[5][2][6] Margaret's holiness was apparent to all in her life that people lobbied for her to be buried in the local church which was an honour reserved for a select few.

[7] Margaret of Castello was born in Perugia in 1287 to the nobles Parisio and Emilia in the Metola Castle near Mercatello sul Metauro.

Though her parents were embarrassed and hid her from all, a kind maid found her and gave her the name Margaret (derived from the Greek word "margaron", meaning "pearl").

[5] When she was almost publicly discovered at age six, her parents walled her for about a decade in a room attached to their residence's chapel, to ensure no one would see her, although she could attend Mass and receive the sacraments.

In 1303 her parents took her one morning to a shrine in the Franciscan church in Castello - where miracles were said to have happened, in the hope of a cure for Metola's birth defects.

Their lax manner of life, though, soon conflicted with Margaret's intense faith and she was expelled from the convent since her fervour was a tacit reproach to the nuns who came to detest her presence.

To thank them for their kindness, she opened a small school for the children of the town where she instructed them in the faith and the psalms, which she had learnt during her time with the nuns.

[8] Margaret died on 12 April 1320 and the crowds at her funeral demanded that she be buried inside the church against the resistance of the parish priest.

[2] Pope Clement X extended the privilege of a Mass and Divine Office in her name to the entire Dominican order on 6 April 1675 rather than for the Perugian branch as Paul V had done at her beatification.