# 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 }