Monday, February 22, 2016

St. Margaret of Cortona

St. Margaret is one my favorite saints. She lived openly for nine years as a wealthy man's mistress and had a child. Her lover was murdered and she sought help from the Franciscans. They took her in and one day she changed. Margaret rejected other men who offered to take her as their concubine and she began taking care of the sick free of charge. She became a Third Order Franciscan, founded a hospital and spent the next 29 years of her life doing penance. At first people laughed and expected her to go back to her old way of living and even accused her of attempting to seduce one of the monks but after a while they were so impressed by her life and talks that many people, changed their lives.