St. Margaret was raised in a poor family in Tuscany. After the death of her mother, when she was eleven, her new stepmother turned her out of the house. Eventually she eloped with a young nobleman, who kept her as his mistress. Though he would not marry her, she was faithful to him and bore a son. But when he was murdered, she took this as a sign of God’s judgment. Penniless, she returned to her father’s house, but he would not accept her back. Now homeless, as well as destitute, she made her way to Cortona, where she had heard of the compassion of the Franciscan friars. There she introduced herself by walking through town with a rope around her neck, a sign of her penitence. The friars urged her to quit this spectacle and curbed her tendency to extreme asceticism. Eventually they accepted her as a Franciscan tertiary. With other women she formed a nursing community, caring for the sick and the poor. Nevertheless, stories of her former life continued to generate gossip. She observed, “I see more Pharisees among Christians than surrounded Pilate.”

Over time, as stories spread of her holiness and miracles, as well as her private colloquies with Christ, she attracted more positive attention. The Franciscans urged her to embark on a public crusade to call sinners to conversion. Consequently, penitents from all over Italy, and as far as France and Spain, made their way to Cortona to hear her spiritual discourses.

She died on February 22, 1297, and was canonized in 1728.

“Show now that thou art converted; call others to repentance. . . . The graces I have bestowed on thee are not meant for thee alone.”

—A message from the Lord to St. Margaret of Cortona