Today is the feast of Blessed Margaret of Savoy (? - 1464), laywoman (at least part of the time.) She was kind of like a Maria von Trapp in reverse: she married a European widower military officer with several children, and then went into the convent. She and her husband had no children together, but she raised his children by a former marriage as her own (let's hope she taught them to sing!) and engaged herself in works of mercy, including the difficult one of trying to relieve some of the victims of the famine in Genoa. After her husband Theodore's death, she found herself accosted by numerous suitors for such a (still) desirable hand, and endeavoring to strengthen her position as an un-remarried widow (she didn't desire another marriage), she took a vow of widowhood and a life of good works. One of her suitors (Philip Visconti of Milan) went to Pope Martin V to get her to change her mind, but she stood strong.
She took some women and girls under her wing as third-order Dominicans (she naturally inclined toward that order, since she was a great platonic friend of St. Vincent Ferrer), and they lived together in a life of quiet prayer, study and charitable works for some 25 years. With a new pope, she asked for the chance to incorporate and become nuns. This privilege was given, but it was not without (spiritual) cost. She was accused of hypocrisy, of tyrannizing over her nuns and even of rampant self-indulgence which supposedly caused her ill health. None of these statements was true. Finally, her little convent was accused of being a hotbed of Waldensianism and their spiritual director thrown in prison. She, livid, went to the castle to plead for justice, and not only was she not heard, she had her hand crushed between the heavy doors of the castle for her pains! The man was eventually vindicated, but it took some time. Margaret always remained serene and strong. Blessed Margaret of Savoy, pray for us.
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