Margaret of Cortona (1247–1297)

Biography

She was twenty-eight years old and the mother of a small child. The Count of Montepulcino, with whom he had lived since he was eighteen, was murdered. Her father generously wanted to welcome her into his home, but her stepmother had hated her since she was a child and refused to welcome her. The Franciscans of Cortona took pity on them and Brother Giunta Bevegnatti became her spiritual director and received her into the Tertiary Order. A rich family set up a cell for him at the end of their garden and the Order of the Minor Brothers took care of the boy, who later also entered the Order. The inhabitants of Cortona began to realize that the beautiful penitent was a saint and to venerate her, but Margaret never forgot or stopped asking for forgiveness for her past life. She spent the last years of her life in a hermitage on Mount Egidio, totally devoted to contemplation, and received many graces from Our Lord.