Margaret of Città di Castello (1287 – 12 April 1320) was an

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and professed member of the

Third Order of Saint Dominic The Third Order of Saint Dominic ( la, Tertius Ordo Praedicatorum; abbreviated TOP), also referred to as the Lay Fraternities of Saint Dominic or Lay Dominicans since 1972, is a Roman Catholic third order affiliated with the Dominican Order. Lay ...

. Margaret had disabilities and became known for her deep faith and holiness. Her parents abandoned her in a local church due to her disabilities and the town's poor took her in and assumed care for her.

Nuns A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

later offered her a home at their

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglican ...

but soon came to detest her presence and cast her out, prompting the town's poor to once again take her in and care for her. But she met with Dominican friars and was accepted as a secular member in their third order; she started a school for children to teach them in the faith and often took care of children while their parents were out at work. Margaret's holiness was apparent to all in her life that people lobbied for her to be buried in the local church which was an honor reserved for few - this was a clear demonstration people believed in her holiness. Her beatification received approval from

Pope Paul V Pope Paul V ( la, Paulus V; it, Paolo V) (17 September 1550 – 28 January 1621), born Camillo Borghese, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 16 May 1605 to his death in January 1621. In 1611, he honored ...

on 19 October 1609.

Pope Francis Pope Francis ( la, Franciscus; it, Francesco; es, link=, Francisco; born Jorge Mario Bergoglio, 17 December 1936) is the head of the Catholic Church. He has been the bishop of Rome and sovereign of the Vatican City State since 13 March 2013. ...

later declared her a saint through equipollent canonization on 24 April 2021.

Life

Margaret della Metola was born in

Perugia Perugia (, , ; lat, Perusia) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber, and of the province of Perugia. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part o ...

in 1287 to the nobles Parisio and Emilia in the Metola Castle near

Mercatello sul Metauro Mercatello sul Metauro ( Romagnol: ''Mercatèl'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Pesaro e Urbino in the Italian region Marche, located about west of Ancona and about southwest of Pesaro. Economy is mostly based on agricultur ...

. Her father served at the

garrison A garrison (from the French ''garnison'', itself from the verb ''garnir'', "to equip") is any body of troops stationed in a particular location, originally to guard it. The term now often applies to certain facilities that constitute a mil ...

at the castle. Metola was born blind with a severe curvature of the spine and had difficulties in walking; she was also a

dwarf Dwarf or dwarves may refer to: Common uses *Dwarf (folklore), a being from Germanic mythology and folklore * Dwarf, a person or animal with dwarfism Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional entities * Dwarf (''Dungeons & Dragons''), a humanoid ...

. Though her parents were embarrassed and hid her from all, a kind maid found her and gave her the name Margaret (derived from the Greek word "margaron", meaning "pearl"). When she was almost publicly discovered at age six, her parents walled her for about a decade in a room attached to their residence's

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

, to ensure no one would see her, although she could attend

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different elementar ...

and receive the

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. Her parents’ chaplain instructed her in the faith. But soon there was an imminent threat of invasion at the castle, so Parisio ordered his wife to place a dark veil upon their daughter so the two could flee to his other castle at Mercatello. There she was again imprisoned in a vault-like cubicle containing nothing more than an old small bench. There were some who knew of Margaret and were furious at her treatment, though they never dared broach the subject with the sometimes temper-prone Parisio. Her mother soon suggested taking her to a church where miracles were said to occur. Emilia was timid asking her husband but was surprised to see that he showed a keen interest. In 1303 her parents took her one morning to a shrine in the

Franciscan The Franciscans are a group of related Mendicant orders, mendicant Christianity, Christian Catholic religious order, religious orders within the Catholic Church. Founded in 1209 by Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi, these orders include t ...

church in Castello - where miracles were said to have happened, in hope of a cure for Metola's birth defects. When no such miracle happened, her parents abandoned her there. But she never came to resent or be bitter over her parents' decision. Some women at the church noticed her there. The town's poor took her in as one of their own and she was passed to several poor families who helped prisoners and other poor people. Metola was soon granted safe haven in a local

. Their lax manner of life, though, soon conflicted with her intense faith and she was expelled from the convent since her fervor was a tacit reproach to the nuns who came to detest her presence. It was after this that she took up residence in the town where the townsfolk resumed caring for her. To thank them for their kindness, she opened a small school for the children of the town where she instructed them in the faith and the

psalms The Book of Psalms ( or ; he, תְּהִלִּים, , lit. "praises"), also known as the Psalms, or the Psalter, is the first book of the ("Writings"), the third section of the Tanakh, and a book of the Old Testament. The title is derived ...

, which she had learnt during her time with the nuns. Metola also looked after the town's children when their parents went to work. In 1303 she came to know the

friars A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders founded in the twelfth or thirteenth century; the term distinguishes the mendicants' itinerant apostolic character, exercised broadly under the jurisdiction of a superior general, from the ...

from the Dominicans who had become established in the town not long before. Margaret came under their spiritual guidance and was admitted to the local chapter of the

; she received the

religious habit A religious habit is a distinctive set of religious clothing worn by members of a religious order. Traditionally some plain garb recognizable as a religious habit has also been worn by those leading the religious eremitic and anchoritic life, ...

of the order. Metola died on 12 April 1320 and the crowds at her funeral demanded that she be buried inside the church against the resistance of the parish priest. But after a disabled girl was cured at the funeral he allowed for Metola's burial inside.

Sainthood

Her remains were transferred on 9 June 1558 because her coffin was rotten. Her clothes were also rotten but her remains were preserved. The local bishop ordered for a new casket to be made to house her remains, though he decided to inspect her remains for the beatification cause which had been started. Metola measured four feet long and her head was rather large in proportion to her thin figure. Her forehead was broad with a face tapering to the chin with a quite prominent nose. Her teeth were small and even and were serrated at the edges. Her hands and feet were small with her right leg an inch and a half shorter than the left (the cause for her limp). Her "

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" (or longstanding veneration) was recognized allowing

to confer equivalent

beatification Beatification (from Latin ''beatus'', "blessed" and ''facere'', "to make”) is a recognition accorded by the Catholic Church of a deceased person's entrance into Heaven and capacity to intercede on behalf of individuals who pray in their nam ...

for her on 19 October 1609.

Pope Clement X Pope Clement X ( la, Clemens X; it, Clemente X; 13 July 1590 – 22 July 1676), born Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 April 1670 to his death in July 1676. Elected pope at ag ...

extended the privilege of a Mass and Divine Office in her name to the entire Dominican order on 6 April 1675 rather than for the Perugian branch as Paul V had done at her beatification. In 1988 the Urbino archbishop, Ugo Donato Bianchi, named her as a patron for the blind.

declared her a saint through equipollent canonization on 24 April 2021.

Dedications

There are two Dominican parishes in the United States that have shrines to Saint Margaret of Castello: St. Louis Bertrand Church in Louisville, Kentucky, and St. Patrick Church in Columbus, Ohio."The cult of Saint Margaret of Citta di Castello in the United States", Ordo Praedicatorum
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References

External links

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Saints SQPN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret Of Castello 1287 births 1320 deaths 13th-century venerated Christians 14th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns 14th-century venerated Christians Blind people from Italy Blind royalty and nobility Canonizations by Pope Francis Dominican beatified people Dominican tertiaries Lay Dominicans Incorrupt saints Italian beatified people People from Città di Castello People with dwarfism Venerated Dominicans