Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr ( grc-gre, Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in the
Western Rite Orthodoxy
Western Rite Orthodoxy, also called Western Orthodoxy or the Orthodox Western Rite, are congregations within the Eastern Orthodox tradition which perform their liturgy in Western forms.
Besides altered versions of the Tridentine Mass, congrega ...
Anglicanism
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of the ...
Epip
Epip ( cop, Ⲉⲡⲓⲡ), also known as Epiphi ( grc-gre, Ἐπιφί, ''Epiphí'') and Abib. ( ar, أبيب), is the eleventh month of the ancient Egyptian and Coptic calendars. It lasts between July 8 and August 6 of the Gregorian calendar. The ...
intercession
Intercession or intercessory prayer is the act of praying to a deity on behalf of others, or asking a saint in heaven to pray on behalf of oneself or for others.
The Apostle Paul's exhortation to Timothy specified that intercession prayers sh ...
s; these no doubt helped the spread of her following.
Margaret is one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, and is one of the saints Joan of Arc claimed to have spoken with.
Hagiography
According to a 9th-century martyrology of Rabanus Maurus, she suffered at Antioch in Pisidia (in what is now Turkey) in around 304, during the
Diocletianic persecution
The Diocletianic or Great Persecution was the last and most severe persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. In 303, the emperors Diocletian, Maximian, Galerius, and Constantius issued a series of edicts rescinding Christians' legal rights ...
. She was the daughter of a pagan priest named Aedesius. Her mother having died soon after her birth, Margaret was nursed by a Christian woman five or six leagues (6.9–8.3 miles) from Antioch.
Having embraced Christianity and consecrated her
virginity
Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...
to God, Margaret was disowned by her father, adopted by her nurse, and lived in the country keeping sheep with her foster mother. Olybrius, Governor of the Roman
Diocese of the East
The Diocese of the East ( la, Dioecesis Orientis; el, ) was a diocese of the later Roman Empire, incorporating the provinces of the western Middle East, between the Mediterranean Sea and Mesopotamia. During late Antiquity, it was one of the majo ...
, asked to marry her, but with the demand that she
renounce {{Short pages monitor
According to the '' Encyclopædia Britannica'', Margaret's story is "generally regarded to be fictitious". The ''
Catholic Encyclopedia
The ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'' (also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedia'') i ...
'' states that "even the century to which she belonged is uncertain".
Doubts about her story are not new: already in the Middle Ages,
hagiographer
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an adulatory and idealized biography of a founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religions. Early Christian hagiographies might ...
Jacobus de Voragine (author of the well-known '' Golden Legend'') considered her martyrology to be too fantastic and remarked that the part where she is eaten by the dragon was to be considered a legend.
Veneration
The Greek Marina came from
Antioch in Pisidia
Antioch in Pisidia – alternatively Antiochia in Pisidia or Pisidian Antioch ( el, Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Πισιδίας) and in Roman Empire, Latin: ''Antiochia Caesareia'' or ''Antiochia Colonia Caesarea'' – was a city in ...
(as opposed to
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ� ...
of Syria), but this distinction was lost in the West. From the east her veneration spread towards England, France, and Germany, in the eleventh century, during the Crusades.
In 1222, the
Council of Oxford
The Council of Oxford is a historical council where Henry II of England grants Cork and Limerick to English barons, provides for the administration of Leinster and makes his son, John, Lord of Ireland. It was established in the 1170s and lasted u ...
added her to the list of feast days, and so her cult acquired great popularity. Many versions of the story were told in 13th-century England, in Anglo-Norman (including one ascribed to Nicholas Bozon), English, and Latin, and more than 250 churches are dedicated to her in England, most famously,
St. Margaret's, Westminster
The Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey, is in the grounds of Westminster Abbey on Parliament Square, London, England. It is dedicated to Margaret of Antioch, and forms part of a single World Heritage Site with the Palace of Westminster ...
Bridgeport, Connecticut
Bridgeport is the most populous city and a major port in the U.S. state of Connecticut. With a population of 148,654 in 2020, it is also the fifth-most populous in New England. Located in eastern Fairfield County at the mouth of the Pequonn ...
in the United States.
Feast day
She was recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church, being listed as such in the Roman Martyrology for 20 July.
She was also included from the 12th to the 20th century among the saints to be commemorated wherever the Roman Rite was celebrated, but was then removed from the general calendar along with a number of other European saints through the apostolic letter '' Mysterii Paschalis''.
The Eastern Orthodox Church knows Margaret as Saint Marina, and celebrates her
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context does ...
commemoration
Commemoration may refer to:
*Commemoration (Anglicanism), a religious observance in Churches of the Anglican Communion
*Commemoration (liturgy), insertion in one liturgy of portions of another
*Memorialization
*"Commemoration", a song by the 3rd a ...
on
20 July
Events Pre-1600
* 70 – Siege of Jerusalem: Titus, son of emperor Vespasian, storms the Fortress of Antonia north of the Temple Mount. The Roman army is drawn into street fights with the Zealots.
* 792 – Kardam of Bulgaria defeat ...
.
Every year on Epip 23 the
Coptic Orthodox church
The Coptic Orthodox Church ( cop, Ϯⲉⲕ̀ⲕⲗⲏⲥⲓⲁ ⲛ̀ⲣⲉⲙⲛ̀ⲭⲏⲙⲓ ⲛ̀ⲟⲣⲑⲟⲇⲟⲝⲟⲥ, translit=Ti.eklyseya en.remenkimi en.orthodoxos, lit=the Egyptian Orthodox Church; ar, الكنيسة القبطي� ...
celebrates her martyrdom day, and on Hathor 23 the Coptic church celebrates the dedication of a church to her name.
Saint Mary church in Cairo holds a relic believed to be Margaret's right hand, previously moved from the Angel Michael Church (modernly known as Haret Al Gawayna) following its destruction in the 13th century AD.
In 2022, Margaret was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day she shares with
Catherine of Alexandria
Catherine of Alexandria (also spelled Katherine); grc-gre, ἡ Ἁγία Αἰκατερίνη ἡ Μεγαλομάρτυς ; ar, سانت كاترين; la, Catharina Alexandrina). is, according to tradition, a Christian saint and virgin, wh ...
Saint Pelagia
Pelagia ( grc-gre, Πελαγία), distinguished as Pelagia of Antioch, Pelagia the Penitent, and Pelagia the Harlot, was a Christian saint and hermit in the 4th or 5th century. Her feast day was celebrated on 8 October, originally in common wi ...
, both of whom are sometimes conflated or confused with Margaret
References
Citations
Sources
*
Acta Sanctorum
''Acta Sanctorum'' (''Acts of the Saints'') is an encyclopedic text in 68 folio volumes of documents examining the lives of Christian saints, in essence a critical hagiography, which is organised according to each saint's feast day. The project w ...
, July, v. 24–45
* ''Bibliotheca hagiographica''. La/ma (Brussels, 1899), n. 5303–53r3
* Frances Arnold-Forster, ''Studies in Church Dedications'' (London, 1899), i. 131–133 and iii. 19.