SAINT OF THE DAY
TUESDAY, 26 MARCH, 2024
SAINT MARGARET CLITHEROW
(1556 – 25 March, 1586)
Margaret was born in 1556 in England. She was raised as a Protestant, a member of the Church of England, but after her marriage to John Clitherow, she made the decision to become Catholic. It was a brave decision, because Margaret lived during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, who wanted to rid England of all Catholics and the practice of the Catholic faith.
Margaret's husband did not become Catholic, but he supported her decision. John even paid the fines Margaret was charged for not attending Protestant services in their local church. Margaret had two hiding places built in their home. One was a small room, large enough for several priests to hide from the authorities looking to arrest any members of the clergy. The other secret place in Margaret's house was a small cupboard. In it she kept the sacred vessels, including a chalice and paten and vestments—anything a priest would need to celebrate the Eucharist.
Catholics came secretly to Margaret's house for celebrations of the Mass and for the reception of the other Sacraments. We believe that Margaret and John's three children were baptized there as infants. The home was searched often because the authorities suspected that Margaret was breaking the laws against Catholics.
Margaret made plans to send her oldest son to France so that he could receive a Catholic education. This, too, was a crime. Someone reported Margaret, and she was arrested in 1586 for harboring priests. She refused to admit that she had broken any laws. Margaret was found guilty and sentenced to death at the age of 30.
Margaret was executed by being crushed to death on Good Friday in March 25, 1586. The two sergeants who were assigned to kill her, could not, and hired four desperate beggars to kill her. She was stripped and had a handkerchief tied across her face, then laid out upon a sharp rock the size of a man's fist, a door was put on top of her and slowly loaded with an immense weight of rocks and stones. It took her 15 minutes to die as she was crushed with rocks and stones. Her last words were “Jesu! Jesu! Jesu! have mercy on me!”
Her death occurred in fifteen minutes, but she was left as an example for six hours until the weight was removed. Her hand was saved following her death and is now a relic in the chapel of the Bar Convent in York. After her execution, Queen Elizabeth I, wrote to the citizens of York to say that she should never have been executed due to her being a woman.
Margaret's great faith was an inspiration to all three of her children. Her daughter, Anne, became a nun, and her two sons, Henry and William, both became priests.
A plaque was installed at the end of the Ouse Bridge in 2008, to mark the site of her martyrdom. She was beatified in 1929, by Pope Pius XI and canonized in 1970 by Pope Paul VI along with martyrs from England and Wales. This group of candidates that were canonized are commonly called, “The Forty Martyrs of England and Wales”. She is sometimes referred to as the “Pearl of York.”
The house believed to have been hers is now called the Shrine of the St. Margaret Clitherow and is open to the public.
PATRONAGE: Business Women, Converts, Martyrs, Catholic Women's League.
NOVENA PRAYER: Dear Lord Jesus, give us the courage and grace not only to live holy lives, but to be willing to die holy deaths as St. Margaret of Clitherow did. We thank you, dear Lord, for the examples of your holy saints. May we follow in their footsteps. In Your holy name we pray. Amen.