Margaret of Cortona
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| Saint Margaret of Cortona | |
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| Tender of Sick | |
| Born | 1247 in Tuscany, Italy |
| Died | February 22, 1297 in Cortona, Italy |
| Venerated in | Roman Catholic |
| Canonized | May 16, 1728 by Pope Benedict XIII |
| Feast | February 22, May 16 |
| Patronage | against temptations; falsely accused people; hoboes; homeless people; insanity; loss of parents; mental illness; mentally ill people; midwives; penitent women; people ridiculed for their piety; reformed prostitutes; sexual temptation; single laywomen; tertiaries; tramps |
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St. Margaret of Cortona was a penitent of the Third Order of St. Francis, born in Laviano, Tuscany in 1247. She died in Cortona on February 22, 1297. She was canonized in 1728.
She is patron saint of the falsely accused; hoboes; homeless; insane; orphaned; mentally ill; midwives; penitents; reformed prostitutes; tertiaries; tramps.
At the age of seven, Margaret's mother died and her father remarried. Little love was shared between step-mother and step-daughter. At the age of 17 she met a young man, perhaps say the son of Gugliemo di Pecora, lord of Valiano. She ran away with him. For ten years she lived with him in his house near Montepulciano. A son was born. She wanted to marry him as promised, but he refused.
Her lover was murdered on a journey. The return of his favourite hound caused alarm, the hound led her to his body. Margaret returned all the gifts he had given her and left his home. With her child she set out for her father's house. Her step-mother would not have her, and Margaret and son went to the Friars at Cortona where she put herself in their care at the church of San Francesco in the city. She fasted, avoided meat, and subsisted on bread and vegetables.
After three years, Margaret joined the Third Order of St. Francis and chose to live in poverty. Following the example of Francis of Assisi, she begged for sustenance and bread. She became a Franciscan tertiary.
In 1277 while in prayer she heard the words: "What is thy wish, poverella?" and she replied: "I neither seek nor wish for aught but Thee, my Lord Jesus." She began regular communications with God. She asked the city of Cortona to found a hospital for the sick, homeless and impoverished. To secure nurses for the hospital, she instituted a congregation of Tertiary Sisters, known as le poverelle. She also established a link 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 following Divine command, she challenged Guglielmo Ubertini Pazzi, Bishop of Arezzo, in which diocese Cortona sat, because he lived like a prince. Margaret moved to the ruined church of St. Basil and spent her last years. She is buried there. After her death, the church was rebuilt in her honor. Margaret was canonized on May 16, 1728.
