Blind, Dwarfed, Deformed And Rejected, But Strong In His
Mighty Power
Compilation by John Warrener
Blessed
Margaret of Castello, O.P.
PRAYER
O my God, I thank you for having given
Blessed Margaret of Castello
to the world as an example of the degree of holiness that can be attained
by anyone who truly loves you, regardless of physical abnormalities. In
today's perverted culture, Margaret would have, most likely, never been
born; death through abortion being preferable to life, especially life in
an ugly distorted, twisted body. But Your ways are not the world's ways .
. . and so it was Your Will that Margaret would be born into the world
with just such a malformed body. It is Your way that uses our weakness to
give testimony to Your power. Margaret was born blind, so as to see You
more clearly; a cripple, so as to lean on You completely; dwarfed in
physical posture, so as to become a giant in the spiritual order;
hunch-backed, so as to more perfectly resemble the twisted, crucified body
of Your Son. Margaret's whole life was an enactment of the words
expressed by Paul: So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my
special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me and that is why
I am content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions
and the agonies I go through for Christ's sake. Fir it is when I am weak
that I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:10)
I beseech you, O God, to grant, through the intercession of Blessed
Margaret of Castello, that all the handicapped . . . and who among us is
not? . . . all the rejected, all the UNWANTED of this world, may make
their weaknesses their own special boast so that your power may stay over
them now and forever. Amen. Blessed Margaret of Castello, pray for us!
Imprimi Potest:
Very Rev. E.R. Daley, O.P.
Prior Provincial
Imprimatur:
+Thomas J. McDonough, D.D.
Archbishop of Louisville
5 December 1980
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1287 - 1320
The year was 1287, and the Lord and Lady of Metola in the Papal States
were expecting a baby. They hoped for a fine, strong son to be their heir,
or at least a beautiful daughter to marry off in an alliance. But the child
born to them was small for her age, with one leg shorter than the other, and
the infant was... not a pretty baby. Her parents ordered her to be hidden
away, to be seen only be a few servants. Perhaps they hoped thing would
improve as the child grew older. Instead they soon discovered the infant was
blind. And the child's right leg remained shorter than the left, so that
when she learned to walk she walked with a limp. Because of the limp (and
her poor care) she soon developed a hunchback. And she remained small for
her age, and beyond all that the ugly baby grew to be an ugly child, at
least in the eyes of her parents.
When Margaret grew a bit older the servants allowed her to walk about in
the castle as long as she avoided the areas most frequented by her parents.
Margaret soon learned her way around and could walk about independently.
This was well enough until the day Margaret came upon a noble guest and
nearly told the guest whose daughter she was. A servant found her and
stopped her in time, but her parents learned about the incident. They could
not allow this to happen again, for they could not bear to have it be known
that this creature was their daughter. They found a chapel in the forest,
and had a chamber built into the side. There Margaret was locked away at the
age of 6, alone but for the servant who brought her food and the priest that
was allowed to bring her the Eucharist. When these visitors were gone
Margaret was alone, with none to talk to but God and the birds outside her
prison.
Margaret passed full 12 years in her chamber in the woods, when war broke
out and Margaret was brought back to the castle for safekeeping. Soon peace
returned, and at the same time rumors also came to Metola, of miracles in
the town of Castello. A holy friar had died there, and at his tomb it was
said the sick were healed and the lame could walk. Well, thought Margaret's
parents, why not a blind hunchback cured? Margaret prayed so much, surely
she'd earned a favor from God. And what of them? They were, after all, the
Lord and Lady of Metola, surely God owed them a miracle after all He had put
them through. And so it was off to Castello, to the tomb of Fra Giacomo,
where they heard nothing but talk of miracles, and could see the crutches
abandoned, unneeded, at the church were the friar lay buried. There Margaret
was told to pray for a miracle, which she did from morning to night. But no
miracles came.
There Margaret's parents lost the last hope of having the daughter of
their ambitions. And there also they found justification to do what they had
long wished to do. For if God Himself had rejected Margaret, surely it was
their right to do the same. And so by night the Lord and Lady returned to
Metola, alone.
That night Margaret waited at the church for parents that never came. She
did not know the way back to the inn where they had stayed; and for anyone
to wander through the streets by night would have been foolish, much more a
blind woman unfamiliar with the city, and dressed in the clothes of a
noblewoman at that. Perhaps at first Margaret though her parents delayed, or
even worried that something had become of them. But as the night wore on,
she must have suspected they would not return, and wondered what would
become of her. Although her parents had little to offer her in the way of
love, they had at least provided her with food and clothes, and with
shelter, such as it was. There were few career opportunities in the 13th
century for a woman, or for anyone with Margaret's disabilities.
It was the beggars of the town who found her, took her in, and taught her
to be one of their own. They taught her the lay of the city, until she could
travel on her own. And she soon came to the attention of the general
populace, as well. One more beggar would have caused little notice, but a
blind hunchback midget appearing out of nowhere, not to mention a beggar
with the speech and manners of a noblewoman, was a curiosity indeed. Many
were suspicious of Margaret, but her kindness, cheerfulness, and piety won
over many people, and even convinced some of the people of the town to take
her into their homes. And they were rewarded, for Margaret was quick to help
with the chores, and especially skilled at caring for the children of
whatever family she stayed with. And whether by her prayers or her example,
Margaret was said to have a positive influence on the people she encountered
and the families she lived among.
And so Margaret traveled from home to home. In time, word of Margaret,
and of her religious devotion, reached one of the convents of Castello. The
sisters decided to invite Margaret to join them. Margaret was overjoyed at
the offer; firstly because she did not wish to be a burden on her hosts any
longer, and secondly because devoting herself to a life of prayer was
appealing to Margaret. Perhaps also she hoped the convent would provide the
home and family she had never truly had.
There was only one problem - Margaret was too devout. The sisters of the
convent had thought themselves to be doing a great service, taking this poor
crippled girl into their convent. But they soon found Margaret was working
harder than they were, praying more often than they were, and all around
making them look bad. Before long Margaret was back on the streets, having
been sent away from the convent as a "disruptive influence".
Through all this Margaret renown grew in the city, albeit not exclusively
for the better. Some took the convent's rejection as proof that Margaret was
nothing but a skilled beggar, playing on people's sympathy to part them from
their money and food. Still there were many who remained convinced that
Margaret was a holy woman, and she came to the attention of the Mantellatae.
The Mantellatae were lay members of the Dominican Order, women who wished to
participate in the work of the Dominican order without becoming nuns. They
were mostly widows who remained "in the world" and committed themselves to
regular prayer and service to the poor, sick, or prisoners. Some of their
number believed that Margaret should be invited to join them, but others
argued that she was too young. The Mantellate were widows or, in some cases,
older married women; young, unmarried women were never accepted into the
order for fear of scandal. But the Dominican Prior in Castello was convinced
that Margaret's character was such that an exception could be safely made in
her case. And so it was.
Shortly after joining the Mantellate, Margaret was adopted into the
household of a wealthy family of Castello. Up to this time she had moved
frequently from house to house, as none of her benefactors could afford to
support her for long. But now she remained with this family, and later one
other, for the remainder of her life. Her needs being taken care of by her
hosts, Margaret was free to devote herself to the care of the sick and
dying. In time she also began to visit the city prison. Her friends
protested, not wishing Margaret to be exposed to the rough company of
prisoners or to the disease that bred in the poor prison conditions. But
after a childhood imprisoned and treated as less than human by her parents,
Margaret had sympathy for the prisoners and wished to tend their needs and,
most of all, to remind them that despite their living conditions that they
were still human and children of God.
 Margaret
continued in these pursuits until her death on April 13, 1320, at the age of
33. She was immediately acclaimed to be a saint, but it was not until 1609
that she was formally declared Blessed, a precursor to being declared a
saint by the Catholic Church. Her cause was no doubt furthered after 1558,
when her body was disinterred and found to still be intact after 200 years.
And even unto the present day Margaret's body, judged to be "ugly" and
"deformed", has remained free from decay, centuries after the bodies of her
parents and so many others who judged her in life have crumbled to dust.
Sources:
- Bokenkotter, T. A Concise History of the Catholic Church, Revised
Edition. Image Books, Garden City, NY, 1979.
- Bonniwell, William R. The Life of Blessed Margaret of Castello:
1287-1320. Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., Rockford, IL, 1979.
Index
Edmund LoPresti eflst4+@pitt.edu
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