Saint Margaret of Citta-di-Castello
3rd Order Dominican ( 1320 Anno Domini A.D.) Feast: 13 April
Blessed Margaret was born blind & deformed. Her wealthy parents, ashamed of their daughter, kept her locked in a cell lest anyone learn of her existence. When she was 6 they took her to a shrine hoping for a miraculous cure, but when this failed to occur, they abandoned her. Fortunately, kindly strangers rescued her & took her home.
Despite the harshness of her early childhood, Margaret had a sweet disposition & easily charmed everyone she encountered. Eventually she found a convent willing to take her in Margaret was delighted & adapted easily to religious life. This being a rather lax convent, however, Margaret's eagerness to adopt a more rigorous standard of austerity affronted other members of the community. Eventually they tired of her presence & kicked her out
Once again, friendly souls came to Margaret 's rescue. She became a Dominican tertiary, spending much of her time in prayer She knew the Psalter by heart & achieved such ecstasies, it is said, that she sometimes levitated a foot off the ground She also cared for young children in the town & formed a little school thereby earning the grateful devotion of her neighbors. She died at the age of 33.
Miraculous cures were reported at her tomb, which became a popular pilgrimage site.
"Oh, if you only knew what I have in my heart! "
- Blessed Margaret of Citta-di-Castello
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