Margaret the Virgin

17 July (Byzantine Christianity) Epip 23 (Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria) (Martyrdom) Margaret, known as Margaret of Antioch in the West, and as Saint Marina the Great Martyr (Ancient Greek: Ἁγία Μαρίνα) in the East, is celebrated as a saint on 20 July in Western Christianity, on 30th of July (Julian calendar) by the Eastern Orthodox Church, and on Epip 23 and Hathor 23 in the Coptic Orthodox Church.

She was reputed to have promised very powerful indulgences to those who wrote or read her life or invoked her intercessions; these no doubt helped the spread of her following.

Her mother having died soon after her birth, Margaret was nursed by a Christian woman five or six leagues (15 to 18 miles (24 to 29 km)) from Antioch.

Having embraced Christianity and consecrated her virginity to God, Margaret was disowned by her father, adopted by her nurse, and lived in the country keeping sheep with her foster mother.

[13] The Eastern Orthodox Church knows Margaret as Saint Marina, and celebrates her feast day on 30 July.

In 2022, Margaret was officially added to the Episcopal Church liturgical calendar with a feast day she shares with Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara of Nicomedia on 24 November.

Saint Margaret and the Dragon , alabaster with traces of gilding, Toulouse (c. 1475). ( Metropolitan Museum of Art )
Reliquary Bust of Saint Margaret of Antioch . Attributed to Nikolaus Gerhaert (active in Germany, 1462–73).
Saint Margaret of Antioch, limestone with paint and gilding, Burgos (c. 1275–1325). ( Metropolitan Museum of Art )
Saint Margaret of Antioch in the Golden Legend (1497).
Saint Margaret as a shepherdess by Francisco de Zurbarán (1631).
Saint Margaret of Antioch by Peter Candid (second half of the 16th century).
Saint Margaret attracts the attention of the Roman prefect , by Jean Fouquet (from an illuminated manuscript ).
Saint Margaret as a fresco, Sulsted Church .
Margaret the Virgin on a painting in the Novacella Abbey , Neustift, South Tyrol, Italy.
Margaret's torture on a fresco in the Santo Stefano al Monte Celio basilica, Rome, Italy.
Margaret the Virgin in the coat of arms of Vehmaa .
Barna da Siena. Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine. Boston MFA. This mid fourteenth century Byzantine-inspired Sienese painting depicts St. Margaret fighting the demon with a hammer in the bottom left panel.