Saint Margaret
Saint Margaret fought a dragon and is the patron saint of pregnant people, what are you doing with your life?
Sometimes, you have prior knowledge about weird saints (especially canine ones), other times strange saints come to you. Such is the case of Saint Margaret who I learned about from my sister’s teenage not-Catholic co-worker. This one’s for you!
Who was Saint Margaret?
There are a lot of Saint Margaret’s, though only one that I know of who was swallowed by a dragon. This Saint Margaret is often referred to as St. Margaret of Antioch or Saint Marina the Great Martyr (Wikipedia).
It’s hard to say when Margaret was born, she didn’t seem to be worshipped until the eighth century (Madonna Magdalene Muse), though Wikipedia lists her birth as c.289 (Wikipedia). Margaret (or Margarita or Marina depending on the version you’re reading) was born to a pagan priest Aedesius. She was nursed and raised by a Christian woman “fifteen stades away from Antioch” and by the time she was fifteen embraced Christianity, “had committed her virginity to God,” and was disowned by her father (Madonna Magdalene Muse).
Like many stories of women holy figures, it was her beauty that ended up leading to her death (and dragon battles, apparently). A Roman official named Olybrius lusted after Margaret and wanted her as his wife or as a concubine. When he learned she was Christian, he “demanded she convert, but she – refusing to betray her faith and wishing to maintain her virginity as part of her commitment to Christ – stood her ground,” (Medieval Studies Research Blog). Margaret was then sent to prison and tortured until she relented, which of course is where the dragon comes in.
After facing numerous beatings, Margaret apparently prayed to God asking him to either “reveal her enemy to her” (Madonna Magdalene Muse) or asks for “a more tangible opponent” (Medieval Studies Research Blog) and a demon (or in some tellings Satan) appears to her in the form of a dragon and swallows her. In some versions of the story, Margaret makes the sign of the cross before she is swallowed and the dragon bursts open (Medieval Studies Research Blog), in others her crucifix irritates the dragon’s stomach and breaks open (Aleteia). Margaret is unscathed after the dragon disappears, but unfortunately that isn’t the end of her torture.
Another demon appears, this one in the shape of a man named Beelzebub who “asserts that he has come to avenge his brother, the dragon, whom she has just killed” (Medieval Studies Research Blog). But after being swallowed by a dragon, Beelzebub is easy to get rid of, because all Margaret does is takes “him by the hair, and tramples him underfoot, beating him and interrogating him, before banishing him back to hell” (Medieval Studies Research Blog), in some versions, smashing him with a hammer (Aleteia).
But Margaret’s torture still wasn’t over. The next day, Margaret was placed in a cauldron of boiling water but as she prayed “an earthquake immediately began, freeing her from her fetters and allowing her to emerge unscathed from the cauldron as the heavenly dove descended” (Medieval Studies Research Blog).
Enraged, Olybrius ordered she be beheaded. Pitying her, the executioner allowed Margaret to pray “asking that ‘those who venerate her memory in particular ways would be freed from sins and no physically impaired child be born in their house,’” and another dove descended telling her that her prayer would be granted (Medieval Studies Research Blog). The executioner didn’t want to kill her after seeing all of this, but Margaret told him that he had too and there are implications that he died after killing her (Medieval Studies Research Blog). It’s then said that her head rose into heaven by singing angels which “tormented the demons” (Medieval Studies Research Blog).
She was fifteen when she died.
Was Saint Margaret Real?
It’s hard to say honestly. It’s difficult to find records that Margaret existed at all. According to Madonna Magdalene Muse, “[a]lthough her story is thought to have occurred under either Diocletian or Maximian because of the widespread persecutions during this era, there are no records of her torture or death in Antioch, which is where tradition places it” (Madonna Magdalene Muse).
However, Margaret is considered one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, “a group of saints venerated together by Roman Catholic Christians because their intercession is believed to be particularly effective, especially against various diseases,” and is believed to be one of the saints that spoke to Saint Joan of Arc. (Wikpedia).
Who should pray to Saint Margaret?
Anyone who wants to be able to fight the devil when he’s disguised as a dragon. I’m kidding (but actually…), Saint Margaret is the patron saint of “kidney disease, dying people, the falsely accursed, peasants, exiles, nurses and several English and Malta towns” (Madonna Magdalene Muse). Funnily enough, Saint Margaret is also the patron saint of pregnant people and those in childbirth despite being a virgin saint, apparently described in her vita and “her dying prayer that those who invoke her aid might be healed and, specifically, that women who employ a copy of the book as a protective amulet during childbirth will be delivered of a healthy child” (The Pearl in the Dragons Belly).
Is Saint Margaret still a saint?
Saint Margaret was canonized in the Catholic Church with a feast day of July 20th, though in 1969 “due to the fantastical nature of her story, and her cult like following, the Roman Catholic Church decided to suppress her story, under the leadership of Pope Paul VI” (Madonna Magdalene Muse). So if you are or know someone getting their confirmation soon and really want to wow them, think about choosing Saint Margaret for your saint name!
Sources:
“Fourteen Holy Helpers.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 21 Dec. 2022, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Holy_Helpers.
Johnson, K. “St. Margaret and the Dragon.” The Madonna, The Magdalene, and The Muse, Wordpress, 16 Apr. 2015, https://madonnamagdalenemuse.wordpress.com/christian-saints/st-margaret-and-the-dragon/.
“Margaret the Virgin.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 12 Mar. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_the_Virgin.
Museum, Victoria and Albert. “St Margaret and the Dragon: V&A Explore the Collections.” Victoria and Albert Museum: Explore the Collections, https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O187332/st-margaret-and-the-dragon-statue/#:~:text=St%20Margaret%20is%20shown%20with,the%20belly%20of%20a%20dragon.&text=The%20saints%20stands%2C%20her%20hands,which%20bites%20at%20her%20robe.
Nicole. “The Pearl in the Dragon's Belly.” Medieval Studies Research Blog Meet Us at the Crossroads of Everything, University of Notre Dame, 1 Dec. 2020, https://sites.nd.edu/manuscript-studies/2015/06/04/the-pearl-in-the-dragons-belly/.
O'Neil, Anna. “This Patron Saint of Pregnancy Is Too Hardcore for Words.” Aleteia, Wordpress, 1 Sept. 2018, https://aleteia.org/2018/09/01/this-patron-saint-of-pregnancy-is-too-hardcore-for-words/.