Saint Margaret of Antioch
![[Saint Margaret holy card]](saintm19.jpg "??kb jpg Saint Margaret holy card, artist unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Also known as
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Marina
Margaritha
Marine
Margaretha
- Memorial
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20 July
13 July in the Eastern Church
- Profile
- Aprocryphal virgin and martyr.
Her father was a pagan priest in Pisidian Antioch, Asia Minor (modern Turkey).
Her mother died when Margaret was an infant, and the child was raised by a Christian woman.
Her father disowned her, her nurse adopted her, and Margaret converted, consecrated herself and her virginity to God.
A Roman prefect saw the beautiful young woman tending sheep, and tried to get her into his bed.
When she refused, he denounced her as a Christian, and she was brought to trial.
When she refused to sacrifice to the pagan gods, the authorities tried to burn her, then boil her in a large cauldron; each time her prayers kept her unharmed.
She was finally martyred by beheading.
Part of her story involves her meeting the devil in the form of a dragon, being swallowed by the dragon, and then escaping safely when the cross she carried irritated the dragon's innards; this accounts for this virgin's association with pregnancy, labour, and childbirth.
She was one of the saints who appeared to Saint Joan of Arc.
One of the Fourteen Holy Helpers.
- Born
- Antioch
- Died
- beheaded;
relics claimed by several locations
- Patronage
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against sterility;
childbirth;
dying people;
escape from devils;
exiles;
expectant mothers;
falsely accused people;
kidney disease;
loss of milk by nursing mothers;
Lowestoft, Suffolk, England;
martyrs;
nurses;
peasants;
people in exile;
pregnant women;
Queens College Cambridge;
Rixtel, Nederlands;
safe childbirth;
Sannat, Gozo, Malta;
women;
women in labour
- Representation
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dragon;
shepherdess;
woman carrying a small cross in her hand;
woman carrying a small girdle in her hand;
woman leading a chained dragon;
woman standing next to a cauldron or large vessel;
woman standing with, on, or beside a dead dragon
- Images
- Gallery of images of Saint Margaret [7 images, 110 kb]
- Additional Information
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Google Directory
Wikipedia
Catholic Online
Catholic Encyclopedia, by J MacRory
For All The Saints, by Katherine Rabenstein
New Catholic Dictionary
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