Margaret of Antioch
The story of Margaret of Antioch (3rd century AD) is so fanciful that it was declared apocryphal by Pope Gelasius al long ago as 494. This did not prevent her popularity, however, especially amongst Crusading knights. According to her life, as told in Jacobus de Voragine’s Golden Legend (c.1260), Margaret was born to Theodosius, a pagan priest of Antioch, and was instantly sent to be brought up by a nurse. She converted to Christianity and was baptized in secret, thenceforth living in great fear of her father. When he found out, Theodosius banished her from her home.
Like so many other saints, Margaret became a poor shepherdess. Aged 15, she was spotted tending her sheep by the lascivious provost Olybrius, who intended to marry her as a concubine and thus commanded his servants to bring her to him. When he found out she was a Christian, Olybrius demanded that she convert to paganism or suffer torture. Margaret refused, replying: ‘thou shameless hound and insatiable lion, thou hast power over my flesh, but Christ reserveth my soul’. The provost, who did not wish to see her tortured after all, ordered her to be imprisoned instead.
Whilst in prison, the devil appeared to Margaret in many forms. She was swallowed whole by a great dragon in her cell, but caused it to burst asunder by making the sign of the cross. The devil then appeared as a man to tempt her to convert and save her life, but was again vanquished by the pugnacious Margaret: ‘she caught him by the head and threw him to the ground, and set her right foot on his neck saying: “Lie still, thou fiend, under the feet of a woman.”‘ The earth swallowed the devil back to hell.
The next day, Margaret was again ordered to convert. When she refused, she was thrown into a furnace and branded with hot irons, then dunked in a huge vat of water. ‘Suddenly the earth trembled, and the air was hideous, and the blessed virgin without any hurt issued out of the water… a dove descended from heaven, and set a golden crown on her head’. Olybrius demanded her beheading, but Margaret petitioned the executioner to allow her to pray. The prayer was audibly answered before she died; martyrdom won Margaret a place in heaven, and the Christian faith many converts.