Margaret of Scotland Marvellous Era

Saint Margaret of Scotland

Fr. Patrick,

Thank you, Fr. Patrick,for the blessings of our patron

---- Forwarded Message ----
From: father patrick . . .
Sent: Sun, November 15, 2009 6:15:36 PM
Subject: St Margaret of Scotland Feast Day

Greetings and Peace!

I greet you as you prepare to celebrate

The Feast day of St Margaret of Scotland.

We thank God

for this wonderful woman, her faith

and her example for us.

We pray

for you,

and yours

and for Scotland at this time.

Sincerely in the Lord,

Father Patrick

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During the hours of the Divine Office, Vigils, Lauds and Lauds the hymn we use for St. Margaret was the one composed by the late Br. Andrew. His words are the ardent expression of his love of the Saint.

Hymn to St. Margaret, Queen of Scotland by Brother Andrew.

Sing for a mother on her blessed feast day
who in her children gave the Lord of heaven
sons to be servants, maids to do him honour,
hearts to adore him.

Pearl of great price and held by God as treasure;
driven by tempest from a distant country
here to our homeland he in mercy brought her,
children to nurture.

Wed to a warrior; tamed his savage nature;
urged him to mercy; curbed his deadly anger;
melted to pity his avenging fury:
queenly ruled o'er him.

Homeless and helpless, pilgrims poor and needy,
tenderly cared for; motherly caressed them,
cleansed their. and nourished; lovingly consoled them;
gentle her reigning.

Trinity holy, Father, Son and Spirit,
bless this our country; grant we may together,
one in our worship with our saintly mother,
praise you for ever.
Amen

Memorial
Brother ANDREW William McCahill
born 16 Nov. 1912
entered 8 Dec. 1946
professed 3 July 1949
died 9 Jan. 1987

The picture shows Br. Andrew, working as the electrician in the construction of the monastery. Before entering as the first novice to enter the foundation of Nunraw, he worked at the renowned Ship Building docks of Clydeband, Glasgow.
He always carried the consequence of the injury of electical accident - not treated to the standard of caring.

The Saint of the Day 16th November St. Margaret of Scotland Biographical selection: St. Margaret was Queen of Scotland. Her father, Edward Atheling, was the Saxon heir to the throne of England, and her mother was a German princess, the descendant of Emperors. Like the strong woman of the Gospel, the practice of Catholic virtues made her still more illustrious. After the Norman Conquest, many members of the English nobility, including Margaret, found refuge in the court of Malcolm III of Scotland. In 1070 Malcolm married Margaret and made her Queen of Scotland. Margaret impressed the Scottish court both with her knowledge of continental customs and also with her piety. For the love of God she imposed upon herself severe mortifications, leaving aside the superfluous and often even the necessary. She influenced her husband and son to govern better and introduced Catholic customs, manners and ceremony to the Scottish court. She raised her sons in great piety and one, David, was later canonized. Above all she excelled in her zealous charity for her neighbour. She was called “the mother of orphans” and “the bursar for the poor of Jesus Christ.” In 1093, after six months of great physical suffering, she delivered her soul to God in Edinburgh. The sanctity of her life and the numerous miracles she worked both in her life and after her death made her famous worldwide. In 1673 Pope Clement X named her the patroness of Scotland, over which she had reigned for almost a quarter century. Comments of Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira: (Marvellous Era . . .) The life of St. Margaret prompts me to comment on the spirit of the marvellous in the Middle Ages. I am not speaking of the marvellous as a fable or tale, as something unfeasible, but of the marvellous as something that can become reality. The foggy Scotland of that time was still far from being a civilized nation. In many senses it was still barbarian. Then, in that rough environment a flower bloomed. Divine Providence brought to that Island a Princess of the most illustrious blood, who had in her the best of Western Civilization. Further, she herself was a saintly woman, a valiant wife, and a wonderful mother who raised her children perfectly, interceded for her people, and became known for her constant and generous alms. She also worked miracles. And she did all this under the prestige and unction of the royal crown. This ensemble of facts communicates a message to us: that the marvellous, the extraordinary, the stupendous can be realized in this world. This fact is drawn from the fullness of that Catholic principle (the axiological principle) which says that when everything is ordered, good, true and sublime, it generates the realization of the plan of God on this earth. The life of St. Margaret sends us a message that is the opposite of the minimalism sustained by many Catholics of our days. That is to say, today, when a person manages to reform and become a little less bad, this is already considered a triumph. In the time of St. Margaret the apostolate was maximalist. The goal was for the queens and kings to become nothing less than saints. And, in fact, many queens, like St. Margaret of Scotland, were saints and spread the precious perfume of Jesus Christ throughout society, creating an atmosphere of the marvellous in Catholic Civilization. We can understand this atmosphere when we consider the medieval stained glass windows. When we enter the world portrayed in those stained glass windows, we see a Queen presented in a world of multiple brilliant colours - gold, ruby, emerald. This gives us an idea of how the medievals used to think about life, for instance, the life of St. Margaret of Scotland. One of the advantages of this search for the marvellous is that it fills the soul of the people with what is correct and upright. That is, it fills the soul with the marvellous world of Our Lord Jesus Christ and its extension into the temporal sphere. When such values do not pervade the souls of people, they begin to travel in the wrong direction. They start to create idols like movie stars, rock singers, football players, and so on, to replace the real models that should be admired. We can see how blessed the Middle Ages was with its correct models and admiration for the marvellous. In the opposite sense, we can see how it is a chastisement for us to no longer have these models. We should long for the time when this admiration for the marvellous will be restored, which will be the Reign of Mary. Let us pray to St. Margaret of Scotland to help us merit the coming of this new marvellous era. (www.traditioninaction DOT org/SOD/j077sdMargaret4-10.htm)

COMMENT

Dear . . . Thank you Fr for forwarding this article. As you can imagine I was very interested in seeing Br Andrew's photo. I vaguely remember seeing him many years ago at Compline. His electrical work has lasted all these years with only very minor alterations. A good job well done. It is more remarkable considering Br Andrew found solace at an Abbey having spent time in the "yards" I can assure you Fr that the ship yards would have been a very unpleasant place of work for a Catholic man in the 40's. "A diamond in the rough" I hope the community are all well. Please pass my regards, hope to see you all very soon. Robert

Dear . . . Greetings. We were very interested in Margaret of Scotland as we had not heard of her before untill Mass yesterday and because of the Scottish connection we were interested so we now have the full story. All well here. Regards, Michael.

Dear . . . It's great to see an article by Plinio Correa de Oliviera in your blog. I am sure he will be recognised as one of the greatest saints of the last century in the years to come. God bless, Neil

Dear . . . Thank you for this wonderful account of St Margaret of Scotland, which I will forward to some of my friends and . . .. I have saved it my Documents. Yours in the Lord, Jane