Page:A Dictionary of Saintly Women Volume 2.djvu/27

ST. MARGARET 15 There were many holy anchorites liying in cells or caves in different parts of Scotland. These the queen occasionally visited, conversing with them and commending herself to their prayers. It was not uncommon in the ancient Celtic Church for devout secular persons to withdraw for a time from association with the rest of the world; they devoted themselves entirely to prayer and meditation for a long or short season, and then returned to the ordinary duties of life. A cave is still shown, not far from Dunfermline, where tradition says this holy queen used to resort for solitude and prayer. Her abstinence was so great and her care for her own needs or gratification so small that her feast days were like the fast days of others. She fasted so strictly that she suffered acutely all her life from pain in the stomach, but she did not lose her strength. She observed two lenten seasons in each year — the forty days before Easter, and the forty days before Christmas. During these periods of self-denial, her biographer says that after sleeping for a short time at the beginning of the night, she went into the church and said alone three sets of Matins, then the Offices of the Dead, then the whole Psalter, which lasted until the priests had said Matins and Lauds. She then returned to her room and there, assisted by the king, she washed the feet of six poor persons who were brought there by the chamber- lain. After this, she '* permitted her body to take a Uttel slepe or nodde " (Horstmann). When it was morning she began her works of mercy again ; while the psalms were being read to her, nine little destitute orphans were brought, and she took each on her lap and fed it with her own spoon. While she was feeding the babies, three hundred poor persons were brought into the hall and seated all round it. As soon as Margaret and the king came in, the doors were shut, only the chaplains and a few attendants beiug present while the king and queen waited upon Christ in the person of His poor, serving them with food and drink. After this meal, the queen used to go into the church and there, with tears and sighs and many prayers, she offered herself a sacrifice to God, In addition to the *' Hours," on the great festivals, she used to repeat the Psalter two or three times, and before the public Mass she had five or six private Masses sung in her presence. It was then time for her own dinner, but before she touched it she waited on the twenty-four poor people who were her daily care at all seasons ; wherever she happened to be, they had to be lodged near the royal residence. She had a Gospel Book which she particularly prized and often read. It had beautiful illuminated pictures, all the capital letters shining with gold. One of her people, when passing through a stream let it fall into the water, but was not aware of his loss and went on. By-and-bye the book was missing and was looked for everywhere, and even- tually found at the bottom of the stream; the pieces of silk that were between the leaves to prevent the letters rubbing against each other were washed away ; the leaves were shaken to and fro by the movement of the water, but not a letter was obliterated. She gave thanks for its restoration and prized it more than ever. This book, with the water stain on the last leaf, is now in the Bodleian Library. For more than six months before her death, Margaret could not ride on horse- back and was often confined to bed. Shortly before her death, the king, against her advice, made a raid into Northumberland, where he and her eldest son, Edward, were slain. The queen, who remained in the castle of Edinburgh, had a presentiment of it, and said to those that were with her, " Perhaps this day a greater evil has happened to Scotland than any that has befallen it for a long time." Four days after this, she felt a little better and went into her oratory to hear Mass and receive the Holy Communion. She then returned to bed, and growing rapidly worse, begged Turgot and the others who were present to keep commending her soul to Christ with psalms. She asked thom to bring her the black rood, which she had brought from Hungary