O GOD, who didst call thy servant Margaret to an earthly throne that she might advance thy heavenly kingdom, towards thy people: Mercifully grant that we who commemorate her example may be fruitful in good works, and attain to the glorious fellowship of thy saints, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Margaret was the grand-daughter of the English King, Edmmund Ironside and was born in exile and brought to England in 1057. After the Norman Conquest in 1066, she sought refuge in Scotland, where about 1070 she married the King, Malcolm III. She and her husband rebuilt the monastery of Iona and founded the Benedictine Abbey at Dunfermline.
In her life she encouraged the founding of schools, hospitals, and orphanages. She argued in favour of the practice of receiving the Holy Communion frequently. When her husband was killed in 1093, she herself died of grief a few days later.
