St. Margaret of Scotland

St. Margaret of Scotland was born around 1045, a princess of the exiled Anglo-Saxon royal house of England raised in Hungary, and died on 16 November 1093 at Edinburgh Castle. Following the Norman Conquest her family sought refuge in Scotland, where she married King Malcolm III. As queen she was a devoted wife and the mother of eight children, several of whom she raised to notable holiness and kingship, including St. David I of Scotland.

A woman of deep prayer, fasting, and personal austerity, she softened her husband's rough temperament and used her influence for the good of the Church and the poor, feeding orphans and washing the feet of beggars, and working to reform Scottish religious practice in harmony with the wider Church, including synods and the founding of churches and monasteries. She died just days after learning of the deaths of her husband and eldest son in battle. Canonized in 1250, she is honored as a patron saint of Scotland.