Margaret of Hungary

Margaret of Hungary ( Hungarian Árpád-házi Szent Margit ; * 1242 at Klissza Castle (now Klis in Croatia ); † January 18, 1270 in Buda (now part of Budapest , Hungary )) was a daughter of the Hungarian King Béla IV and his wife Maria Laskaris of Nicaea . She entered the Dominican order , where she led a holy life. In 1943 she was canonized .

Life

In 1241 the Mongols invaded Eastern Europe under Batu Khan and devastated Poland and Hungary, among others . Béla IV had to flee to Croatia. He and his wife took the vow to consecrate their expected child to the clergy if Hungary were freed from the Mongol occupation. The child, Margareta, was born in the fortress of Klissza in Croatia in 1242. In the same year the Mongols withdrew from Europe to the east due to the death of the great khan Ögedei . Thus, the wish of Bélas IV came true and he in turn kept his oath and in 1246 handed the four-year-old Margaret over to the care of the Dominican convent in Veszprém .

In 1252 Margareta was assigned a monastery built by her father as a new place of residence, which was to become her lifelong place of activity and which was located on the Rabbit Island near Buda in the Danube . Today this island is called Margaret Island after her and belongs to Budapest. Margareta remained true to her resolve to live a virgin life for the sake of the kingdom of heaven and, for example, refused the hand of the Polish Duke Boleslaw the Chaste . Although the Pope would have given a dispensation to enter into marriage, Margareta also opposed her father's request, who wanted her to marry King Ottokar II of Bohemia for political reasons . At the age of twelve she made her profession before the master of the order Humbert von Romans.

A detailed account of the sacred life of the king's daughter is provided by the legend of St. Margaret , which was probably written in Latin in the 14th century and soon translated into Hungarian , of which only a copy from around 1510 is available today. Her aunt Elisabeth von Thuringia , who probably served as a model, had already led a similar life . Margareta renounced all privileges and honors that would have been due to her royal descent, instead led a humble life in the strictest poverty, devoted herself entirely to the veneration of God and the Virgin Mary and scourged herself in order to understand the martyrdom of the crucified Savior. She wore only very simple robes, did the basest work and lovingly served her fellow sisters and the servants of the monastery (all of whom she washed the feet of on Maundy Thursday ). She also helped with cooking and caring for the sick. She had special compassion for the poor. She subjected herself to harsh penances, sleep deprivation, and fasting, and often sank into prayer. Her extremely ascetic life was so bad for her health that she died in 1270 at the age of just 28. She is said to have predicted the day of her death.

Margareta was buried in her monastery. When the Dominican Order was dissolved, their relics were given to the Poor Clares and kept first in Pozsony (now Bratislava ), then in Buda. In 1789 they were partially destroyed; The surviving relics are now in Esztergom , Győr and Pannonhalma .

canonization

Since Margareta was venerated as a saint during her lifetime , numerous people made pilgrimages to her grave soon after Margareta's death. The process for her canonization was initiated as early as 1271 . Margareta was ascribed 74 miracles , including healing the sick and even raising the dead. In 1276 she was beatified . Pope Pius XII Margareta canonized on November 19, 1943 - the feast day of her aunt Elisabeth of Thuringia. Her feast day is January 18th .

Representation in the fine arts

In the fine arts, Margareta is often depicted in the costume of a nun and with a white lily (symbol of virgin purity). Since she had rejected the marriage proposals of three rulers , a crown lying at her feet is sometimes found as a further iconographic saint's attribute.

literature

• I. Orbán: Margareta 1) . In: Lexicon of the Middle Ages . Volume 6 (1993), Col. 232.
• Ekkart Sauser :  Margaret of Hungary. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 14, Bautz, Herzberg 1998, ISBN 3-88309-073-5 , Sp. 1238-1240.

Web links

Commons : Margaret of Hungary  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature by and about Margaret of Hungary in the catalog of the German National Library
• Margaret of Hungary in the Ecumenical Lexicon of Saints
• Blessed Margaret of Hungary in the Catholic Encyclopedia