Who was St. Margaret?

There are several saints called Margaret and we have no record of which particular one was chosen as our patron saint or why!  However, for many years we have regarded ‘our’ Margaret as being St Margaret of Antioch, a virgin martyr who is supposed to have lived in the 4th century, in the reign of Diocletian, and was the daughter of a pagan priest. 

The story goes that when she became a Christian at the age of 15, her father turned her out of her home and she lived as a shepherdess.  When she rejected the advances of Olybrius, prefect of Antioch, he denounced her as a Christian and she was then tortured and eventually beheaded.  One of the ordeals she is said to have endured is being confronted by Satan in the form of a dragon who tried to devour her, but the cross of Christ she was wearing swelled up so large in his mouth that he could not swallow and she emerged unscathed.  That is why our symbol shows a cross in a dragon’s mouth.

The feast day of St. Margaret of Antioch is on July 20th, so we celebrate our patronal festival on the nearest Sunday to that date.