“The Magdalen of the Seraphic Order,” as St. Margaret is called, was born at Laviano, Italy. She lost her mother when a child, and was treated harshly by her stepmother. Her beauty as a young girl proved fatal…she lived with a nobleman for nine years, always cherishing the hope that he would marry her. She bore him a son who became a Franciscan friar…when the nobleman was murdered Margaret resolved to embrace a life of severest penance to expiate her sins. When her father closed his door against her, she sought refuge with the Franciscans in nearby Cortona. To repair the scandal she had given, she went to the church of Laviano one Sunday and with a rope around her neck publicly begged forgiveness of the people. Her steadfastness was tested for three years, and then she was admitted into the Third Order of Penance of St. Francis. Her life now became most austere and in the course of time she rose to great heights of contemplation. She gave much of her time to nursing the poor sick, for whom she founded a hospital and established a community of nursing Sisters. By her words and example, she converted many hardened sinners who came from all parts of Italy and even from France and Spain. After 29 years of penance, of trials and temptations, she was assured by our Lord, who called her “My daughter,” that all her sins were forgiven. She died, as her biographer states, “with jubilant heart and an angel-like countenance,” and to this day her body has remained incorrupt. A Saint a Day, pgs 40-41