April 13 + Saint Margaret of Castello

Margaret was born in Florence, Italy, in 1287. Because she was dwarfed, blind, hunchbacked and lame, Margaret was kept hidden by her parents throughout her childhood. Only her parish priest was allowed to visit her. He taught her about God’s love and the Catholic faith and he brought her Holy Communion. Receiving Jesus’ Body and Blood took away her loneliness because she knew Jesus was always with her.

When she was a teenager, her parents took her to a Franciscan shrine in Castello. They prayed that Margaret would be healed during their pilgrimage. When she was not, they abandoned her, leaving her alone in the strange city.

The people of Castello reached out to Margaret. Homeless people taught her to beg. Even though she slept in doorways or empty buildings, she never complained. In time she met men and women who were lay members of the Dominican order. They prayed together and performed good works for people in need. They invited Margaret to join them in their ministry.

In spite of her physical difficulties, Margaret visited prisoners, helped the sick, and comforted people who were suffering. Soon everyone in the city of Castello knew about Margaret and admired her. The holy death of Margaret occurred on April 13, 1320, when she was 33 years of age. After her death, more than two hundred miracles occurred in confirmation of her heroic sanctity.

The preliminary steps toward the cause of her beatification were undertaken by the Dominican Order, but at various times it languished, until it was almost forgotten. During the sixteenth century, interest in her cause was rekindled after the discovery of her incorrupt body. In 1558, the bishop authorized the transfer of her body to a new coffin after it was noticed that the original one was rotting away.

The exhumation was undertaken in the presence of a number of official witnesses who were awe-stricken when the coffin was opened. While the clothing on the body had crumbled to dust, the body itself was found to be perfectly preserved, as though Margaret had just died. It was obvious that she had been a dwarf — her body measuring only four feet long and her head was rather large in proportion to the rest of her thin figure.

The witnesses noticed that Margaret's hands and feet were small, that the right leg was an inch and a half shorter than the left (which caused her to walk with a limp) and that the arms were crossed in front of the body, with the left arm and hand being slightly raised without support. The body was thoroughly examined by physicians, who declared that no chemicals had been used to preserve it.

Margaret had often been heard to say, "Oh, if you only knew what I have in my heart!" Inside her heart physicians found three pearls on which appeared to be carved religious symbols, and the images of Our Lord, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and Saint Joseph.

The body of Saint Margaret, which has never been embalmed, is dressed in a Dominican habit, and lies under the high altar of the Church of Saint Domenico at Citta-di-Castello, Italy. The arms of her body are still flexible, her eyelashes are present, and her nails are in place on the hands and feet. The coloring of her body has darkened slightly and the skin is dry and somewhat hardened, but by all standards the preservation can be considered a remarkable condition, having endured for 700 years.