# Matins Nocturn 2 reading for St. Margaret, Queen and Widow (June 10).
# Sourced directly from web/www/horas/Latin/Sancti/06-10.txt,
# English/Sancti/06-10.txt. Lectio4-6 combined into one reading, one
# continuous vita. (Note: the source's own Lectio94 gives a different
# death date, Nov. 16, than Lectio6's June 11 -- an inconsistency
# already present in the reference engine's own text, not introduced
# here; Lectio4-6 is the fuller, internally-consistent account and is
# what's transcribed.) No Lectio7-9 in her own file (her `[Rule]` is
# `vide C7a`) -- defers to the Common's own Nocturn 3, not transcribed
# here.
id: st-margaret-of-scotland
readings:
  - nocturn: 2
    isGospel: false
    text:
      la: >-
        Margarita, Scotórum regína, paterno Angliæ regum, materno Cæsárum sánguine
        claríssima, illustrior adhuc fuit christiana virtúte. Hæc in Hungária nata, ubi
        pater tunc témporis exsulabat, post exactam summa cum pietáte puerílem
        ætátem, una cum genitore, qui a sancto Eduárdo patruo, Anglórum rege, ad
        paterni regni fastigium vocabátur, in Angliam venit. Mox, alternante paréntum
        fortuna, ex Angliæ littore solvens, vi tempestátis expulsa, seu verius divinæ
        providéntiæ consílio deducta est in oram marítimam Scotiæ. Ibi cum ex matris
        imperio Malchólmo tertio Scotórum regi, egregiis ejus dótibus capto,
        nupsísset, sanctimóniæ ac pietátis opéribus, trigínta quibus regnávit annis,
        toti regno mirifice prófuit.


        Inter regales delicias corpus afflictatiónibus ac vigiliis mácerans, magnam
        noctis partem piis precatiónibus extrahebat. Præter alia jejunia, quæ
        idéntidem usurpabat, íntegros quadragínta dies ante Natalícia festa tanta cum
        severitáte jejunare consuevit, ut ne in gravíssimis quidem dolóribus
        intermiserit. Divino cultui addictíssima, templa pluria et cœnobia partim ex
        íntegro excitávit, partim resarcívit, et sacra supelléctili ac largo censu
        ditávit. Regem cónjugem ad meliórem frugem et ad simília suis exercitatiónibus
        ópera saluberrimo exemplo traduxit, liberosque omnes tam sancte et féliciter
        educávit, ut eórum plerique, quemádmodum et Agatha mater, et Christina soror,
        sanctíssimum vitæ genus ampléxi sint. Universi demum regni felicitáti
        cónsulens, a vitiis ómnibus, quæ furtim irrepserant, pópulos expurgávit,
        eisque mores christiana pietáte dignos restituit.


        Nihil tamen æque in illa mirábile fuit ac flagrantíssima caritas erga
        próximos, præsertim egénos, quorum numerosis grégibus non modo stipem áffatim
        suppeditare, verum étiam trecentis quotídie materna benignitate dapes
        præbére, flexis genibus in morem ancíllæ ministrare, regiis mánibus pedes
        ablúere, et pressis étiam ósculis úlcera fovére, solemne hábuit. His porro
        aliisque piis sumptibus non regias tantum vestes et preiosa monília distraxit,
        sed ipsum non semel exhausit ærárium. Tolerátis demum ad patiéntiæ miraculum
        acerbíssimis dolóribus, ánimam semestri corporis ægrotatióne purgatam Auctori
        suo, sextodecimo Kalendas Decembris, réddidit. Quo témporis momento fácies
        ejus, diuturni morbi macie ac pallore fœdata, insólita quadam venustáte
        reflóruit. Miris étiam post mortem prodigiis clara, et Clementis décimi
        auctoritate in Scotiæ patronam accepta, ubíque terrárum religiosíssime
        cólitur.
      en: >-
        Margaret, Queen of Scots, was most noble by birth, uniting in herself, from her
        father the blood of the Kings of England and from her mother the blood of the
        Caesars, but her greatest nobleness was in her brave Christian life. She was
        born in Hungary, where her father was then an exile, and had passed a
        religious childhood, when her uncle Edward, the holy King of England, recalled
        him to his own royal home, and she came to England with him. A few years
        after, upon the ruin of her family, she was escaping from England by sea, when
        the violence of the weather, or, to speak more truly, the Providence of God,
        caused that the ship should take refuge upon the coast of Scotland. There her
        extraordinary graces of mind and body so attracted King Malcolm III., that by
        the advice of his mother, he took her to wife, and of Scotland she deserved
        exceedingly well for the thirty years of her reign, by the holiness of her
        life and the abundance of her works of mercy.


        In the midst of kingly dainties, she afflicted her body with hardships and
        watching, using to spend great part of the night in earnest prayer. Besides
        other fasts which she imposed upon herself, it was her custom to observe one of
        forty days before Christmas, concerning which fast she was so rigid, that she
        would not relax it even under sharp suffering. She took great delight in the
        public worship of God, and founded or renewed a great number of Churches and
        convents, which she enriched at great cost with sacred furniture. Her healthy
        example drew the King her husband to habits of sobriety, and to imitate her in
        her good works. To all her children she had the happiness of giving a godly
        education, and several of them, like her mother Agatha and her sister
        Christina, led notable holy lives. The happiness of the whole kingdom was the
        object for which she constantly strove, and she successfully rooted out all the
        vices which had stealthily crept in, and established among the people a
        standard of living worthy of Christians.


        The most remarkable feature of her life was the tenderness of her charity
        toward her neighbour, especially the needy. Of these she would not only order
        whole flocks to be relieved, but was accustomed to give dinner to three hundred
        of them every day, treating them with the tenderness of a mother, and waiting
        upon them on her knees like a maidservant. She held it one of the privileges of
        her rank to wash their feet with her own Royal hands, and to dress their
        sores, which latter she would even kiss. To meet the expenses of her charities
        she sold not only her queenly raiment and her precious jewels, but more than
        once exhausted her funds entirely. Purified by grievous suffering, which she
        bore with marvelous patience during an illness of six months, she resigned her
        soul into the hands of Him Who had created it. At the moment of death, the
        bystanders saw her poor worn face, pale and disfigured by continual suffering,
        flush again with a beauty to which it had long been unused. After her death she
        became illustrious on account of great signs and wonders. With the approval of
        Clement X., she was chosen Patroness of Scotland, and her memory is held in
        profound reverence throughout the whole earth.
    status: { la: verified, en: verified }
