The King's Hostage

Saint Margaret of Hungary: A Tale of Vows and Sanctity
$30.00
Qty:
The King's Hostage
Saint Margaret of Hungary: A Tale of Vows and Sanctity
by E. Virginia Newell

St. Margaret of Hungary, OP (Margit in Hungarian; January 27, 1242 – January 18, 1270) was a Dominican nun and the daughter of King Béla IV of Hungary and Maria Laskarina. The 8th child of ten, she was the younger sister of St. Kinga of Poland (Kunegunda) and St. Yolanda of Poland and, through her father, the niece of the famed St. Elizabeth of Hungary. She was a member of the illustrious Arpad family who gave many great rulers and saints to the world over 300 years. Among them are the famous King St. Stephen crowned in 1000 AD as well as St. Irene, and two other St. Elizabeths.

Margaret was born during the Mongol invasion of Hungary (1241–42). Her parents vowed that if Hungary was liberated from the Mongols, they would dedicate the child to religion. The three  year old Margaret was entrusted by her parents to the Dominican monastery at Veszprém in 1245. Six years later she was transferred to the Monastery of the Blessed Virgin founded by her parents on Nyulak Szigete (Rabbit Island) near Buda (today Margaret Island, named after her, and a part of Budapest; the ruins of the monastery can still be seen). She spent the rest of her life there, dedicating herself to religion and opposing all attempts of her father to arrange a political marriage for her with King Ottokar II of Bohemia.

She lived in total humility, engaging in the most menial tasks even in the winter when her hands bled from the cold. She constantly fasted and refused nice clothes and royal comforts, remarking that she preferred the odor of sanctity when dead to smelling sweet only when alive. She spent her days in prayer, in devotion to the Eucharist, and caring for the poor, lavishing on them whatever gifts her royal family sent her.

This is her story.

Paperback, size 7" x 5.25", 80 pages, illustrated
  • Availability: 1 In Stock