St. Margaret of Scotland

Today is the feast of St. Margaret of Scotland, who is also my confirmation saint. Brandon had a good biographical sketch of her in his most recent All Saints Day roundup:

Margaret of Scotland 

Margaret was born to the exiled English prince, Edward Ætheling, while he was in Hungary, so she grew up in the Hungarian court of King Andrew I. She returned to England when her father was recalled in 1057; she would have been somewhere around 12 years old at the time. Her father died almost immediately after his arrival, but the family stayed in the English court for a while until, after the Battle of Hastings, Edgar was declared King of England by the Witengamot. Alas, he was never crowned; William the Conqueror invaded and the nobles of England just handed Edgar over. Margaret and the rest of her family had to flee northward to Northumbria. They would eventually end up in Scotland. The story is that they had decided to return to the continent, but their ship was blown off course to a place that is today called St. Margaret's Hope, near North Queensferry. There they met King Malcolm III Canmore (the same Malcolm who is fictionalized in Shakespeare's Macbeth), a widower with two sons; Malcolm was intrigued by Margaret. That she was one of the last surviving members of an English dynasty was probably one of the reasons, although it may not have been the only one. They married in 1070. It was not the kind of marriage one would expect to be successful -- Malcolm was a very rough man and seems not to have had a religious bone in his body -- but they actually thrived together. He seems to have liked the polish she brought to the court and actively encouraged her to do whatever religious work she deemed appropriate. He did not participate in her regular prayer and religious devotions, but he did not at all stand in the way of them. He seems to have particularly liked having a literate wife (he himself could not read); despite his lack of interest in religion, he often had her read Bible stories to him, and he had gold and silver covers made for her devotional books. In order to facilitate pilgrimage to Dunfermline Abbey, Margaret established a ferry across the Firth of Forth, which gives the towns of South Queensferry and North Queensferry their names. She also did extensive charitable work for the poor. Malcolm died at the Battle of Alnwick in 1093; St. Margaret died on November 16 of the same year, just a few days after having received word of his death. She was canonized in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV; her feast day is November 16. 

The curious thing about confirmation saints is that sometimes they find you, and in my case it was after my confirmation.

As the time approached for me to settle on a confirmation saint, I was in a quandary, being unilluminated by any clear saintly vision. I didn't have a great devotion to anyone in particular at age 14, and I didn't even know which qualities I wanted to select for. At the time my mother was reading aloud to us a biography of St. Margaret of Castello. Poor Margaret had a difficult life, being small, deformed, imprisoned, abandoned, and finally a kind of anchoress. Her personal virtue was admirable, but I didn't feel particularly drawn to her. However, I had to pick a confirmation name, and as my mother's middle name is Margaret, I chose that in compliment to her and for the poor unloved Margaret of Castello, whom I felt ashamed of not honoring more.

Several years later I first heard of St. Margaret of Scotland, and felt that here was the Margaret I'd been waiting for. An educated woman, a mother and queen with a Shakespearian connection! As I'd been confirmed "Margaret" with no identifiers, I assumed the mantle of Margaret of Scotland.

I don't know the legitimacy of switching out Confirmation saints, but I believe that good Margaret of Castello, humble as always, was kind enough to lend her name and hold St. Margaret of Scotland's place until I found her.