SAINT FEAST DAY 30 AUGUST: ST MARGARET WARD

SAINT MARGARET WARD, MARTYR

⬅️ Forty Holy Martyrs of England and Wales

St Margaret Ward, martyr, was born at Congleton, Cheshire. Nothing is known of her early life except that she was of good family and for a time dwelt in the house of a lady of distinction named Whitall then residing in London.

SHE FURNISHED HIM WITH A CORD WHETEBY HE COULD MAKE HIS ESCAPE

Knowing that William Watson, the priest who wrote the work known as the "Quodlibets", was imprisoned, she obtained permission to visit him. After several visits she disarmed the vigilance of the gaoler and furnished him with a cord whereby he could make his escape. At the appointed time the boatman whom she had engaged to convey the priest down the river refused to carry out his bargain, and in her distress she confided her difficulty to a young man, Venerable John Roche (or Neele), who undertook to assist her. He provided a boat and exchanged clothes with Watson, who made good his escape.

But the clothes betrayed John Roche, and the rope convinced the gaoler that Margaret Ward had been instrumental in the flight of the prisoner. They were both arrested and loaded with irons. Venerable Robert Southwell wrote:

SHE WAS FLOGGED AND HUNG UP BY THE WRISTS

She was flogged and hung up by the wrists, the tips of her toes only touching the ground, for so long a time that she was crippled and paralysed, but these sufferings greatly strengthened the glorious martyr for her last struggle.

She was tried and condemned at Newgate, her liberty being offered her if she would attend Protestant [government] worship.

St Margaret Ward was executed at Tyburn, London, on August 30, 1588.

Excerpts from Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913. "Saint" has been inserted afterwards instead of the original "Venerable", as beatification and canonisation took place in the meantime.

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that we who know how courageously your holy martyr Margaret confessed the faith, may experience his goodness as he intercedes for us with you. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

➡️ SS. Margaret Clitherow, Anne Line, and Margaret Ward, Martyrs

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