Margaret of Cortona (1247 – 22 February 1297) was an Italian

penitent Penance is any act or a set of actions done out of repentance for sins committed, as well as an alternate name for the Catholic, Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox sacrament of Reconciliation or Confession. It also plays a part i ...

of the

Third Order of Saint Francis The Third Order of Saint Francis is a third order in the Franciscan tradition of Christianity, founded by the medieval Catholic Church in Italy, Italian Catholic friar Francis of Assisi. The preaching of Francis and his disciples caused many ma ...

. She was born in

Laviano Laviano is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Salerno in the Campania region of south-western Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in ...

, near

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 ...

, and died in

Cortona Cortona (, ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Arezzo, in Tuscany, Italy. It is the main cultural and artistic centre of the Val di Chiana after Arezzo. Toponymy Cortona is derived from Latin Cortōna, and from Etruscan 𐌂𐌖𐌓� ...

. She was

canonized Canonization is the declaration of a deceased person as an officially recognized saint, specifically, the official act of a Christianity, Christian communion declaring a person worthy of Cult (religious practice), public veneration and enterin ...

in 1728. She is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the falsely accused,

hobo A hobo is a migrant worker in the United States. Hoboes, tramps and bums are generally regarded as related, but distinct: a hobo travels and is willing to work; a tramp travels, but avoids work if possible; and a bum neither travels nor works. E ...

es,

homeless Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

insane Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

orphaned An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

mentally ill A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; con ...

s, single mothers, reformed

prostitute Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

s, stepchildren, and tramps.

Life

Margaret was born of farming parents, in Laviano, a little town in the diocese of Chiusi.Goodier S.J., Alban, "St.Margaret of Cortona - A Second Magdalene", ''Saints For Sinners'', Sheed & Ward, Inc.
/ref> At the age of seven, Margaret's mother died and her father remarried. Neither Margaret nor her stepmother liked each other.
/ref> As she grew older, Margaret became more willful and reckless, and her reputation in the town suffered. At the age of 17 she met a young man, according to some accounts, the son of Gugliemo di Pecora, lord of Valiano, and she ran away with him. Soon Margaret found herself installed in the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

, not as her master's

wife A wife (plural, : wives) is a female in a marital relationship. A woman who has separated from her partner continues to be a wife until the marriage is legally Dissolution (law), dissolved with a divorce judgement. On the death of her partner, ...

, for convention would never allow that, but as his

mistress Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to: Romance and relationships * Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a ...

, which was more easily condoned. For ten years, she lived with him near

Montepulciano Montepulciano () is a medieval and Renaissance hill town and ''comune'' in the Italian province of Siena in southern Tuscany. It sits high on a limestone ridge, east of Pienza, southeast of Siena, southeast of Florence, and north of Rome b ...

and bore him a son. When her lover failed to return home from a journey one day, Margaret became concerned. The unaccompanied return of his favorite hound alarmed Margaret, and the hound led her into the forest to his murdered body. That crime shocked Margaret into a life of prayer and penance.Foley OFM, Leonard, "St. Margaret of Cortona, ''Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons, and Feast'', revised by Pat Mccloskey OFM, Franciscan Media
Margaret returned to his family all the gifts he had given her and left his home. With her child, she returned to her father's house, but her stepmother would not have her. Margaret and her son then went to 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 ...

friars at

, where her son eventually became a

friar 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 ol ...

. She fasted, avoided meat, and subsisted on bread and vegetables. In 1277, after three years of probation, Margaret joined the

and chose to live in poverty. Following the example of

Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

, she begged for sustenance and

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

. She pursued a life of prayer and penance at Cortona, and there established a

hospital A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment with specialized health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically has an emerge ...

for the sick, homeless and impoverished. To secure nurses for the hospital, she instituted a congregation of Tertiary Sisters, known as "''le poverelle''" (Italian for "the little poor ones"). While in prayer, Margaret recounted hearing the words, "What is your wish, ''poverella?''" ("little poor one?"), and she replied, "I neither seek nor wish for anything but You, my Lord Jesus." She also established an order devoted to Our Lady of Mercy and the members bound themselves to support the hospital and to help the needy. On several occasions, Margaret participated in public affairs. Twice, claiming divine command, she challenged the

Bishop of Arezzo The Italian Catholic diocese of Arezzo-Cortona-Sansepolcro has existed since 1986. In that year the historic diocese of Arezzo was combined with the diocese of Cortona and the diocese of Sansepolcro, the enlarged diocese being suffragan of the ar ...

, Guglielmo Ubertini Pazzi, in whose diocese Cortona lay, because he lived and warred like a

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

. She moved to the ruined church of

Basil of Caesarea Basil of Caesarea, also called Saint Basil the Great ( grc, Ἅγιος Βασίλειος ὁ Μέγας, ''Hágios Basíleios ho Mégas''; cop, Ⲡⲓⲁⲅⲓⲟⲥ Ⲃⲁⲥⲓⲗⲓⲟⲥ; 330 – January 1 or 2, 379), was a bishop of Ca ...

, now Santa Margherita, and spent her remaining years there; she died on 22 February 1297.

Veneration

After her death, the Church of Santa Margherita in Cortona was rebuilt in her honor. Her body, found to be

incorrupt Incorruptibility is a Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox belief that divine intervention allows some human bodies (specifically saints and beati) to completely or partially avoid the normal process of decomposition after death as a sign of their ...

even after 400 years, is preserved in a silver casket inside the church. Margaret was canonized by

Pope Benedict XIII Pope Benedict XIII ( la, Benedictus XIII; it, Benedetto XIII; 2 February 1649 – 21 February 1730), born Pietro Francesco Orsini and later called Vincenzo Maria Orsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 29 May ...

on 16 May 1728. Margaret of Cortona is honored with a Lesser Feast on the

liturgical calendar The liturgical year, also called the church year, Christian year or kalendar, consists of the cycle of liturgical seasons in Christian churches that determines when feast days, including celebrations of saints, are to be observed, and which ...

of the

Episcopal Church in the United States of America The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop o ...

22 February Events Pre-1600 *1076 – Having received a letter during the Lenten synod of 14–20 February demanding that he abdicate, Pope Gregory VII excommunicates Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor. *1316 – The Battle of Picotin, between Ferdinand ...

In art

Paintings depicting Margaret have been completed by

Giovanni Lanfranco Giovanni Lanfranco (26 January 1582 – 30 November 1647) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Biography Giovanni Gaspare Lanfranco was born in Parma, the third son of Stefano and Cornelia Lanfranchi, and was placed as a page in the ho ...

(1622) and Gaspare Traversi (c. 1758). In 1938, the Italian composer

Licinio Refice Licinio Refice (Patrica, February 12, 1883 – Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-mos ...

wrote his second opera, ''Margherita da Cortona'' based on the life of the Margaret, with libretto by Emidio Mucci. A 1950 biographical film, ''

Margaret of Cortona Margaret of Cortona (1247 – 22 February 1297) was an Italian penitent of the Third Order of Saint Francis. She was born in Laviano, near Perugia, and died in Cortona. She was canonized in 1728. She is the patron saint of the falsely accused ...

'', by

Mario Bonnard Mario Bonnard (24 December 1889 – 22 March 1965) was an Italian actor and film director. Bonnard was born and died in Rome. He began his cinematic career as an actor becoming a popular romantic lead in numerous silent films made before World ...

featured

Maria Frau Maria Frau (born 6 August 1930) is a retired Italian film actress.Ringgold & Bodeen p.167 She made her debut in 1950 when she played the title role in ''Margaret of Cortona''. After appearing in eighteen films she retired from acting in 1957, fol ...

as Margaret.

References

External links

Sanctuary of Saint Margaret of Cortona
{{DEFAULTSORT:Margaret Of Cortona 1247 births 1297 deaths People from Castiglione del Lago Italian Roman Catholic saints 13th-century Christian saints Members of the Third Order of Saint Francis Franciscan saints Incorrupt saints Female saints of medieval Italy 13th-century Italian Roman Catholic religious sisters and nuns Anglican saints Canonizations by Pope Benedict XIII Venerated Catholics

Life

Veneration

In art

See also

References

External links