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Blessed Margaret of Castello: Made Beautiful with Love
(1287-1320)
Christ calls forth men and women from all walks of life to be saints. There are saints who were rich and those who were poor. Some lived to a ripe old age and some died when they were very young. Some saints were blessed with relatively good health while others suffered from sickness. And some were extremely bright and intelligent while others were thought to be stupid and ignorant. Bl. Margaret of Castello, whose feast day is celebrated on April 13th, could not be placed in one of the categories above, she was entirely unique.
The reason why I believe Margaret is unique is because she was born blind and suffered from a deformed leg, one leg was shorter than the other. Unfortunately, these physical handicaps led Margaret's parents, who were part of the nobility, to treat her with contempt. They could not accept a daughter who was blind and deformed, in their eyes she was undesirable.
One day, Margaret's mother, after hearing about numerous miracles occurring at the tomb of a holy priest, decided to take Margaret to the tomb. Both Margaret's father and mother accompanied her to the tomb and left her there the entire day to pray hoping that God would perform a miracle. When Margaret's parents returned they could see that Margaret was still blind and deformed and so they left her at the tomb and headed home without her. Margaret would never hear from her parents again.
Though abandoned by her parents, God never abandoned Margaret. He sent poor beggars and various families within the city of Castello to befriend her and take her in. Margaret eventually joined a convent of nuns and became a religious. But that soon ended when she was dismissed and thrown out. Soon after she met up with some women, for the most part widows, who were part of the Dominican third order and joined them to lead a life of prayer and service, namely caring for the poor and the sick.
So what was so special about Margaret's life? What makes Margaret's life so unique and at the same time beautiful is the fact that she gave more to those she came in contact with than she ever received. What could she possibly give to others? To put it simply, God's love. Margaret took the words of Jesus to heart and followed the two greatest commandments - to love God and to love neighbor. She never used her blindness and deformity as an excuse to take advantage of others. No, she always focused her attention on Christ and though blind saw Jesus in others, which became the catalyst behind her ability to share God's love with all. And this is precisely what Margaret did; she loved! Let us follow her example and strive to love our neighbor as we love God. For as St. Alphonsus Ligouri once wrote, "If you want to know how much you love God, just look at how much you love your neighbor."