Margaret of Lorraine

Margaret of Lothringen , French Marguerite de Lorraine (* 1463 at Vaudémont Castle ( Lorraine ), † November 2, 1521 in Argentan ) was a Duchess of Alençon and a member of the Third Order of St. Francis and is venerated as a blessed in the Roman Catholic Church .

Life

Margarete was the daughter of Count Frederick II of Vaudémont and his wife Jolande von Anjou . Since her father died in 1470, she spent the next ten years of her childhood and youth at the court of her maternal grandfather, René I of Anjou , in Avignon . Like her siblings, she was raised very religiously. After the death of her grandfather, she returned to Lorraine in 1480 to the court of her brother René II. There she was favorably influenced by her sister-in-law Philippa von Geldern .

At the age of 25, Margaret married Duke René von Alençon on May 14, 1488 in Toul . The marriage had three children:

• Charles IV (* 1489; † 1525), Duke of Alençon, husband of Margaret of Navarre
• Françoise (1490 - 14 September 1550), first wife of Duke Francis II of Longueville , then of Duke Charles IV of Vendome
• Anne (October 30, 1492 - October 18, 1562), wife of Margrave Wilhelm XI. from Montferrat

René von Alençon showed great understanding for the religious exercises of his wife Margarete and founded a Poor Clare monastery for her in Alençon, which she often visited for prayer. René von Alençon died after just four years of marriage (November 1, 1492). His widow ruled the country prudently, prudently and fairly for almost 20 years. In particular, she devoted herself to the righteous upbringing and proper marriage of her children. At that time she began to lead an ascetic life under the influence of her friend, St. Franz von Paula . She founded numerous churches and Poor Clare monasteries and also had hospitals built for the poor and the sick.

After the marriage of her eldest son Charles IV (1509), Margarete withdrew from court life and since then has pursued a purely spiritual career. In her castle Essai near Sées, however , she chastised herself so much that the Bishop of Sées admonished her to moderate. In 1513 she joined the Third Order of St. Francis in Mortagne. In 1519 she entered the Poor Clare Monastery in Argentan, which she had founded, but did not want to become its abbess, but led a simple and celibate life. On October 11, 1520, she took her religious vows. On November 2, 1521, she died at the age of 58 in her convent in Argentan and was buried there.

Through her daughter Françoise, Margarete became the great-grandmother of the French King Henry IV.

beatification

King Louis XIII of France suggested that Pope Urban VIII set in motion a process of beatification for Margaret, examining the virtuous life of the Duchess of Alençon and the miracles allegedly caused by her. Her grave was opened on October 19, 1624; her body is said to have been found intact. But the beatification process did not come to an end. When her church was closed, Margaret's remains were transferred to the church of St. Germain d'Argentan, but in 1793, after the outbreak of the French Revolution , they were desecrated by the Jacobins and buried in a public cemetery. Pope Benedict XV on March 10, 1921 officially confirmed the cult of Margarete as Blessed of the Catholic Church. Her death day, November 2nd, was set as her feast day.

literature

• Margaret of Lorraine (1463-1521) . In: Anne Commire (Ed.): Women in World History . Vol. 10 (2001), p. 270.
• Kaulen: Margaretha of Lorraine . In: Wetzer and Weltes Kirchenlexikon . Volume 7, Col. 694f.

Web links

• Blessed Margaret of Lorraine in the Catholic Encyclopaedia of 1913