

[50] Sister Catherine the Prioress, unable to come to the funeral of the Virgin Two women freed from headache. on account of a severe headache lasting six continuous days, prayed that she might be healed through her merits; she was immediately cured and attended the funeral. A certain woman suffering from a headache for about ten hours placed her head in the spot where the Virgin was accustomed to pray; she prayed there, and was immediately healed.

CHAPTER VIII.

Very many miracles after her death.

[51] The daughter of King Stephen had an acute fever for many days, A certain woman freed from fever by her merits, from which she was believed to be dying. They placed the scapular and veil of the Virgin upon her and gave her the water in which her hair had been washed to drink, praying; and she was immediately healed. A certain woman suffering for three days invoked S. Margaret; Another from another illness. she appeared to her in dreams, embracing her and signing her with the sign of the Cross. Awakening, she immediately perspired and was cured.

[52] A certain woman who was hiding herself so as not to give testimony concerning the life and miracles of the Virgin Another from fever, had an extremely acute fever for six days. Believing that this had come upon her because of that negligence, she repented and promised that if she were cured she would immediately give testimony; and on the very day she made her vow she was cured. Another. A certain Count who had suffered from an acute fever for five days, on a certain night drank the water in which her hair had been washed, and in the morning he arose entirely well.

[53] When King Ladislaus had suffered from a continuous acute fever for many days, King Ladislaus from fever, and was already deprived of sense and motion, and the physicians had said on a certain day that he would die that same day, they rubbed his head, face, and chest with the veil of S. Margaret, invoking her aid; and he was immediately well and strong.

[54] A certain Sister dying from a continuous fever, already deprived of the use of her senses and speech, Another from a lethal fever, after she had received the Sacrament of Extreme Unction, when the water in which the Virgin's hair had been washed was poured into her mouth and prayer was offered for her, she was cured on that same day and freely performed all the duties of her life.

[55] Likewise another, who saw Saints about to testify in favor of her canonization. A certain Sister laboring for eight days with an acute fever, of whose life the physicians despaired, sleeping on a certain morning saw on the eastern side three gates opened in heaven, through which three companies of Saints came forth with great brightness and came to her place; among them she recognized SS. Bartholomew, Demetrius, and Lawrence. When questioned by her as to why they had come, they said: "To tell the Archbishop of Esztergom that he should inquire into the sanctity and miracles of S. Margaret the Virgin, and we wish to bear testimony for her." Awakening, she told the Sisters of the vision. They replied that at that very hour the Archbishop had entered the monastery for that purpose. She immediately rose, healed, and went to the Archbishop, relating the vision to him.

[56] Many were also cured of quartan and other fevers through her merits. For on the day of S. Prisca, Another from quartan fever, when funeral rites were being prepared for her, Elizabeth, the daughter of King Ladislaus, who had had a quartan fever for nearly six months, prayed to the Virgin that she might be healed so as to be present at the funeral rites; she was immediately healed, and coming to the bier, she pulled the scapular, which was soiled, from the body and kept it for herself. Another woman suffering for three months now from a quartan, now from a tertian fever, Likewise another, drinking with prayer the water in which her hair had been washed, was healed. A woman who had suffered from a quartan fever for eleven months vowed in the hands of the Prioress Another: that if Margaret healed her she would give faithful testimony at the second inquiry concerning her sanctity and miracles, which she had previously not troubled to do; and she was immediately cured.

[57] Another from continuous fever. The daughter of King Stephen, tormented by fevers for fifteen days so that she believed herself to be dying, kissed the hair shirt, the veil, the scapular, and other garments of the Virgin, and prayed in her heart (since she could not with her mouth because of the weakness of her body), and immediately she perspired and was healed. A certain poor matron, from bread found near the tomb of the Virgin, gave some to certain sick persons to taste, Others from tertian and other diseases. and those who tasted were cured. Of that bread a certain boy suffering from a tertian fever tasted, and afterwards he suffered no more. A certain man who had had a tertian fever for three weeks ate of that bread and promised that if he were healed he would visit the tomb; and he was immediately healed.

[58] A certain man tormented by a demon for a year and more was led bound to the tomb, A demoniac cured by her invocation, and the demon went out of him; but bodily weakness remained. He went a second time by himself, and was most completely freed; and his father in a public sermon narrated the entire course of the event.

[59] A certain woman suffering from the falling sickness daily An epileptic, for three years — and from this so shattered in her whole body that she could not walk — was led to the tomb and was suddenly cured of both afflictions. Others. A boy of ten years old, suffering from the falling sickness and from this alienated in mind and powerless in body, was carried in the arms of his praying father to the tomb and was suddenly and completely cured.

[60] A girl of fifteen years, A blind woman, blind from birth, was led to the tomb three times. On the third occasion her father promised on her behalf that if she were given sight she would fast every Saturday until death. She immediately began to see, and coming home she always afterward saw most clearly. Another. A woman blind for ten years was most perfectly given her sight next to the tomb. A certain young man who had been blind for three years was perfectly given his sight. Another, vowing entrance into religious life. A certain woman blind for two years promised S. Margaret that if she were given sight she would vow chastity and live in the habit of the Sisters. Her mother prayed that if she was destined to become a Religious, her sight might be restored; if to remain in the world, that it not be restored. After she had stood by the tomb for seven days, she received her sight, and renouncing the world she fulfilled her vow.

[61] A certain man who was blind and suffering severe pains in his body A blind man, vowing service to the monastery, prayed God and the Blessed Virgin to show him a place where he could be healed, promising that he would serve that place forever. It was revealed to him that he should go to the tomb of S. Margaret. He went there, prayed, and was immediately given his sight and made well; and fulfilling his vow, he afterward served the monastery. A certain man suffering from dimness of the eyes for three months One with failing sight. and seeing almost nothing, promised that in honor of S. Margaret he would fast every Wednesday for a year; and he was immediately cured. Tunianus, a pagan, hearing of the miracles of the Virgin, An eye restored to a horse. promised that he would become a Christian if she restored the eye of his one-eyed horse. She immediately restored it, and he with his entire household received baptism.

[62] A certain noblewoman who was deaf and contracted in her feet and legs, after the holy Virgin appeared to her in dreams and gave her feet made of wax, was carried to the tomb with the waxen feet, and was immediately cured of both afflictions. A certain man who had been mute for two years Likewise a mute man and a paralytic. and struck with paralysis on the middle part of his body, namely the right side, unable to walk, recovered his speech at the tomb and was cured of the paralysis, except for the contraction of his hand and arm, from which he was later cured at the tomb of S. Ladislaus the King.

CHAPTER IX.

Other miracles.

[63] A person with eye pain healed. A certain woman whose face was swollen above the right eye, fearing she would lose the eye, placed garments and hair of the Virgin upon it, prayed, and was immediately cured. For a certain boy whose whole body was swollen, his parents promised One with a swollen body, that if he were cured they would lead him to the tomb; he was immediately cured, and came with his parents to the tomb.

[64] Sister Elizabeth, daughter of King Stephen, suffering from a malady of the throat One with a sore throat, so that she could neither eat nor sing, on the vigil of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin placed her throat upon the tomb of the Virgin after Compline; and at Matins, most completely freed, she sang devoutly. Similarly, Sister Catherine the Chantress, Likewise another, unable to perform the office of Chantress because of a malady of the throat, prayed to the Virgin on the Wednesday before Holy Thursday after Compline, and at Matins she sang freely.

[65] After the passing of the Virgin, a certain Sister, desiring to be assured of her sanctity, A feeble woman, asked her to show her some miracle. Immediately a woman whose whole body was shattered and powerless A paralytic. entered the church by crawling; touching the tomb, she was immediately healed. A certain paralytic whose whole body was shattered, having visited the tomb often, at last on a certain day, during Mass at the hour of the Offertory, putting his hand to his purse to take out a penny which he might offer, suddenly felt himself freed. A girl of eight years, contracted in hand and foot from her mother's womb, One maimed and lame. kissing the tomb and placing her contracted hand upon it, was immediately healed.

[66] A certain nobleman, paralytic for ten years A paralytic, and languishing with many illnesses for ten continuous months, had lost his strength, remaining immobile and so feeble that the friends whom he asked did not dare to carry him to the tomb of the Virgin, lest he die in their hands. Grieving at this and invoking the Virgin's aid, it seemed to him as he slept that he was praying beside the tomb and the Virgin was stroking his knees, at whose touch he was being healed. Awakening, he asked where he was and whether he had been carried somewhere; and feeling himself relieved, he asked to be carried to the tomb. When his friends delayed that day, at night the Virgin again appeared to him, again touching him and saying twice: "Rise, wretch, go to the tomb, and you will be healed." In the morning he was carried there, and as soon as he touched the tomb he was completely healed, and in a public sermon he narrated what had happened.

[67] A contracted man. Another man who had a contracted arm and a withered hand placed both upon the tomb and was immediately healed. A certain noblewoman who was contracted and powerless Another; a paralytic. remained there for three days and on the third day was healed. A man who had been paralytic for seven years was carried to visit the tomb as far as the gate of the city; there, considering that his strength would not suffice to proceed, he prayed to the Virgin to give him the strength to go; he was immediately healed and went there on his own feet. A contracted man. A man contracted in his knees was carried there and remained for three days; on the third day he was healed.

[68] A certain boy was contracted and feeble for seventeen weeks. Another. His mother sent his aunt and certain other women to the tomb to pray that he might be healed or might die. They went, prayed, and offered a candle the length of the boy. The mother's sister vowed that if he were healed she would say for him daily three times the Our Father and as many Hail Marys until the boy came to an age at which he could say them himself, and that if the Blessed Virgin were canonized she would always fast on her vigil and celebrate her feast day. Returning, they found him perfectly healed with his mother. A certain man who had a withered hand, in the presence of King Stephen One with a withered hand. and Philip, Archbishop of Esztergom, placed his hand upon the tomb and immediately stretched it out whole.

[69] A certain woman contracted in both knees and struck with paralysis in her legs, was carried to the tomb. Another contracted and paralytic. First, standing in the house of Paul from the hour of Mass until Vespers and praying, she was relieved. Carried to the tomb, embracing it and having one Mass celebrated, she vowed that if she were cured she would always fast thenceforth on Wednesdays; and she was immediately healed. Likewise another. For a certain boy of ten years, the contracted son of a Count, his friends invoked S. Margaret, and he was immediately cured and walked.

[70] A certain boy of sixteen years, contracted from his mother's womb and having a foot turned backward, Another, was carried to the tomb a second time and returned well. A certain man contracted for fourteen years, having his knees adhering to his belly and his legs folded back toward his buttocks, immobile and almost half dead, was carried to the tomb and stood there throughout the whole of Lent, yet was not cured. Again, after the feast of S. George, he was carried in during Mass. He handed money to a woman to offer to the priest for him. She told him to rise and carry it himself. He dragged himself to the tomb, and as soon as he touched the surrounding wooden structures he rose, and by walking freely showed himself to be freed.

[71] Many testified that she had aided them in all adversities and freed them from every danger. Many other miracles wrought by the invocation of Margaret. Many other miracles also the Bridegroom of Virgins, the Lord Jesus Christ, has wrought and continues to work in honor of His bride, to whom with the Father and the Holy Spirit be honor, power, might, and dominion through infinite ages of ages, Amen.

ANOTHER LIFE

from the Epitome of Hungarian Affairs by Peter Ranzanus.

Margaret of Hungary, Virgin of the Order of Preachers (B.)

BHL Number: 5333

From Peter Ranzanus.

CHAPTER I.

The novitiate of her religious life.

[1] That blessed Virgin of Christ, Margaret, was the daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary; whose name of sanctity is everywhere celebrated with great veneration among the Friars of the Order of Preachers. About whom it will not be irksome (for this place invites it) to relate certain things worthy of mention. During that war in which, as has just been said, Hungary was ravaged and devastated by the Tartars, the King's wife was with child; she herself was of a gentle character and, no less than her husband, was renowned for the many virtues that befit a Christian Queen. B. Margaret devoted to God before she was born. While, therefore, the Tartars raged everywhere with barbarous cruelty, both husband and wife promised God that they would dedicate the child about to be born to the Divine service, if it were granted by Heaven that the barbarous and God-hating nation should depart from Hungary while they remained unharmed. The prayers of the pious Princes were heard. For not long after, the barbarians left Hungary and returned whence they had come. After their departure, a baby girl was born to the Queen and was named Margaret; she was then reared in royal state in the palace.

[2] But when she completed her third year of age, she seemed to be of such a disposition that she ought rather to be devoted to the service of God than given over to secular delights. There is in the town called Veszprem At three she enters religious life: a monastery, famous for the reputation of its good and blessed inhabitants, in which at that time there was a multitude of virgin women serving God chastely and holily, under the rule, institutes, and habit of the Friars Preachers. This place was deemed especially suitable for the royal maiden to be initiated into the sacred service of Jesus Christ. Her parents, therefore, not forgetful of the promise made to God, led her there with an honorable retinue and devoted her to the religious order of B. Dominic.

[3] Having then received the habit of the Virgins at such a tender age, a certain woman from among their company was appointed for her, one who showed herself to all as an example of good works. B. Helen as her mistress. The Superior of the monastery, whom they call the Prioress, wished the girl to be educated by her, so that from her she might learn the spiritual canticles and everything else by which she might sing praise to God at the appointed hours and times, and so that she might be formed in character worthy of a Virgin dedicated to God. That woman's name was Helen, who led her entire life so holily that while she was alive she was renowned not only for many miracles, but also at her death and after death — so that even to this day she has not ceased to show signs of sanctity. Whence she is still called B. Helen by the people of Veszprem even today.

[4] Having, therefore, such a holy mistress, the holy girl strove to imitate the integrity of her life She imitates her, as far as her childish years could endure. She called her "Mother." Whatever was prescribed for her to do by that mistress — whether fasting, or keeping vigil through the night She obeys her diligently: and praying to God, or devoting herself to some lowly service, as is done in convents of Virgins — she strove to carry out without any delay, humbly and eagerly and obediently. Entering her fifth year, she did not shrink from a cilice belt offered to her by her instructor, but unhesitatingly girded her most tender loins with it against her bare flesh. She wears a cilice belt. The prudent Mistress did this, not because she lacked pity for the child's frail age and sex, but so that the holy girl might begin to accustom herself to using those things by which very many servants of God of both sexes are said to have subdued their flesh against pernicious concupiscences. She wished, therefore, that she would use that type of belt not on continuous days, but as often as it seemed to her that it should be used.

[5] As her age grew, she herself also advanced from virtue to virtue, so that not only did the Virgins of her community marvel at her holy works, To a new convent, founded by her father, but the fame of her sanctity also spread far and wide throughout all Hungary. Meanwhile, since her parents were affected by no small joy and gladness — seeing, that is, that they had offered a sacrifice of praise by rendering to the Most High what they had vowed, and that it had been most pleasing to Him — they resolved to build a house in which their daughter might dwell while she lived. On a certain island, therefore, which is about a thousand paces distant from the city of Buda, they erected a church in honor of B. Mary, Mother of God; and attached to it they established a convent, where, with several other Virgins dedicated to God, she might lead the celibate life she had begun.

[6] When the work was finished, therefore, they summoned to Hungary Humbert, a most learned Theologian and a man eminent in religion, who at that time was Master General of the Order of Preachers. She is transferred by B. Humbert. To him the King and Queen entrusted the monastery they had established, and they asked that their daughter be transferred by him from the Veszprem monastery to this convent built on the island I mentioned, and that selected Virgins, as many as seemed to be necessary and useful, be assigned to her from the whole number, with whom she might serve God and Blessed Mary in the religious Order of S. Dominic. And from the church built in honor of the Blessed Virgin, the King gave the place the name of the Island of S. Mary, which had previously been known by the old name of the Island of Hares; although today the common people call it the Island of B. Margaret. Over that monastery they placed Humbert as Superior, to guard so great and precious a deposit as a treasure diligently and faithfully, And is instructed by him in virtue, and to govern the royal and holy maiden and the other Virgins dedicated to Christ, so that they might constantly meditate — as far as human weakness would allow — not upon the goods of this mortal life, but upon those that are heavenly and prepared in the future for the Blessed. And they indeed strove to carry this out in a wonderful manner. And although they competed greatly among themselves in living well and holily, to see which of them might serve God more fervently, the prudent Superior finally found that B. Margaret excelled the rest in all things pertaining to purity, sanctity, and integrity of life.

CHAPTER II.

Religious virtues.

[7] In Hungary, that great man, at the request and encouragement of the King, remained until the holy girl reached her twelfth year of age, at which she would be fit to profess — by the decree of the holy Fathers of the Roman Church — in the customary manner the religious life in which we have shown above she was initiated from her tenderest years. There she began with all zeal to exercise herself in those things She strives for perfection, by which she might attain the summit of consummate virtue. She thought nothing, and said or did nothing, except what pertained to charity and Christian perfection. She was content with few words In silence, and therefore wonderfully loved praiseworthy silence. She was seen to smile occasionally, but never to break into laughter. She bore it very ill to be praised; In prayer. no one ever heard from her lips the slightest word of boasting. In prayer she was so fervent and constant that she spent not only the day but also the greater part of the night in keeping vigil and supplicating God. She prayed most of all before the image of our Lord Jesus Christ crucified, Even at night: and when her prayer was finished she kissed the places of the five wounds with copious tears. When she prayed at night, she was frequently heard by the Virgins who admired her holy life to draw many sighs from the depths of her breast and, as if placed outside herself, to break forth into utterances that sounded of divine things.

[8] She avoids idleness. She was content with the food and drink prepared for the other Virgins. After the refreshment of the body, she worked with her hands, so as not to lead an idle life. She labored especially at those things that pertained either to the adornment of altars or of the holy relics. She bore it very ill if she was ever obliged to interrupt either her begun works or her customary prayers on account of the arrival of parents or kinsmen, who sometimes came to the monastery for the purpose of seeing her. The fasts and all the other observances that had been set before her according to the rule and the institutes of the holy religious life she professed, she kept to perfection throughout her whole life, so that from the labor she sometimes contracted ill health. She pursues abstinence. On Good Friday she took no food or drink at all, and spoke to no one; but she spent that entire day meditating on the Passion of the Savior of the human race, and groaned with a great outpouring of tears. On the vigils of the solemnities of B. Mary the Virgin she ate only bread with a drink of water.

[9] She listened to preachers of the Word of God both eagerly and with wonderful attention. She devoted much time to reading the work of John Cassian She wonderfully venerates the Blessed Virgin: which is entitled the Conferences of the Fathers; she also read constantly the Lives of the Saints and those things that are handed down concerning the miracles of B. Mary the Virgin. She devoted herself from her earliest age to B. Mary herself with such wonderful and incredible veneration that whenever she either herself uttered or heard others utter her holy name, she bowed her head deeply with the greatest reverence. Nor did she call her by any other name in conversation than the Blessed Hope, or the Hope of the World, or the Mother of God. She never passed the image either of Mary or of the Savior except on bended knees. For eighteen years she abstained from bathing her body. She did, indeed, sometimes permit her feet to be washed, She abstains from baths: but for the rest of the flesh above them she always considered it alien to her modesty.

[10] She so distinguished herself by the virtue of humility that from her youth she rejoiced in always being occupied with the lowliest tasks. For the more she surpassed the others in nobility of birth She pursues lowly tasks: and sanctity of life, the more she strove to outdo them in works of humility. She set before herself to keep in memory this most salutary rule, which she had learned from a certain holy Father of her Order, for the preservation of her own integrity: to love God before all things and above all else; after Him, one's neighbor; She observes three salutary precepts: to despise oneself; to condemn and judge no one. These she kept so diligently and earnestly that by the practice of such virtues she attained the highest perfection of a good and Christian life. In the eyes of men her garments were indeed neither excessively vile and abject She mortifies herself with a hair shirt: nor excessively costly; but beneath them she usually wore a hair shirt which she herself had woven partly of woolen threads and partly of horsehair. She observed, however, for the six years before her death, this practice: that from the first day of Lent until Holy Saturday she never omitted a garment of hair shirt next to her flesh.

[11] She read very frequently the Lives of her ancestors — not indeed of each one, but of those whose life had been distinguished by Christian piety: such as the Life of B. Stephen, of his blessed son Emeric, of B. Ladislaus, of B. Elizabeth, the daughter of Andrew II, King of the Hungarians, She reads the deeds of the Saints: her grandfather, of all of whom we have made mention above in their proper places. B. Margaret therefore turned over in her heart the life and merits of these Saints, and she rejoiced and was greatly gladdened that she had had such countrymen whom she could imitate by living holily; and admiring the works of virtue by which each of them had been most pleasing to God, she exhorted and disposed herself to serve God piously and holily just as they had done, and she implored their aid in obtaining this from God.

[12] She serves the sick. She served her sick fellow Virgins with a devotion of mind and most attentive care. She did this so humbly that she performed the vilest services for them with her own hands — even though she herself was sometimes weaker than the weakest on account of her frequent fasts, constant vigils, and other works of virtue devised by her for subduing the flesh. She often said that in these exercises of piety she was striving to imitate S. Elizabeth, the sister of her father (of whom mention was made above). From that window of the Choir from which the sacred Virgins dedicated to God are accustomed to behold the Sacrament of the Eucharist, whenever she caught sight of poor beggars, She has compassion on the poor, the lame, the blind, and others suffering from various kinds of diseases, she groaned intensely and wept copiously. When the Sisters sometimes asked her what was the cause of her tears, she answered with these words: "I pity the needy whom I see, and I am affected with great grief that I cannot bring them aid; but I give and shall give, as long as I live, thanks to my Creator, that without any defect of any member of my body He has both made me and to this day by His kindness preserved me; whence it is that I am far more indebted to His charity toward me than these whom we behold." Whatever money and other things necessary for the use of life And helps them. were sent to her by her parents and kinsmen, she handed over to the Provincial Prior of her Order, to be distributed as alms to the poor of Christ, according to each person's need.

[13] When several of the Virgins of the monastery often urged her to treat herself more gently, abandoning her excessive rigor in subduing the flesh, lest she seem not so much to serve God as to deliver herself to death — since by living longer she would acquire far more merit with God — she was accustomed to answer with these words: "Those who hope to live longer in this valley of tears, She yearns for heavenly things; therefore she is tireless, let them reserve for themselves good works to be done in future days. I prefer to be of the number of those who do not know how long they are to remain in this mortal life. But we all ought to know this: that it is vain for us, enclosed within the walls of a monastery, to seek the rest of a dying body and to desire the delights of this world. For the cloisters of monasteries are the habitations of those who love, desire, and contemplate not these present goods, which are fleeting and unstable, but the eternal goods prepared for the Blessed." When these things were said by her, the listeners blushed and were incited by her example to serve God more fervently.

CHAPTER III.

Marriage refused.

[14] Whenever her father, brothers, and kinsmen came to visit her, She instructs her father and friends with pious admonitions: she was accustomed to exhort them especially to this: that they should administer the kingdom legitimately, not by tyranny; and should not allow it to be exposed to the will of soldiers, whose spirit most eagerly covets plunder. She also implored them, if her prayers had any weight with them, to take care above all to cultivate justice, the gift of which virtue is most pleasing to God. Nor did she pray less that no forgetfulness of the poor, the orphans, the widows, and all the needy should seize them. In consideration of her holy life, her parents assented to nearly all her requests without a frown.

[15] The malignant spirit, envying the holiness of this Virgin, suggested to George, King of the Bohemians, that he should go together with the King and Queen of Hungary to the Island of S. Mary, where we have shown above that the monastery was situated, She is sought in marriage by the King of Bohemia: in which their daughter had been devoted to the service of God. For he greatly desired to see the Virgin, about whose sanctity many wonderful things were being reported. But as soon as the Bohemian beheld her, he was seized with love for her on account of the extraordinary beauty with which the Virgin was distinguished. He therefore asked that she be joined to him in marriage, and said that he wished to have no dowry from her parents, but that he would give as a gift to the Virgin his kingdom and whatever he had, if only her parents should bring it about that he might obtain what he sought. Her father replied that what was asked could not easily be done, because from her tenderest years the Virgin had been devoted to the divine service, and was so confirmed in her holy purpose that he thought his daughter would rather die than acquiesce in any persuasions or counsels of her parents.

[16] But after many things had been said back and forth, in which... King Bela, considering how much good could come to him from that marriage, She most bravely resists her father urging marriage went to his daughter. Going also to her mother, he set the matter before her and gave the reason why she ought to agree with her father: that he would moreover make the effort to send to the Roman Pontiff, by whose power she could, for the sake of such a marriage, pass without any offense to God to the pleasures of the world and bear adopted children for God. To whom she said: "Father, cease, I beg you, to propose carnal marriages to me. She most bravely resists. For you, from the earliest years of my age, betrothed me to Jesus Christ; but now, forgetful of the promise made to God, you have so changed your mind that you urge me, having cast aside my heavenly Bridegroom and violated the purity of my mind and body, to marry a sinful man? I shall never forsake the religious life I have professed; the cleanness of body and mind which I have dedicated to the King of Kings I shall never stain. As she had done before. I hold in memory when you, while I was in my seventh year of age, attempted to destine me as a bride for the King of the Poles. I believe indeed that you remember what I then answered you. For I said that I wished, as long as I lived, to serve Him to whom you had devoted me as a bride from my earliest age. If I did not comply with your will, which was contrary to justice, shall I assent to you now, when I am older and therefore have become both wiser and especially more capable of divine grace? Cease therefore, Father, to turn me from the purpose of my religious life. For I prefer the heavenly kingdom and the delights of Christ, full of all sweetness, to the kingdom, wealth, and other things that the Bohemian promises. I would rather die, therefore, than obey your deadly counsels."

[17] Denying that in this matter he is her father and lord. When to the Virgin saying these things he had said that he was her parent and that therefore, by the divine precept, his daughter ought to obey him, she answered both her father and her mother, who was present, with these words: "Whenever you command me to do things that are pleasing to God, I shall obey you as my parents and lords. But if you command me to do something that is contrary to the divine command, I neither acknowledge you as my parents nor as my lords, nor that you ever have been or now are." And so they, recognizing the constancy of their daughter, desisted from their undertaking; and the Virgin of Christ spent the remaining time of her life in all holiness.

CHAPTER IV.

Death. Miracles.

[18] Some years later, falling into a grave bodily illness, She predicts the hour of her death: she summoned to her the Sisters who were eldest in age and foretold to them the day and hour at which she was to depart this life. Then, having received the Christian Sacraments in the customary manner, at the moment she had announced she died a pious death, in the twenty-eighth year of her age, on the fifteenth day before the Kalends of February, on which day the Roman Church is accustomed to celebrate the solemnity of B. Prisca, Virgin and Martyr, She dies piously, in the year from the birth of the Savior 1271. Her last words were these: "My Lord Jesus Christ, into Thy hands I commend my spirit." When she had departed from the body, a certain wonderful brightness shone forth from her face, which all the Virgins who were present clearly saw. With her face shining. And so she appeared to have been free from the pain of death, just as she had been free from that corruption of the flesh.

[19] Her death made known to someone absent. At the very moment she departed from life, her passing from the body was divinely shown to a certain woman pleasing to God, whose dwelling was about a hundred miles from the monastery. She revealed her vision to her husband, saying: "Know that this night B. Margaret, the daughter of our King, has died. For I saw her, clothed in a glorious robe, being transferred by Angels into heaven." He, wishing to know whether what his wife had reported to him was true, set out for the Island, and found that the Virgin of Christ had died at the time his wife had told him. He narrated the vision of his wife to the Brethren of the Order of Preachers who were then on the Island.

[20] Her blessed departure to the other life was also shown to a certain Religious woman who, dwelling on the same island near the monastery of S. Michael Made known to another, and doing penance for her sins, afflicted herself with fasts, prayers, and many other kinds of good works. And not a few days before the death of B. Margaret she saw in her sleep the holy Mother of God, attended by a great throng of Virgins, descending from heaven and entering the place where Margaret lay ill. She seemed to hold in her hands a crown gleaming with wonderful whiteness By a vision of the Mother of God crowning her. and wonderfully adorned with various gems and pearls. When she had entered, she placed that crown upon her head and, raising her up among the Virgins, crowned her with the great joy of all. Soon she was seen to depart from that place and, by certain steps, to ascend to heaven whence she had come, with the immense applause of the Virgins attending her. That woman, going to the monastery, made that vision known under oath. From which it was judged by all who heard the vision proclaimed that the blessed bride of Christ, Margaret, would die not long after, and would be placed among the blessed souls for her merits. She was renowned both while living and after her pious death, Miracles for up to 220 years. even to this day, for many and various miracles, by which it was manifestly demonstrated that she had lived innocently, devoutly, and holily.