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St. Margaret and the Dragon
by Marge Gower
St. Margaret’s feast day is July 20. A feast day is yearly celebration of a martyr. Margaret was born in Antioch. Her father, Adesius, was a pagan priest. A pagan is someone who worships more than one God. Margaret’s mother died, when she was an infant. From then on, a nurse instructed Margaret in the Christian faith and she became a devout Christian. When Margaret’s father learned she was a Christian, he drove her out of the house. She had to earn her living as a shepherdess.
One day, a Roman soldier arrived in Antioch to persecute the Christians and he imprisoned Margaret. St. Margaret was a beautiful girl and the soldier fell in love with her. He wanted her to be one of his wives. He questioned her in front of the village, offering her the happiness of being one of his wives, but she had to give up her faith or to be tortured. She answered the soldier by telling him that she had found true life and happiness with God. He was in her heart and no on could remove him. St. Margaret said she adored, glorified, and worshiped Jesus Christ and would never cease honoring him. She told the soldier that no torture would be able to remove Jesus from her heart.
The soldier was angry. He had her scourged and suspended her in the air by her hands. People pleaded with the soldier to spare her, so he threw her into the dungeon. According to a legend, the devil came to the dungeon and tempted her in the form of a dragon. She made the sign of the cross and he disappeared. Later the dragon came back and swallowed her whole. She was able to burst out of the womb of the dragon. This legend is what made St. Margaret the Patron Saint of Expectant Mothers.
©2011Mical Hutson
Eventually, the soldier had St. Margaret beheaded. When the soldiers led St. Margaret out to her death, she thanked God that the end of her suffering had come. She also prayed, because of her miraculous release out of the womb of the dragon, mothers giving birth might pray for her intercession that their child be delivered safely, just as she had been from the dragon.
St. Margaret might be on you church’s stain glassed windows. She will have a dragon at
her feet, with the end of a cross thrust between her teeth. She has a wreath of pearls worn
around her neck. This is because the name Margaret means Pearl. St. Margaret was truly one
of God’s pearls.
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