About Saint Margaret of Castello
(Courtesy Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia)
Born in the fourteenth century in Metola, Italy the birth of this girl was a great disappointment to her parents, who wanted a son. but when it turned out that the newborn girl was blind, hunchbacked dwarf, she was kept in a secluded section of the family castle in the hopes that her existence would be kept secret.
Her father had a room without a door built onto the side of the parish church and walled Margaret inside this room. Here she lived until she was sixteen, never being allowed to come out. Her food and other necessities were passed in to her through a window. Another window into the church allowed her to hear Mass and receive Holy Communion. The parish priest became a good friend, and took upon himself the duty to educate her. He was amazed at her docility and the depth of her spiritual wisdom.
When Margaret was sixteen years old, her parents heard of a shrine in Citta di Castello, Italy, where many sick people were cured. They made a pilgrimage to the shrine so that she could pray for healing. However, Margaret, open to the will of God, was not healed that day, or the next, so her parents callously abandoned her in the streets of the town and left for home, never to see her again. At the mercy of the passersby, Margaret had to beg her food and eventually sought shelter with nuns of the order of Dominican Sisters of Saint Cecilia.
W. R. Bonniwell writes, “Her cheerfulness, based on her trust in God’s love and goodness, was extraordinary. She became a Dominican tertiary and devoted herself to tending the sick and the dying” as well as prisoners in the city jail.Bl. Margaret died on April 13, 1320 at the age of 33. More than 200 miracles have been credited to her intercession since her death. She was beatified in 1609. Thus, the daughter that nobody wanted is now one of the glories of the Church. Her Feast Day is celebrated on April 13.
About the Shrine of Saint Margaret of Castello in Columbus, Ohio:
The Blessed Margaret Novena and Canonization Prayers are offered along with the veneration of her relic each Wednesday, following the 11:45am mass.
There has been a special devotion to Bl. Margaret of Castello at St. Patrick Church since the early 1930’s. Following the “Great Fire of 1935,” Fr. James McKenna, O.P. established the Bl. Margaret Guild and Shrine. There was an expansion of the Shrine as a separate chapel in the back of St. Patrick in the renovations of the 1970’s.
There is space for prayer and mediation and the opportunity to offer a blessed candle.
Finding the Shrine of Saint Margaret of Castello in Columbus, Ohio:
Address: 280 N Grant Ave, Columbus, OH 43215
email: director@littlemargaret.org
Click here for the official website of the Saint Margaret of Costello shrine.
⇐ Back to Catholic shrines & places of interest in Columbus, Ohio
