Margaret (1242–1270) was the daughter of King Béla IV of Hungary, who vowed her to God if the country was delivered from the Mongol invasion. She became a Dominican nun at the monastery her father built on an island in the Danube near Buda, refusing royal marriages to keep her consecration. She lived in great humility, prayer, and service to the sick until her death on January 18, 1270, and was canonized in 1943.
Though a princess, Margaret chose the lowest tasks in her convent and treated no work as beneath her. Her life shows that true nobility lies in giving oneself entirely to God and to others, and that a promise made to God is worth keeping at any cost.
Lord, who drew Saint Margaret of Hungary to serve You in humility and love, teach us to offer our lives generously to You; through her prayers, welcome Ben and all our beloved dead into Your peace. Amen.