St
John's Church, Ainsdale
St
John's Church, Ainsdale
Stained Glass Windows - St Margaret
This
is the St Margaret window, showing St Margaret victorious over a dragon, holding
it at bay with a long cross. The scene at the base of the window shows her beheading.
It is the oldest window in the Church, it dates from 1922 and was given in memory
of Mary Louisa Tibbats (1843-1918). It was designed by Edward Alwed.
Click on the image to see a larger version
The following is based (with a few additions from other research) on a description
of St Margaret written by Susan Jones of St.
John's Episcopal Church, Stamford, Connecticut, USA for their window of
St Margaret, it is used with permission. Interestingly St John, Stamford's window
was made by James Powell and Sons (Whitefriars) Ltd. who made several of the
windows at St John's, Ainsdale.
According to her legend, generally regarded to be fictious, Margaret was the daughter of a 3rd or 4th century pagan priest of Antioch who either threw her out of the house when she converted to Christianity or who was converted by her nursemaid. She was noticed by the local prefect who wanted to marry her, but she spurned him and vowed to keep her virginity for Christ. He turned her in to the Roman authorities to be persecuted. In prison she was swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon, but the cross she was carrying irritated his throat, and he spat her out unharmed.
Her persecutors tried to kill her by fire and by drowning, but each time, she survived, converting the growing crowd of onlookers. Finally, she was beheaded, along with her many converts, by Emperor Diocletian (his reign covered the years 284 to 305 a.d.). She was buried at Antioch, but her remains were taken later to Italy where they were divided between shrines in Montefiascone and Venice.
Part of her very popular cult was the promise that if you spread her fame and read her story, you would receive a perpetual crown in heaven. She prayed at her death that women in childbirth would, upon calling on her, be safely delivered of the child as she had been delivered from the belly of the dragon. She is also known as the patron saint of women, nurses, and peasants. She also intercedes for those who call on her from their deathbed. She became one of the most popular saints in England in the 9th century; over two hundred early churches were dedicated to her there, even though her legend had been declared apocryphal by the Pope as early as 494.
She was one of the saints who spoke to St. Joan of Arc, and she is included in a group of saints known as the Fourteen Holy Helpers, who are venerated for their special ability to intercede for people. Her feast day is July 20 in the west and July 13 in the east, although in 1969 her feast day was removed from the revised calendar of the Roman Catholic church.
Page Last Updated: December 1, 2002
