Sainte Marguerite de Hongrie
Princesse hongroise, moniale
dominicaine (✝ 1270)
Fille du roi Béla
IV de Hongrie et d'une princesse byzantine, elle entra d'abord au monastère de
Veszprem puis chez les Dominicaines près de Budapest. Elle y prit le voile à
l'âge de 19 ans et se distingua bientôt par l'intensité de sa vie spirituelle.
Elle vivait le plus pauvrement possible et donnait aux pauvres tout l'argent
que lui donnait son frère, le roi Étienne V. A l'intérieur du monastère, elle
cherchait les tâches les plus rudes et les plus humbles. Éprise d'ascèse, elle
affligeait son corps de toutes les façons, non par fidélité à la règle
dominicaine qui n'en demandait pas tant, mais de sa propre initiative. Pour
mieux s'associer à la Passion du Christ, elle se flagellait souvent, portait à
même la peau des cordes qui lui provoquaient des plaies. En retour, elle fut
couronnée de dons mystiques assez étonnants.
Elle a été canonisée par Pie XII le 19 novembre 1943.
Elle a été canonisée par Pie XII le 19 novembre 1943.
Près de Bude en Hongrie, l’an 1270, sainte Marguerite, vierge, fille du roi Béla IV, elle fut vouée à Dieu par ses parents pour la libération de la patrie du pouvoir des Tartares et donnée enfant aux moniales de l’Ordre des Prêcheurs. Elle fit profession à douze ans et se livra si complètement au Seigneur qu’elle s’appliqua sans hésitation à ressembler au Christ crucifié.
Martyrologe romain
Sainte Marguerite de Hongrie
Allocution de Sa Sainteté Pie XII
À l'occasion de la canonisation de sainte Marguerite (19 novembre 1943), le Pape avait préparé une allocution qu'il ne put prononcer en raison des événements. Elle fut publiée, à la demande de Hongrois exilés, avant l'Assomption 1944 et la fête de saint Étienne, premier roi de la nation magyare.
Comment Notre cœur n'exulterait-il pas, ému d'une joie intime, et très vive, à vous voir aujourd'hui rassemblés autour de Nous, chers Fils et Filles de la noble nation de Hongrie, dont la présence ravive en notre âme et représente les plus doux et chers souvenirs ? Souvenirs ineffaçables de ces grandes assises eucharistiques, au cours desquelles il Nous fut donné de représenter comme Légat Notre prédécesseur Pie XI, de glorieuse mémoire. Nous revoyons l'élan fervent de piété et de foi qui montait impétueusement de vos âmes et des immenses cortèges de votre peuple rassemblé de toutes les parties du royaume.
Nous rappelant et comme pour y faire écho, le vœu exprimé par la nation hongroise, dans ces journées inoubliables, - journées qui semblent être d'hier malgré le gouffre tragique qui nous en sépare. Nous manifestions alors le souhait que la bienheureuse Marguerite, rejeton de souche royale, compagne souriante et sœur de la sainte pauvreté, violette d'humilité oublieuse d'elle-même, âme eucharistique privilégiée et d'une profonde limpidité, lampe ardente devant le saint Tabernacle, dont la douce flamme scintille vivement encore aujourd'hui, même après le long cours de sept siècles, pût bientôt s'élever pour prendre rang dans la splendeur de la gloire des saints, comme une brillante étoile dans le ciel de la Hongrie. Quand elle pénètre dans les secrets conseils de Dieu, qui régit son Église, toute pensée est aveugle ; comment aurions-Nous pu alors supposer que la divine Providence se servirait de Notre ministère pour répondre à votre désir et accomplir ce vœu d'enchâsser cette nouvelle gemme dans le diadème déjà si brillant et si riche du Royaume de Marie ?
C'est une admirable histoire que celle de votre patrie ; histoire dans laquelle s'entrelacent luttes et épreuves qui illustrent sa sainte mission au service de Dieu, de l'Église et de la chrétienté ; histoire où alternent des renouveaux et des recommencements héroïques ; histoire dans les fastes de laquelle brillent ces phares lumineux que sont les saints de la dynastie des Arpad, parmi lesquels Étienne resplendit, figure géante de souverain, de législateur, de pacificateur, de promoteur de la foi et de l'Église, véritable homo apostolicus, dont la sainte main droite est au milieu de vous, symbole vénéré des grands gestes qu'il a accomplis et sauvegarde assurée de protection dans les dangers extrêmes.
Forment une couronne autour d'Étienne son fils, saint Émeric, lis virginal épanoui aux pieds de la Vierge Immaculée ; sainte Élisabeth d'Écosse, sa nièce, dont l'angélique vertu versa dans le cœur de son époux et de sa nouvelle patrie la douce pureté de l'Évangile ; saint Ladislas, idéal du chevalier du moyen âge, intrépide et bon, non moins aimé qu'admiré de ses sujets ; les deux neveux de Bela III, la bienheureuse Agnès de Prague, que sainte Claire appelait “ sa moitié ”, et Élisabeth de Thuringe, la “ chère et douce sainte ” ; enfin, ses arrière-neveux, les trois sœurs, la bienheureuse Cunégonde ou Kinga de Pologne, la bienheureuse Yolande de Pologne Kalisch, et cette Marguerite que nous contemplons aujourd'hui dans la plénitude de son triomphe. La génération suivante voit resplendir l'autre Élisabeth, rose de grâce et ange de paix du Portugal. Quelle nombreuse phalange et quelle variété d'âmes généreuses et saintes !
Ne semble-t-il pas que Dieu, dans cette famille où la sainteté est apparue si resplendissante et multiple, répandue dans un même sang, comme autant de rayons d'un même arc-en-ciel, ait voulu faire briller, pour les révéler à nos yeux, les innombrables degrés de la sainteté dont l'unique soleil est la sainteté du Christ ?
Sainteté du chef dans la constitution politique et sociale de la patrie chrétienne ; sainteté du guerrier sans faiblesse et sans haine, sainteté de l'épouse, de la mère, de la veuve ; sainteté dans la vie familiale et dans la vie du cloître ; sainteté fleurie dans les massifs du sol natal et portant ses fruits dans de lointains jardins pour le salut, la pacification et la prospérité d'autres nations.
L'originalité d'une grande sainte
De toutes ces figures héroïques de saints et de saintes, celle de Marguerite, la plus cachée et mise à part du monde, est peut-être la plus surprenante ; à certains elle ne serait pas loin d'apparaître comme la plus déconcertante. Dans les autres saints et saintes, il n'est pas difficile de découvrir des modèles qui s'appliquent à toutes les conditions de la vie : Marguerite, par contre, de premier abord, semblerait inimitable par qui que ce soit.
Marguerite a une singularité de vie et de piété, qui se rencontre rarement en d'autres saints. Mais tout saint est original, écrivait déjà dans la Pratica di amar Gesu Cristo le grand évêque et docteur saint Alphonse de Liguori, qui connaissait les multiples voies de la sainteté, par lesquelles le Saint-Esprit guide les âmes par ses ineffables inspirations vers le but suprême, en dehors de la vie commune, même si c'est celle du cloître, en dehors des mœurs et des pratiques civiles du monde, en les menant dans la solitude de l'esprit pour parler à leur cœur le langage de la mortification et de la pauvreté, si humiliant qu'il paraît étranger à toute vertu. Dans cette solitude, sous l'influence de la grâce, les singularités, qui stupéfient et étonnent celui qui les note, allant presque jusqu'à s'en offenser et les mépriser, ne sortent pas de l'influence de la charité du Christ dont elles s'inspirent et vers laquelle elles tendent, car c'est dans la charité du Christ, qui anime les saints et tout ce qu'ils font pour la victoire sur eux-mêmes, que consiste la véritable sainteté. La mortification, la piété et la dévotion des saints ont mille habiletés et manières que le monde ne peut comprendre et qui souvent, même dans la vie proprement dévote et mortifiée, ne suit pas la voie commune des vertus.
Le mépris des grandeurs humaines et des commodités de la vie matérielle de Marguerite, fille de roi, n'est-il pas une grande leçon pour les âmes moins élevées que la sienne ? Et qui oserait affirmer que le monde n'avait pas alors besoin, qu'il n'a pas, même aujourd'hui, besoin d'une telle leçon qui le fasse rougir et avoir honte du culte immodéré de la chair, du désir ardent des plaisirs, de l'immodestie du vêtement, de la recherche de la considération et des louanges ?
Il est vrai que, même dans la condition la plus humble, c'est un devoir de prendre un soin convenable de sa propre vie, de sa santé, de la dignité de son corps, et d'un certain décorum qui évite toute répugnance, et que tout cela depuis sa première enfance, par un esprit extraordinaire, cette vierge de sang royal, l'a fait passer après son ardeur de mortification et d'humilité. Marguerite, partant, est plutôt une leçon que Dieu nous offre à méditer qu'un exemple à suivre et imiter.
Il est hors de doute que la sainte n'aurait pu se livrer à de tels excès de mortification et de pénitence sans outrepasser les limites communes de la prudence et de la tempérance ; ses supérieurs eux-mêmes n'auraient pu ni oser de leur propre gré vouloir approuver ou conseiller une pareille méthode si différente de l'ordinaire, de se sacrifier pour Dieu dans la piété et la dévotion ; mais devant l'impulsion de la charité divine, qui veut porter un grand coup à la délicatesse mondaine, la prudence et la sagesse communes ne doivent-elles pas s'incliner ?
La sainte Église de Dieu, répéterons-nous avec l'auteur de la “ Vie de saint Charles Borromée ”, ornée d'une admirable variété de vertus, en ce siècle très relâché, avait peut-être besoin d'un tel exemple de sobriété et de mortification corporelle, et beaucoup d'entre nous nous avions besoin de ce stimulant contre tant de mollesse qui rend incapable de contempler les choses célestes. (Cf. Benoît XIV)
Son humilité et sa charité
Mais plus que ses extraordinaires pénitences et macérations, l'humilité et la charité de Marguerite dans l'accomplissement des observances quotidiennes semble avoir été ce qui a remué le plus profondément l'âme des témoins de sa vie.
Depuis sa plus tendre enfance elle n'aspirait à rien tant que de se conformer exactement aux pratiques et aux coutumes des religieuses du monastère en ce qui lui était permis, évitant toute dispense, et aimant les humiliations ; mais elle savait mettre tant de grâce en suppliant la supérieure et les autres religieuses, qu'on lui accorda beaucoup de choses. Or qui ne voit que cette constance jusqu'à la mort et cette fidélité à la règle démontrent le sérieux et la sainteté de son désir d'adolescente ? Toujours la première à se rendre aux obédiences et aux offices que lui assignait la prieure, sans vouloir jouir de privilèges d'exemption, elle était, quand venait son tour de semaine, la plus prompte et la plus assidue aux travaux matériels, humbles et grossiers, au service de la cuisine, à la propreté de la maison, au lavage de la vaisselle, qu'on la voyait faire avec ses mains souvent gercées et saignantes dans les rigueurs de l'hiver. Son intention n'était pas seulement de satisfaire par ce travail son avidité de mortification, mais elle cherchait à faire en sorte que personne ne pût se souvenir de sa naissance illustre, même en ce monastère fondé par son père. C'est pourquoi elle souffrait, parfois jusqu'à en pleurer, si d'autres paraissaient de quelque manière insinuer qu'elle était fille de roi. Pensant au Fils de Dieu qui naquit pauvre et voulut s'appeler Fils de l'homme, Marguerite aurait désirée être née pauvre fille du peuple et comme telle être naturellement traitée parmi ses très nobles consœurs. Une telle humilité, elle l'avait apprise de Jésus-Christ humble de cœur, comme elle avait appris de lui cette douceur qui dans son abaissement ne se séparait jamais de la gentillesse, de la bonté et de la charité qu'elle prodiguait autour d'elle. Aussi s'il lui arrivait de recevoir de ses parents quelque don, aimant comme elle le faisait le détachement et la pauvreté, elle le portait aussitôt à la prieure ou à la provinciale pour l'usage de la communauté ou pour le soulagement des pauvres honteux, tandis que les joyaux et les riches étoffes allaient orner les églises dans le besoin. Elle paraissait avoir hérité un si vif amour pour les pauvres de sa sainte tante Élisabeth ; leur vue l'incitait toujours à une tendre compassion et à courir vers la prieure pour lui demander quelque habit ou ne fut-ce qu'un peu d'aide pour subvenir à leurs besoins ; puis à ses consœurs qui ne possédaient rien elle demandait l'aumône de leurs prières. Généreuse à l'égard des malheureux en dehors du monastère, sa charité triomphait et excellait entre les murs du cloître, car c'est dans l'ordre de la charité même et d'une vertu solide et sans illusions de prodiguer ses soins charitables d'abord et avant tout au sein de la communauté. Oh ! comme elle se montrait sensible à l'égard de ses consœurs ! S'il survenait quelque contrariété ou dissentiment entre deux religieuses, vous l'eussiez vue soucieuse de conseiller la paix ; si quelqu'une laissait voir un visage moins souriant que d'ordinaire, elle s'empressait de lui demander pardon, craignant de l'avoir offensée peut-être inconsciemment ; les malheurs des autres la faisaient souffrir jusqu'aux larmes, comme s'il se fût agi des siens propres. Quant aux malades, les soins et l'assistance qu'elle leur prodiguait étaient presque maternels et ne connaissaient pas de bornes ; les infirmités qui provoquaient naturellement le plus de dégoût, loin de l'amoindrir, accroissaient son empressement et sa vigilante attention ; comprenant toutefois la répugnance des autres Sœurs, avec bonne grâce et délicatesse elle savait les éloigner pour assurer elle seule tous les services et tous les soins nécessaires ; à cet effet, Dieu lui donnait des forces qu'on pourrait estimer miraculeuses, qui, de toute façon, paraissent bien supérieures à celles de son sexe, spécialement quand on considère l'état d'épuisement physique qu'auraient dû lui causer ses macérations continuelles. L'insupportable odeur fétide ne l'empêcha jamais de porter les malades au bain, de les reconduire et de les remettre comme il faut dans leur lit, d'accomplir pour elles tous les services non seulement d'une infirmière assidue, mais de la plus humble servante. S'il arrivait jamais qu'elle entendît, de jour ou de nuit, quelqu'une se plaindre ou gémir, aussitôt elle accourait près d'elle, lui demandait tendrement ce qu'elle désirait, et sans retard, même pieds nus, descendait à la cuisine préparer et porter ce qui pouvait procurer un peu de soulagement ou de plaisir à celles qui en avaient besoin.
Mais si sa charité s'étendait si généreusement au prochain et embrassait ses consœurs, elle s'élevait comme une flamme d'amour intense et fervent vers le ciel et vers Jésus, centre de toutes ses aspirations. Aux différentes propositions de très nobles noces que lui fit son père, elle opposa toujours le refus le plus énergique, décidée comme elle l'était d'être irrévocablement toute à Dieu. Ces veilles et ces prières qu'elle obtenait, par ses supplications émouvantes au nom de Jésus, de prolonger devant le saint tabernacle, et dans le secret de son cœur ces larmes et ce long jeûne de trois jours qu'elle passait à se remémorer et à méditer la Passion du Rédempteur, ce vif désir tant de fois exprimé de participer aux souffrances des martyrs pour donner à Dieu le témoignage le plus fort et le plus sincère de son amour, voilà la vraie source de toutes les vertus que nous admirons en elle, vertus non moins délicatement humaines que hautement surnaturelles.
Et voilà encore la secrète origine de ces austérités extraordinaires qui, bien qu'elles arrivent à surprendre notre âme et à déconcerter presque, au premier abord, notre pensée, provenaient pourtant de la pierre de touche qui est l'inspiration divine, ineffable en son conseil ; c'est dans cette harmonie de la grâce, dont la volonté humaine ne pourrait jamais concevoir le mystère, que se cachent les effets admirables de la sainteté et que l'âme s'élève en des ascensions toujours plus hautes et plus divines. Toutefois nous nous étonnons devant les grandes macérations de Marguerite ; mais confessons que même aux yeux de Dieu qui a tout créé et soutient tout depuis les vers de la terre jusqu'au soleil et au concert des astres du firmament, rien n'est vil quand cela devient un moyen de sanctification de l'âme et d'élévation à ce monde de l'esprit, qui surpasse toute la nature et nous unit à Dieu dans le chemin qui mène à la vie de l'immortalité bienheureuse.
Le Seigneur ne tarda pas à appeler la très religieuse fille du roi de Hongrie à la récompense éternelle en l'enlevant du milieu des tempêtes qui avaient troublé ce royaume et ajouté à ses peines corporelles celles de voir la discorde et la guerre entre son père et son fils aîné pour la désignation du successeur au trône ; conflit dont les effets se ressentirent aussi dans le monastère où elle vivait et en interrompirent la paix intime.
Sa paisible fin prématurée
En effet, ses forces et sa vigueur allaient déclinant ; elle sentait en elle, avec ses vingt-huit ans, que s'approchait le crépuscule de sa vie. En 1269, étant à l'infirmerie, près du cadavre de Sœur Beata, en présence de deux autres religieuses, Marguerite avait dit : Je serai la première qui mourra après elle. C'était la voix de l'appel de Dieu qui, devant sa consœur défunte, parlait à Marguerite par le moyen du dépérissement extrême de son corps, dépérissement qui pourtant n'affaiblissait pas en elle cette ferveur spirituelle dont elle avait été animée jusqu'alors.
Le jour de l'Épiphanie de l'année suivante, elle fut prise d'une fièvre si forte que, dans la vision de sa mort prochaine, elle exprima le désir d'être ensevelie au pied de l'autel de la Sainte-Croix, tellement elle était avide de se conformer à Jésus-Christ jusqu'à la mort, ou bien dans cet endroit de l'église où elle faisait ses longues oraisons particulières ; ajoutant, comme pour pousser à satisfaire sa demande : Ne craignez pas de mauvaise odeur ; de mon corps ne sortira pas de mauvaise odeur. Elle languissait sur sa pauvre couche, absorbée dans l'amour de Dieu, comme une rose dont la corolle se fane aux chauds rayons du soleil. La mort ne la troublait pas. Comment eût-elle pu la craindre, elle qui tant de fois l'avait défiée par ses longs jeûnes et par ses veilles extraordinaires, non moins que par ses cilices et ses disciplines, désormais inutiles pour elle puisqu'elle allait mourir et dont elle remit à la prieure la clé de la cassette où ils étaient enfermés ? Mourir, pour elle, c'était se dissoudre pour être avec le Christ son Époux ; c'est pourquoi, pour mieux se purifier, elle se confessa deux fois au prieur provincial des Dominicains, demanda et reçut le Saint Viatique et l'Extrême-Onction avec les sentiments de la piété et de la dévotion les plus vives, toute proche comme elle l'était du grand voyage vers le ciel, en secouant tout reste de l'humaine poussière ramassée ici-bas.
Elle expira le 18 janvier, dans cette paix et cette sérénité, qui rendent précieuse la mort des saints devant le Seigneur. Monte bien haut, ô vierge royale, toi qui, depuis ton enfance, aspiras vers la cour du ciel. Que le saint patriarche Dominique descende à ta rencontre avec une phalange d'anges et t'accompagne jusqu'au trône du Roi de gloire, pour y recevoir la couronne de lis et de roses, avec laquelle tu suivras, au milieu du chœur des vierges, les triomphes de la Reine du ciel.
Cependant, ici-bas, Dieu faisait réapparaître la beauté des traits sur le visage de Marguerite. Ce phénomène ne fut pas, tout d'abord, remarqué par les Sœurs ; elles s'en aperçurent trois jours après, quand l'évêque d'Esztergom, admirant la splendeur du visage de la défunte, leur dit qu'elles ne devaient pas pleurer sa mort, mais plutôt s'en réjouir, parce qu'elle semblait déjà manifester le commencement de sa résurrection.
Tous ceux qui s'approchèrent du corps inanimé ne sentirent aucune odeur désagréable, mais beaucoup perçurent un suave parfum, comme celui de roses, et c'est ce même parfum que sentirent sortir de son tombeau ceux qui, quelques mois plus tard, vinrent pour le recouvrir d'une pierre de marbre.
Ce parfum de roses, qu'aucune main dévote ne déposa sur le corps et sur la tombe de Marguerite, n'était pas autre chose que le parfum de sa sainteté ; parfum de sainteté qui, après près de sept siècles, arrive à nous, depuis le grand siècle médiéval qui vit la fondation de votre Ordre insigne, chers fils et filles du glorieux patriarche Dominique, et fut fameux par vos saints et vos grands recteurs et maîtres, et devait vous donner plus tard l'héroïque vierge Catherine de Sienne. Sans être enlevée à sa noble patrie, la Hongrie, Marguerite est donc vôtre et de votre Institut religieux, dont les aspirations apostoliques embrassèrent les pays de l'Europe tout entière, sous la poussée d'un zèle ardent, et même la terre que baignent le Danube et le Temesz.
Elle est vôtre, parce qu'elle appartient à votre Ordre, au sein duquel s'écoula toute sa vie, depuis son enfance jusqu'à sa bienheureuse mort ; elle est vôtre par sa dévotion tendrement filiale envers Marie ; vôtre par sa profession religieuse, pour laquelle elle manifestait, même dans les circonstances les plus délicates, un inébranlable attachement ; vôtre d'une manière toute particulière par son esprit, cette vierge qui, de la retraite de son couvent, fut, au cours de sa courte existence, une prédication continuelle. Et quelle prédication plus éloquente, plus opportune, et plus nécessaire, à faire entendre au monde frivole, avide de plaisirs, orgueilleux, hostile à toute mortification, que l'exemple de cette vie d'humilité et de pauvreté, d'abnégation et de charité ? Puisse-t-elle, du haut du ciel, dans sa gloire immortelle, ne cesser de présenter à Dieu sa prière ardente et puissante, de manière à attirer les grâces les plus précieuses sur sa patrie bien-aimée, sur son saint Ordre qui est aussi le vôtre, sur le monde entier, qui a plus que jamais besoin de lever son regard au-dessus de ce qui passe et trouble sa concorde et sa paix, pour trouver et obtenir de Dieu le remède à ses maux.
Avec ce vœu, nous vous donnons à tous avec effusion de cœur Notre paternelle Bénédiction apostolique.
Sainte Marguerite de Hongrie
Nom: MARGUERITE DE HONGRIE
Prénom: Marguerite
Nom de religion: Marguerite
Pays: Hongrie
Naissance: 1242
Mort: 18.01.1270 au Monastère
Etat: Vierge - Dominicaine
Note: Fille du roi Béla IV de Hongrie,
religieuse dominicaine en 1261, célèbre par son amour de la pauvreté et par sa
vie mystique. - Culte déjà développé dès
le XVe siècle. Canonisation: équipollente par Pie XII.
Béatification:
Canonisation: 19.11.1943 à Rome par Pie XII
Fête: 18 janvier
Réf. dans l’Osservatore Romano:
Réf. dans la Documentation Catholique: 1957 col.1093-1100
Notice
Marguerite de
Hongrie naît vers 1242 dans la famille royale hongroise des Arpads, tandis que
sévissait en Europe l'invasion des Tartares. Pour en obtenir la libération dans
leur pays, son père, le roi Béla IV, et sa mère la consacrent à Dieu dès sa
naissance. Elle est élevée au monastère des dominicaines de Veszprim sur une
île du Danube, appelée maintenant île Sainte Marguerite, près de Budapest.
D'une piété très précoce, elle fait ses vœux solennels dès l'âge de douze ans
et doit refuser énergiquement une demande de mariage. Elle mène une vie de
moniale très mortifiée et très humble tout en étant favorisée de charismes. La
guerre éclatant à la suite d'une dissension dans sa famille au sujet de la
succession au trône, elle redouble ses pénitences et n'hésite pas à adresser de
vifs reproches aux grands et à son père lui-même qui se met à la persécuter;
mais après quatre années de conflit, la paix est conclue dans l'île de son
propre monastère. Elle doit encore refuser une troisième demande de mariage,
celle-ci présentée par son père pour des raisons politiques. Enfin le 18
janvier 1270, elle remet son âme entre les mains de son Epoux céleste, à peine
âgée de trente ans. Pie XII, en 1943, a confirmé son culte ininterrompu par une
canonisation équipollente.
La Bienheureuse Marguerite
de Hongrie, vierge.
La naissance de Marguerite fut des
plus illustres, puisqu’elle avait pour père Béla IV, roi de Hongrie.
Ses parents qui l’avaient consacrée au Seigneur par un vœu dès avant sa
naissance, l’envoyèrent, à l’âge de 3 ans ½, dans le Couvent des Dominicaines
de Vesprin. Le roi, ayant ensuite fondé un Monastère du même Ordre dans une île
du Danube, Marguerite y fut transférée ; elle y fit Profession 2 ans
après, c’est-à-dire à l’âge de 12 ans.
La ferveur suppléa en elle le
nombre des années et lui mérita ces communications intimes de L’Esprit-Saint,
qui ne sont que pour les âmes parfaites.
Elle faisait ses délices de l’abjection la plus entière. On l’eut sensiblement
mortifiée en l’entretenant de sa naissance ; elle eut mieux aimé devoir le
jour à des pauvres qu’à des rois. Il est étonnant de voir jusqu’à quel point
elle portait l’amour de la Pénitence.
Elle couchait sur le plancher de sa
chambre, qu’elle ne couvrait que d’une peau fort rude, et elle n’avait qu’une
pierre pour chevet.
Quand elle voyait punir une de ses Sœurs pour quelque transgression de la
Règle, elle portait une sainte envie au bonheur qu’elles avaient de pouvoir
pratiquer la mortification.
Si Dieu l’affligeait de maladie,
elle cachait son état avec le plus grand soin, pour ne pas être obligée d’user
des adoucissements permis aux malades.
Sa douceur était admirable ; et pour peu qu’une de ses Sœurs parût avoir
contre elle le moindre sujet de mécontentement, elle allait se jeter à ses
pieds pour lui demander Pardon.
Marguerite eut dès son enfance, une dévotion pour Jésus crucifié. Elle portait
continuellement sur elle une petite Croix faite du bois de celle du Sauveur, et
l’appliquait souvent sur sa bouche, la nuit comme le jour.
On remarquait qu’à l’église, elle priait par préférence devant l’autel de la
Croix. On lui entendait prononcer très fréquemment le Nom Sacré de Jésus, de la
manière la plus affectueuse.
Les larmes abondantes qui coulaient
de ses yeux pendant la Célébration des Divins Mystères, et à l’approche de la
sainte Communion, annonçaient assez ce qui se passait dans son cœur. La veille
du jour qu’elle devait s’unir à Jésus-Christ par la réception de sa Chair
Adorable, elle ne prenait pour toute nourriture que du pain et de l’eau ;
elle passait aussi la nuit en Prières.
Le jour de la Communion, elle
priait à jeun jusqu’au soir, et elle ne mangeait qu’autant il était absolument
nécessaire pour soutenir le corps.
Son Amour pour Jésus-Christ la portait encore à honorer spécialement celle de
qui, il a voulu naître dans le temps.
De là cette joie qui éclatait sur
son visage quand on annonçait les Fêtes de la Mère de Dieu. Elle les Célébrait
avec une piété et une ferveur dont il y a peu d’exemples.
Une âme aussi sainte que celle de Marguerite ne pouvait avoir d’attachements
aux choses terrestres.
Morte au monde et à elle-même, elle ne soupirait qu’après le moment qui la
réunirait à son Divin Époux.
Ses désirs furent enfin
accomplis ; elle tomba malade et mourût à l’âge de 28 ans, le 18 Janvier
1271.
Son corps est dans la ville de Presbourg.
Feast day: January 19th
Profile
Margaret, the daughter of King Bela IV, champion of Christendom, and Queen Mary
Lascaris of Hungary, was offered to God before her birth, in petition that the
country would be delivered from the terrible scourge of the Tartars. The prayer
having been answered, the king and queen made good their promise by placing the
rich and beautiful three-year-old in the Dominican convent at Vesprim. Here, in
company with other children of nobility, she was trained in the arts thought
fitting for royalty.
Margaret
was not content with simply living in the house of God; she demanded the
religious habit--and received it--at the age of four. Furthermore, she took
upon herself the austerities practiced by the other sisters--fasting,
hairshirts, the discipline (scourge), and night vigils. She soon learned the
Divine Office by heart and chanted it happily to herself as she went about her
play. She chose the least attractive duties of the nuns for herself. She would
starve herself to keep her spirit humble. No one but Margaret seemed to take
seriously the idea that she would one day make profession and remain as a
sister, for it would be of great advantage to her father if she were to make a
wise marriage.
This
question arose seriously when Margaret was 12. She responded in surprise. She
said that she had been dedicated to God, even before her birth, and that she
intended to remain faithful to that promise. Some years later her father built
for her a convent on the island in the Danube between Buda and Pest. To settle
the matter of her vocation, here she pronounced her vows to the master general
of the order, Blessed Humbert of the Romans, in 1255, and took the veil in
1261.
Again,
when Margaret was 18, her father made an attempt to sway her from her purpose,
because King Ottokar of Bohemia, hearing of her beauty, had come seeking her
hand. He even obtained a dispensation from the pope and approached Margaret
with the permission. Margaret replied as she had previously, "I esteem
infinitely more the King of Heaven and the inconceivable happiness of
possessing Jesus Christ than the crown offered me by the King of Bohemia."
Having established that she was not interested in any throne but a heavenly
one, she proceeded with great joy to live an even more fervent religious life
than she had before.
Margaret's royal parentage was, of course, a matter of discussion in the
convent. But the princess managed to turn such conversation away from herself
to the holy lives of the saints who were related to her by blood--King Saint
Stephen, Saint Hedwig, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, and several others. She did
not glory in her wealth or parentage, but strove to imitate the saints in their
holiness. She took her turn in the kitchen and laundry, seeking by choice much
heavy work that her rank might have excused her from doing. She was especially
welcome in the infirmary, which proves that she was not a sad-faced saint, and
she made it her special duty to care for those who were too disagreeable for
anyone else to tend.
Margaret's austerities seem excessive to us of a weaker age. The mysteries of
the Passion were very real to her and gave reason for her long fasts, severe
scourgings, and other mortifications detailed in the depositions of witnesses
taken seven years after her death (of which records are still in existence).
Throughout Lent she scarcely ate or slept. She not only imitated the poverty-
striken in their manual labor and hunger, but also in their lack of
cleanliness--a form of penance at that time. Some of her acts of
self-immolation have been described as "horrifying" and verging on
fanaticism, and there seems to have been an element of willfulness in her
mortifications.
She had
a tender devotion to Our Lady, and on the eve of her feasts, Margaret said a
thousand Hail Mary's. Unable to make the long pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to
Rome, or to any of the other famous shrines of Christendom, the saint developed
a plan by which she could go in spirit: she counted up the miles that lay
between herself and the desired shrine, and then said an Ave Maria for every
mile there and back. On Good Friday she was so overcome at the thoughts of Our
Lord's Passion that she wept all day. She was frequently in ecstasy, and very
embarrassed if anyone found her so and remarked on her holiness.
A number of miracles were performed during Margaret's lifetime and many more
after her death because Margaret had an implicit faith in the power and
efficacy of prayer. The princess nun was only 28 when she died. Most of the
particulars of her life are recorded in existing depositions of witnesses taken
in 1277. Her friends and acquaintances petitioned for her to be acclaimed a
saint almost immediately after her death. Among them was her own servant,
Agnes, who rightly observed that this daughter of a monarch showed far more
humility than any of the monastery's maids. Although their testimony expressed
Margaret's overpowering desire to allow nothing to stand between her and God,
the process of canonization was not complete until 1943. The island where her
convent stood, called first the "Blessed Virgin's Isle," was called
"Isle of Margaret" after the saint (Attwater, Attwater2,
Benedictines, Bentley, Coulson, Dorcy, Farmer).
Born: 1242
Died: January 18, 1271 at Budapest, Hungary;
remains given to the Poor Clares at Pozsony when the Dominican Order was
dissolved; most relics were destroyed in 1789, but portions still preserved at
Gran, Gyor, Pannonhalma
Beatified: July 28, 1789
Canonized: 1943 by Pope Pius XII
Representation: In art Saint Margaret is a
crowned Dominican nun with the stigmata. Sometimes she is shown (1) as a
crowned Dominican with a processional cross; (2) as a crowned Dominican with a
nun at her feet; or (3) with the stigmata, cross, lily, and book; the crown at
her feet. She can be distinguished from the Dominican Saint Catherine of Siena
by her crown, which is never absent. Saint Catherine may have three crowns, but
never just one. Venerated in Budapest (Roeder).
Prayers/Commemorations
First Vespers:
Ant. Blessed Margaret emulating the purity of the angels, dedicated
herself as the bride of Him who is the spouse of perpetual virginity and the
Son of the perpetual Virgin.
V. Pray for us, Blessed Margaret.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ
Lauds:
Ant. O Most holy spouse of Christ, adorn with the diadem of virgins,
honored with the grace of healing, endowed with the heavenly gift of reading
hearts, consumed with the fire of divine love!
V. Virgins shall be lead to the King after her.
R. Her companions shall be presented to thee.
Second Vespers:
Ant. O Blessed Margaret, who here on earth didst give to all the
afflicted the solace of charity, help us from heaven in our miseries and obtain
for us life with the saints in heaven.
V. Pray for us, Blessed Margaret.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Prayer:
Let us pray: O God, the lover and
guardian of chastity, by whose gifts Thy handmaid Margaret united the beauty of
virginity and the merit of good works, grant we pray, that through the spirit
of salutary penance we may be able to recover integrity of soul. Through Christ
our Lord. Amen.
St. Margaret of Hungary
Daughter of
King Bela I of Hungary and his wife Marie Laskaris, born 1242; died 18 Jan., 1271. According to
avow which her parents made when Hungary was liberated from the Tatars that their next child should bededicated to religion, Margaret, in 1245 entered the Dominican Convent of Veszprém. Invested with the habit at the age of four, she was
transferred in her tenth year to the Convent of the Blessed Virgin founded by herparents on the Hasen Insel near Buda, the Margareten Insel near Budapest today, and where the
ruins of theconvent are still to be seen. Here Margaret passed all her life, which was consecrated to contemplation andpenance, and was venerated as a saint during her lifetime. She strenuously
opposed the plans of her father, who for political reasons wished to marry her to King Ottokar II of Bohemia. Margaret appears to have taken solemnvows when she was eighteen. All narratives call special attention to Margaret's sanctity and her spirit of earthlyrenunciation. Her whole life
was one unbroken chain of devotional exercises and penance. She chastised herself
unceasingly from childhood, wore hair garments, and an iron girdle round her
waist, as well as shoes spiked with nails; she was frequently scourged, and
performed the most menial work in the convent.
Shortly
after her death, steps were taken for her canonization, and in 1271-1276
investigations referring to this were taken up; in 1275-1276 the process was
introduced, but not completed. Not till 1640 was the process again taken up,
and again it was not concluded. Attempts which were made in 1770 by Count
Ignatz Batthyanyi were also fruitless; so that the canonization never took place, although Margaret was venerated as a saint shortly after her death; and Pius VI consented on 28 July,
1789, to her veneration as a saint. Pius VII raised her feast day to a festum duplex. The minutes of the proceedings of 1271-1272 record
seventy-four miracles; and among those giving
testimony were twenty-seven in whose favour the miracles had been wrought. These cases refer to the cure of illnesses, and one
case of awakening from death. Margaret's remains were given to the Poor Clares when the Dominican Order was dissolved; they were first kept in Pozsony and later in Buda. After the order had
been suppressed by Joseph II, in 1782, the relics were destroyed in 1789; but some portions are still preserved inGran, Györ, Pannonhalma. The feast day of the saint is 18 January. In art she is depicted with a lily and holding a book in
her hand.
Sources
NEMETHY-FRAKNOI, Arpadhazi b. Margit tortenetehez (Budapest, 1885), being contributions on the history of Blessed Margaret of the House of Arpaden; DEMKO, Arpadhazi b. Margit elete (Budapest, 1895), a life of the saint. Further bibliographical particulars in Arpad and the Arpaden, edited by CSANKI (Budapest, 1908), 387-388; minutes of the proceedings of 1271-72, published in Monumenta Romana Episcopotus Vesprimiensis, I (Budapest, 1896).
Aldásy, Antal. "Bl. Margaret of Hungary." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910.26
Apr. 2015 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09654a.htm>.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, Censor. Imprimatur. +John
M. Farley, Archbishop of New York.
ST MARGARET OF HUNGARY,
VIRGIN (A.D. 1270)
VIRGIN (A.D. 1270)
Very great interest attaches to the life of St Margaret of Hungary, because by rare good fortune we possess in her case a complete copy of the depositions of the witnesses who gave evidence in the process of beatification begun less than seven years after her death. No doubt the fact that she was the daughter of Bela IV, King of Hungary, a champion of Christendom at a time when central Europe was menaced with utter destruction by the inroads of the Tatars, has emphasized the details of her extraordinary life of self-crucifixion. The Dominican Order, too, which was much befriended by Bela and his consort Queen Mary Lascaris, was necessarily interested in the cause of one of its earliest and most eminent daughters. But no one can read the astounding record of Margaret's asceticism and charity as recounted by some fifty witnesses who were her everyday companions without realizing that even if she had been the child of a beggar, such courage as hers --one is almost tempted to call it the fanaticism of her warfare against the world and the flesh -- could not but have a spiritualizing influence upon all who came in contact with her. Bela IV has been styled "the last man of genius whom the Arpads produced", but there were qualities in his daughter which, if determination counts for anything in human affairs, showed that the stock was not yet effete.
Margaret had been born at an hour when the fortunes of Hungary were at a low ebb, and we are told that her parents had promised to dedicate the babe entirely to God if victory should wait upon their arms. The boon was in substance granted, and the child at age of three was committed to the charge of the community of Dominican nuns at Veszprem. Somewhat later, Bela and his queen built a convent for their daughter on an island in the Danube near Buda, and there, when she was twelve years old, she made her profession in the hands of Bd Humbert of Romans. Horrifying as are the details of the young sister's thirst for penance and of her determination to conquer all natural repugnances, they are supported by such a mass of concurrent testimony that it is impossible to question the truth of what we read. That she was exceptionally favoured in the matter of good looks seems to be proved by the determination of Ottokar, King of Bohemia, to seek her hand even after he had seen her in her religious dress. No doubt a dispensation could easily have been obtained for such a marriage, and Bela for political reasons was inclined to favour it. But Margaret declared that she would cut off her nose and lips rather than consent to leave the cloister, and no one who reads the account which her sisters gave of her resolution in other matters can doubt that she would have been as good as her word.
Although the majority of the inmates of this Danubian convent were the daughters of noble families, Princess Margaret seems to have been conscious of a tendency to treat her with special consideration. Her protest took the form of an almost extravagant choice of all that was menial, repulsive, exhausting and insanitary. Her charity and tenderness in rendering the most nauseating services to the sick were marvelous, but many of the details are such as cannot be set out before the fastidious modern reader. She had an intense sympathy for the squalid lives of the poor, but she carried it so far that, like another St Benedict Joseph Labre, she chose to imitate them in her personal habits, and her fellow nuns confessed that there were times when they shrank from coming into too intimate contact with the noble princess, their sister in religion. One gets the impression that Margaret's love of God and desire of self-immolation were associated with a certain element of wilfulness. She would have been better, or at least she would assuredly have lived longer, if she had had a strong-minded superior or confessor to take her resolutely in hand; but it was perhaps inevitable that the daughter of the royal founders to whom the convent owed everything should almost always have been able to get her own way.
On the other hand, there are many delightful human touches in the account her sisters gave of her. The sacristan tells how Margaret would stroke her hand and coax her to leave the door of the choir open after Compline, that she might spend the night before the Blessed Sacrament when she ought to have been sleeping. She was confident in the power of prayer to effect what she desired, and she carried this almost to the point of a certain imperiousness in the requests she made to the Almighty. Several of the nuns recall an incident which happened at Veszprem when she was only ten years old. Two Dominican friars came there on a short visit, and Margaret begged them to prolong their stay. They replied that it was necessary that they should return at once; to which she responded, "I shall ask God that it may rain so hard that you cannot get away". Although they protested that no amount of rain would detain them, she went to the chapel, and such a downpour occurred that they were unable, after all, to leave Veszprem as they had intended. This recalls the well-known story of St Scholastica and St Benedict, and there is in any case no need to invoke a supernatural intervention; but there are so many such incidents vouched for by the sisters in their evidence on oath that it is difficult to stretch coincidence so far as to explain them all. Though we hear of ecstasies and of a great number of miracles, there is a certain moderation in the depositions which inspires confidence in the good faith of the witnesses. An incident which is mentioned by nearly all is the saving, at St Margaret's prayer, of a maid-servant who had fallen down a well. Amongst the other depositions we have that of the maid, Agnes, herself. Asked in general what she knew of Margaret, she was content to say that "she was good and holy and edifying in her conduct, and showed greater humility than we serving-maids". As to the accident we learn from her that the evening was so dark that "if anyone had slapped her face she could not have seen who did it", and that the orifice of the well was quite open and without a rail, and that after falling she sank to the bottom three times, but at last managed to clutch the wall of the well until they lowered a rope and pulled her out.
There can be little room for doubt that Margaret shortened her life by her austerities. At the end of every Lent she was in a pitiable state from fasting, deprivation of sleep and neglect of her person. [1] She put the crown on her indiscretions on Maundy Thursday by washing the feet (this probably she claimed as a sort of privilege which belonged to her as the daughter of the royal founders) not only of all the choir nuns, seventy in number, but of all the servants as well. She wiped their feet, the nuns tell us, with the veil which she wore on her head. In spite of this fatigue and of the fact that at this season she took neither food nor sleep, she complained to some of the sisters in her confidence that "Good Friday was the shortest day of the year". She had no time for all the prayers she wanted to say and for all the acts of penance she wanted to perform. St Margaret seems to have died on January 18, 1270, at the age of twenty-eight; the process of beatification referred to above was never finished, but the cultus was approved in 1789 and she was canonized in 1943.
See the Acta Sanctorum for January 28; but more especially G. Fraknoi, Monumenta Romana Episcopatus Vesprimiensis, vol. i, pp. 163-383, where the depositions of the witnesses are printed in full. Cf. also M. C. de Ganay, Les Bienheureuses Dominicaines, pp. 69-89; and Margaret, Princess of Hungary (1945), by "S. M. C."
[1] This neglect of cleanliness was traditionally part of the penitential discipline, and was symbolized by the ashes received on Ash Wednesday. The old English name for Maundy Thursday was "Sheer Thursday", when the penitents obtained absolution, trimmed their hair and beards, and washed in preparation for Easter. It was also sometimes called capitilavium (head-washing).
Saint Margaret of Hungary
Profile
Margaret, the daughter of King Bela IV, champion of Christendom, and Queen Mary Lascaris of Hungary, was offered to God before her birth, in petition that the country would be delivered from the terrible scourge of the Tartars. The prayer having been answered, the king and queen made good their promise by placing the rich and beautiful three-year-old in the Dominican convent at Vesprim. Here, in company with other children of nobility, she was trained in the arts thought fitting for royalty.
Margaret was not content with simply living in the house of God; she demanded the religious habit--and received it--at the age of four. Furthermore, she took upon herself the austerities practiced by the other sisters--fasting, hairshirts, the discipline (scourge), and night vigils. She soon learned the Divine Office by heart and chanted it happily to herself as she went about her play. She chose the least attractive duties of the nuns for herself. She would starve herself to keep her spirit humble. No one but Margaret seemed to take seriously the idea that she would one day make profession and remain as a sister, for it would be of great advantage to her father if she were to make a wise marriage.
This question arose seriously when Margaret was 12. She responded in surprise. She said that she had been dedicated to God, even before her birth, and that she intended to remain faithful to that promise. Some years later her father built for her a convent on the island in the Danube between Buda and Pest. To settle the matter of her vocation, here she pronounced her vows to the master general of the order, Blessed Humbert of the Romans, in 1255, and took the veil in 1261.
Again, when Margaret was 18, her father made an attempt to sway her from her purpose, because King Ottokar of Bohemia, hearing of her beauty, had come seeking her hand. He even obtained a dispensation from the pope and approached Margaret with the permission. Margaret replied as she had previously, "I esteem infinitely more the King of Heaven and the inconceivable happiness of possessing Jesus Christ than the crown offered me by the King of Bohemia." Having established that she was not interested in any throne but a heavenly one, she proceeded with great joy to live an even more fervent religious life than she had before.
Margaret's royal parentage was, of course, a matter of discussion in the convent. But the princess managed to turn such conversation away from herself to the holy lives of the saints who were related to her by blood--King Saint Stephen, Saint Hedwig, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, and several others. She did not glory in her wealth or parentage, but strove to imitate the saints in their holiness. She took her turn in the kitchen and laundry, seeking by choice much heavy work that her rank might have excused her from doing. She was especially welcome in the infirmary, which proves that she was not a sad-faced saint, and she made it her special duty to care for those who were too disagreeable for anyone else to tend.
Margaret's austerities seem excessive to us of a weaker age. The mysteries of the Passion were very real to her and gave reason for her long fasts, severe scourgings, and other mortifications detailed in the depositions of witnesses taken seven years after her death (of which records are still in existence). Throughout Lent she scarcely ate or slept. She not only imitated the poverty- striken in their manual labor and hunger, but also in their lack of cleanliness--a form of penance at that time. Some of her acts of self-immolation have been described as "horrifying" and verging on fanaticism, and there seems to have been an element of willfulness in her mortifications.
She had a tender devotion to Our Lady, and on the eve of her feasts, Margaret said a thousand Hail Mary's. Unable to make the long pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to Rome, or to any of the other famous shrines of Christendom, the saint developed a plan by which she could go in spirit: she counted up the miles that lay between herself and the desired shrine, and then said an Ave Maria for every mile there and back. On Good Friday she was so overcome at the thoughts of Our Lord's Passion that she wept all day. She was frequently in ecstasy, and very embarrassed if anyone found her so and remarked on her holiness.
A number of miracles were performed during Margaret's lifetime and many more after her death because Margaret had an implicit faith in the power and efficacy of prayer. The princess nun was only 28 when she died. Most of the particulars of her life are recorded in existing depositions of witnesses taken in 1277. Her friends and acquaintances petitioned for her to be acclaimed a saint almost immediately after her death. Among them was her own servant, Agnes, who rightly observed that this daughter of a monarch showed far more humility than any of the monastery's maids. Although their testimony expressed Margaret's overpowering desire to allow nothing to stand between her and God, the process of canonization was not complete until 1943. The island where her convent stood, called first the "Blessed Virgin's Isle," was called "Isle of Margaret" after the saint (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley, Coulson, Dorcy, Farmer).
Born: 1242
Died: January 18, 1271 at Budapest, Hungary; remains given to the Poor Clares at Pozsony when the Dominican Order was dissolved; most relics were destroyed in 1789, but portions still preserved at Gran, Gyor, Pannonhalma
Beatified: July 28, 1789
Canonized: 1943 by Pope Pius XII
Representation: In art Saint Margaret is a crowned Dominican nun with the stigmata. Sometimes she is shown (1) as a crowned Dominican with a processional cross; (2) as a crowned Dominican with a nun at her feet; or (3) with the stigmata, cross, lily, and book; the crown at her feet. She can be distinguished from the Dominican Saint Catherine of Siena by her crown, which is never absent. Saint Catherine may have three crowns, but never just one. Venerated in Budapest (Roeder).
Prayers/Commemorations
First Vespers:
Ant. Blessed Margaret emulating the purity of the angels, dedicated herself as the bride of Him who is the spouse of perpetual virginity and the Son of the perpetual Virgin.
V. Pray for us, Blessed Margaret.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ
Lauds:
Ant. O Most holy spouse of Christ, adorn with the diadem of virgins, honored with the grace of healing, endowed with the heavenly gift of reading hearts, consumed with the fire of divine love!
V. Virgins shall be lead to the King after her.
R. Her companions shall be presented to thee.
Second Vespers:
Ant. O Blessed Margaret, who here on earth didst give to all the afflicted the solace of charity, help us from heaven in our miseries and obtain for us life with the saints in heaven.
V. Pray for us, Blessed Margaret.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.
Prayer:
Let us pray: O God, the lover and guardian of chastity, by whose gifts Thy handmaid Margaret united the beauty of virginity and the merit of good works, grant we pray, that through the spirit of salutary penance we may be able to recover integrity of soul. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
SOURCE : http://www.willingshepherds.org/MArgaret%20Hungary.html
Margaret of Hungary, OP V Queen (AC)
Born in Turoc Castle, 1242; died in Budapest on January 18, 1270; beatified in 1789; canonized in 1943; feast day was January 18. Margaret, the daughter of King Bela IV, champion of Christendom, and Queen Mary Lascaris of Hungary, was offered to God before her birth, in petition that the country would be delivered from the terrible scourge of the Tartars. The prayer having been answered, the king and queen made good their promise by placing the rich and beautiful three-year-old in the Dominican convent at Vesprim. Here, in company with other children of nobility, she was trained in the arts thought fitting for royalty.
Margaret of Hungary, OP V Queen (AC)
Born in Turoc Castle, 1242; died in Budapest on January 18, 1270; beatified in 1789; canonized in 1943; feast day was January 18. Margaret, the daughter of King Bela IV, champion of Christendom, and Queen Mary Lascaris of Hungary, was offered to God before her birth, in petition that the country would be delivered from the terrible scourge of the Tartars. The prayer having been answered, the king and queen made good their promise by placing the rich and beautiful three-year-old in the Dominican convent at Vesprim. Here, in company with other children of nobility, she was trained in the arts thought fitting for royalty.
Margaret was not
content with simply living in the house of God; she demanded the religious
habit--and received it--at the age of four. Furthermore, she took upon herself
the austerities practiced by the other sisters--fasting, hairshirts, the
discipline (scourge), and night vigils. She soon learned the Divine Office by
heart and chanted it happily to herself as she went about her play. She chose
the least attractive duties of the nuns for herself. She would starve herself
to keep her spirit humble. No one but Margaret seemed to take seriously the
idea that she would one day make profession and remain as a sister, for it
would be of great advantage to her father if she were to make a wise marriage.
This question arose
seriously when Margaret was 12. She responded in surprise. She said that she
had been dedicated to God, even before her birth, and that she intended to
remain faithful to that promise. Some years later her father built for her a
convent on the island in the Danube between Buda and Pest. To settle the matter
of her vocation, here she pronounced her vows to the master general of the
order, Blessed Humbert of the Romans, in 1255, and took the veil in 1261.
Again, when
Margaret was 18, her father made an attempt to sway her from her purpose,
because King Ottokar of Bohemia, hearing of her beauty, had come seeking her
hand. He even obtained a dispensation from the pope and approached Margaret
with the permission. Margaret replied as she had previously, "I esteem
infinitely more the King of Heaven and the inconceivable happiness of
possessing Jesus Christ than the crown offered me by the King of Bohemia."
Having established that she was not interested in any throne but a heavenly
one, she proceeded with great joy to live an even more fervent religious life
than she had before.
Margaret's royal
parentage was, of course, a matter of discussion in the convent. But the
princess managed to turn such conversation away from herself to the holy lives
of the saints who were related to her by blood--King Saint Stephen, Saint
Hedwig, Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, and several others. She did not glory in
her wealth or parentage, but strove to imitate the saints in their holiness.
She took her turn in the kitchen and laundry, seeking by choice much heavy work
that her rank might have excused her from doing. She was especially welcome in
the infirmary, which proves that she was not a sad-faced saint, and she made it
her special duty to care for those who were too disagreeable for anyone else to
tend.
Margaret's
austerities seem excessive to us of a weaker age. The mysteries of the Passion
were very real to her and gave reason for her long fasts, severe scourgings,
and other mortifications detailed in the depositions of witnesses taken seven
years after her death (of which records are still in existence). Throughout
Lent she scarcely ate or slept. She not only imitated the poverty- striken in
their manual labor and hunger, but also in their lack of cleanliness--a form of
penance at that time. Some of her acts of self-immolation have been described
as "horrifying" and verging on fanaticism, and there seems to have
been an element of willfulness in her mortifications.
She had a tender
devotion to Our Lady, and on the eve of her feasts, Margaret said a thousand
Hail Mary's. Unable to make the long pilgrimage to the Holy Land, to Rome, or
to any of the other famous shrines of Christendom, the saint developed a plan
by which she could go in spirit: she counted up the miles that lay between
herself and the desired shrine, and then said an Ave Maria for every mile there
and back. On Good Friday she was so overcome at the thoughts of Our Lord's
Passion that she wept all day. She was frequently in ecstasy, and very
embarrassed if anyone found her so and remarked on her holiness.
A number of
miracles were performed during Margaret's lifetime and many more after her
death because Margaret had an implicit faith in the power and efficacy of
prayer. The princess nun was only 28 when she died. Most of the particulars of
her life are recorded in existing depositions of witnesses taken in 1277. Her
friends and acquaintances petitioned for her to be acclaimed a saint almost immediately
after her death. Among them was her own servant, Agnes, who rightly observed
that this daughter of a monarch showed far more humility than any of the
monastery's maids. Although their testimony expressed Margaret's overpowering
desire to allow nothing to stand between her and God, the process of
canonization was not complete until 1943. The island where her convent stood,
called first the "Blessed Virgin's Isle," was called "Isle of
Margaret" after the saint (Attwater, Attwater2, Benedictines, Bentley,
Coulson, Dorcy, Farmer).
In art Saint
Margaret is a crowned Dominican nun with the stigmata. Sometimes she is shown
(1) as a crowned Dominican with a processional cross; (2) as a crowned
Dominican with a nun at her feet; or (3) with the stigmata, cross, lily, and
book; the crown at her feet. She can be distinguished from the Dominican Saint
Catherine of Siena by her crown, which is never absent. Saint Catherine may
have three crowns, but never just one. Venerated in Budapest (Roeder).
She is invoked against floods, in memory of a miracle she performed in
stopping a flood on the Danube (Dorcy).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0126.shtml
DSCN0403.JPG)
Qui fa la sua professione religiosa nel 1254 e prende il velo nel 1261. Pregava continuamente sempre con le stesse preghiere, riservando particolare devozione alla Passione di Cristo e all’Eucaristia. Non aveva una grande cultura appena un po’ sopra il livello del saper leggere e scrivere. Margherita si faceva leggere le Sacre Scritture e si affidava alla guida spirituale del suo confessore, il domenicano Marcello, già Provinciale d’Ungheria.
Aveva uno smisurato amore per la povertà, il quale unito alla sua vita ascetica la portò ad elevarsi in un grado di vicinanza a Dio da meritare il dono delle visioni. E’ stata una delle più grandi mistiche medioevali d’Ungheria. Morì il 18 gennaio 1270 nel suo convento dell’Isola delle Lepri, presso Budapest, la sua tomba divenne meta di pellegrinaggi, mentre avveniva uno dei miracoli attribuitegli, i presenti erano più di tremila.
Un anno dopo la sua morte, il fratello Stefano V re d’Ungheria chiese al papa Gregorio X un’inchiesta sulla santità della sorella, cosa che avvenne, ma i testi di questo primo processo non sono conservati.
Un secondo processo fu indetto da papa Innocenzo V nel 1276 ma anche questi atti sono scomparsi, ne rimase una copia nel convento domenicano in Ungheria. Nel frattempo in patria, Margherita era già venerata come una santa. Nel ‘600 si ritornò a sollecitare Roma per la dichiarazione ufficiale ma bisogna arrivare al 1729 dopo una ricognizione delle reliquie che esce fuori insieme ad esse la copia conservata dalle suore del 1276, fonte principale per la vita della santa, essendo irreperibili tutti i documenti ufficiali precedenti.
Nel frattempo le reliquie erano state trasferite a causa dell’invasione turca, dal convento di Isola delle Lepri a quello delle Clarisse di Presburgo nel 1618.
Pur tardando il riconoscimento ufficiale, il culto per s. Margherita fu esteso all’Ordine Domenicano e alla Diocesi di Transilvania nel 1804. Durante l’800 la festa si estese a tutte le Diocesi ungheresi, poi dietro le richieste di alcuni cardinali e dell’Ordine Domenicano fu concessa la canonizzazione equipollente da papa Pio XII nel 1943.
La sua immagine è frequentissima nell’iconografia italiana e ungherese.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
Il processo canonico per dichiararla santa è incominciato nel 1271, sotto Gregorio X. La canonizzazione è avvenuta nel 1943, con Pio XII. Un iter complessivo di 672 anni. Lei è figlia di re Béla IV d’Ungheria. E prima che venga al mondo, sul suo Paese piomba l’invasione mongola comandata da Batu, nipote di Gengis Khan: dopo aver devastato e saccheggiato i territori russi, ucraini e polacchi, dilaga in Ungheria, e in una battaglia campale disperde le truppe comandate da Béla IV, con ungari, croati, tedeschi e templari francesi. La famiglia reale d’Ungheria si rifugia in Dalmazia.
La regina sta per partorire, e già si decide che, se nascerà una bambina, l’accoglierà un convento. È un voto, per la salvezza dell’Ungheria. Così, sui tre-quattro anni, eccola già accolta nel convento domenicano di Santa Caterina, a Veszprém; e intanto nasce per lei un’altra casa di suore presso Buda, su un’isoletta del Danubio che si chiamerà poi Isola Margherita.
Niente vocazione, dunque: hanno fatto tutto i genitori. I quali poi, nel 1260, vogliono farla maritare al re Ottocaro II di Boemia, col quale l’Ungheria ha fatto pace dopo una guerra sfortunata. Lei, al momento, ha diciotto anni, e dice di no. Ottocaro sposerà una sua sorella. Poi Margherita fa di più: se finora era nel convento una sorta di illustre ospite, ora si fa domenicana. La vocazione è arrivata adesso, come lei dice al suo confessore, il domenicano frate Marcello. Dopo di lei arrivano in convento altre figlie dell’aristocrazia ungherese. Forse anche loro“chiamate”. Oppure forse spinte dall’ambizione di andare a star bene accanto alla figlia del re, mettendo insieme una piccola corte.
Non così la pensa Margherita. Certo, tiene presenti anche le vicende di fuori. Anzi, nel 1265 si impegna per mettere fine a una guerra di famiglia. Suo fratello Stefano V (tre anni più di lei) si è ribellato al padre Béla IV, che pure lo aveva associato al trono; e gli fa addiritturala guerra. Margherita a questo punto interviene e riconcilia padre e fratello. Ma come religiosa non si fa sconti: lì non è più la figlia del re. I suoi connotati di religiosa si trovano nelle deposizioni di un centinaio di testimoni, che nel 1276 (sei anni dopo la morte) depongono davanti a due delegati pontifici giunti da Roma per indagare sulla sua fama di santità. E qui troviamo una donna che vive la Regola, e vi aggiunge pure del suo, dedicandosi a una continua opera di imitazione di Gesù nella sofferenza fisica e nell’umiliazione. Si fa leggere molto spesso il racconto della Passione, e lo ascolta in piedi. Si priva di cibo e di riposo per il desiderio di vicinanza al Signore sofferente. Cerca persino di cancellare dal viso ogni traccia di bellezza. E dal suo convento sul Danubio si ritrova in sintonia con lo spirito dei movimenti di disciplinati e penitenti, che si diffondono in Europa.
Dopo la morte, ecco le voci dei miracoli presso la sua tomba, nel coro del convento (abbandonato e poi distrutto nel XVII secolo). Comincia l’inchiesta per la canonizzazione, e sarà molto lunga, ma il suo nome gira per l’Europa. Nel 1425, in Francia, Giovanna d’Arco si sente chiamata, da “voci” misteriose, a rafforzare la propria fede e a liberare la Francia. Al processo che finirà col supplizio, Giovanna darà alle “voci” un nome: «Michele arcangelo, Caterina da Siena e Margherita d’Ungheria».
Autore: Domenico Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0126.shtml
Santa Margherita d'Ungheria Principessa
e religiosa
Buda (Ungheria), 1242 - Isola
Margherita (Budapest), 18 Gennaio 1270
Nacque
nel 1242 da Bela IV re d'Ungheria e dalla regina Maria di origine bizantina,
probabilmente nel castello di Turòc. Nel 1252 fu condotta al monastero delle
Domenicane di Santa Maria nell'Isola delle Lepri sul Danubio presso Buda,
fondato da suo padre. Qui fa la sua professione religiosa nel 1254 e prende il
velo nel 1261. Margherita si faceva leggere le Sacre Scritture e si affidava
alla guida spirituale del suo confessore, il domenicano Marcello, già
Provinciale d'Ungheria. È stata una delle più grandi mistiche medievali
d'Ungheria. Grazie alla sua ascesi ebbe il dono delle visioni. Morì il 18
gennaio 1270 nel suo convento dell'Isola delle Lepri, presso Budapest. La sua
tomba divenne presto meta di pellegrinaggi. Il processo canonico per
dichiararla santa è incominciato nel 1271, sotto Gregorio X. La canonizzazione
è avvenuta nel 1943, con Pio XII. Un iter complessivo di 672 anni.(Avv.)
Etimologia: Margherita
= perla, dal greco e latino
Martirologio
Romano: Presso Buda in Ungheria, santa Margherita, vergine: figlia del re
Bela IV, promessa in voto a Dio dai suoi genitori per la liberazione della
patria dai Tartari e affidata in tenera età alle monache dell’Ordine dei
Predicatori, ancora dodicenne si consacrò così totalmente a Dio nella
professione religiosa, da desiderare ardentemente di assimilarsi a Cristo
crocifisso.
Nacque nel 1242 da Bela IV re d’Ungheria e dalla
regina Maria di origine bizantina, probabilmente nel castello di Turòc. Nel
1252 fu condotta al monastero delle Domenicane di s. Maria nell’Isola delle
Lepri sul Danubio presso Buda, fondato da suo padre.
Qui fa la sua professione religiosa nel 1254 e prende il velo nel 1261. Pregava continuamente sempre con le stesse preghiere, riservando particolare devozione alla Passione di Cristo e all’Eucaristia. Non aveva una grande cultura appena un po’ sopra il livello del saper leggere e scrivere. Margherita si faceva leggere le Sacre Scritture e si affidava alla guida spirituale del suo confessore, il domenicano Marcello, già Provinciale d’Ungheria.
Aveva uno smisurato amore per la povertà, il quale unito alla sua vita ascetica la portò ad elevarsi in un grado di vicinanza a Dio da meritare il dono delle visioni. E’ stata una delle più grandi mistiche medioevali d’Ungheria. Morì il 18 gennaio 1270 nel suo convento dell’Isola delle Lepri, presso Budapest, la sua tomba divenne meta di pellegrinaggi, mentre avveniva uno dei miracoli attribuitegli, i presenti erano più di tremila.
Un anno dopo la sua morte, il fratello Stefano V re d’Ungheria chiese al papa Gregorio X un’inchiesta sulla santità della sorella, cosa che avvenne, ma i testi di questo primo processo non sono conservati.
Un secondo processo fu indetto da papa Innocenzo V nel 1276 ma anche questi atti sono scomparsi, ne rimase una copia nel convento domenicano in Ungheria. Nel frattempo in patria, Margherita era già venerata come una santa. Nel ‘600 si ritornò a sollecitare Roma per la dichiarazione ufficiale ma bisogna arrivare al 1729 dopo una ricognizione delle reliquie che esce fuori insieme ad esse la copia conservata dalle suore del 1276, fonte principale per la vita della santa, essendo irreperibili tutti i documenti ufficiali precedenti.
Nel frattempo le reliquie erano state trasferite a causa dell’invasione turca, dal convento di Isola delle Lepri a quello delle Clarisse di Presburgo nel 1618.
Pur tardando il riconoscimento ufficiale, il culto per s. Margherita fu esteso all’Ordine Domenicano e alla Diocesi di Transilvania nel 1804. Durante l’800 la festa si estese a tutte le Diocesi ungheresi, poi dietro le richieste di alcuni cardinali e dell’Ordine Domenicano fu concessa la canonizzazione equipollente da papa Pio XII nel 1943.
La sua immagine è frequentissima nell’iconografia italiana e ungherese.
Autore: Antonio Borrelli
Il processo canonico per dichiararla santa è incominciato nel 1271, sotto Gregorio X. La canonizzazione è avvenuta nel 1943, con Pio XII. Un iter complessivo di 672 anni. Lei è figlia di re Béla IV d’Ungheria. E prima che venga al mondo, sul suo Paese piomba l’invasione mongola comandata da Batu, nipote di Gengis Khan: dopo aver devastato e saccheggiato i territori russi, ucraini e polacchi, dilaga in Ungheria, e in una battaglia campale disperde le truppe comandate da Béla IV, con ungari, croati, tedeschi e templari francesi. La famiglia reale d’Ungheria si rifugia in Dalmazia.
La regina sta per partorire, e già si decide che, se nascerà una bambina, l’accoglierà un convento. È un voto, per la salvezza dell’Ungheria. Così, sui tre-quattro anni, eccola già accolta nel convento domenicano di Santa Caterina, a Veszprém; e intanto nasce per lei un’altra casa di suore presso Buda, su un’isoletta del Danubio che si chiamerà poi Isola Margherita.
Niente vocazione, dunque: hanno fatto tutto i genitori. I quali poi, nel 1260, vogliono farla maritare al re Ottocaro II di Boemia, col quale l’Ungheria ha fatto pace dopo una guerra sfortunata. Lei, al momento, ha diciotto anni, e dice di no. Ottocaro sposerà una sua sorella. Poi Margherita fa di più: se finora era nel convento una sorta di illustre ospite, ora si fa domenicana. La vocazione è arrivata adesso, come lei dice al suo confessore, il domenicano frate Marcello. Dopo di lei arrivano in convento altre figlie dell’aristocrazia ungherese. Forse anche loro“chiamate”. Oppure forse spinte dall’ambizione di andare a star bene accanto alla figlia del re, mettendo insieme una piccola corte.
Non così la pensa Margherita. Certo, tiene presenti anche le vicende di fuori. Anzi, nel 1265 si impegna per mettere fine a una guerra di famiglia. Suo fratello Stefano V (tre anni più di lei) si è ribellato al padre Béla IV, che pure lo aveva associato al trono; e gli fa addiritturala guerra. Margherita a questo punto interviene e riconcilia padre e fratello. Ma come religiosa non si fa sconti: lì non è più la figlia del re. I suoi connotati di religiosa si trovano nelle deposizioni di un centinaio di testimoni, che nel 1276 (sei anni dopo la morte) depongono davanti a due delegati pontifici giunti da Roma per indagare sulla sua fama di santità. E qui troviamo una donna che vive la Regola, e vi aggiunge pure del suo, dedicandosi a una continua opera di imitazione di Gesù nella sofferenza fisica e nell’umiliazione. Si fa leggere molto spesso il racconto della Passione, e lo ascolta in piedi. Si priva di cibo e di riposo per il desiderio di vicinanza al Signore sofferente. Cerca persino di cancellare dal viso ogni traccia di bellezza. E dal suo convento sul Danubio si ritrova in sintonia con lo spirito dei movimenti di disciplinati e penitenti, che si diffondono in Europa.
Dopo la morte, ecco le voci dei miracoli presso la sua tomba, nel coro del convento (abbandonato e poi distrutto nel XVII secolo). Comincia l’inchiesta per la canonizzazione, e sarà molto lunga, ma il suo nome gira per l’Europa. Nel 1425, in Francia, Giovanna d’Arco si sente chiamata, da “voci” misteriose, a rafforzare la propria fede e a liberare la Francia. Al processo che finirà col supplizio, Giovanna darà alle “voci” un nome: «Michele arcangelo, Caterina da Siena e Margherita d’Ungheria».
Autore: Domenico Agasso
Voir aussi : http://www.opwest.org/2012/01/Margaret-of-Hungary/
