MARCH 26: Margaret clitherow, concealer of fugitives

experiment:

Journey to a nearby killing ground in the dead of night. PRAY. AIM FOR ONLOOKERS TO REFER TO YOUR PRAYER AS A "PROVOCATIVE PERFORMANCE."

Patron saint of business women, converts, martyrs, Catholic Women's League, and Latin Mass Society

Lived 1556 to 1586
Beatified 1929
Canonized 1970

Margaret converted to Catholicism after marrying a well-to-do butcher.  In addition to serving as a makeshift Catholic school and church, Margaret's home became one of the most prominent hiding places in all of England. More specifically, her Catholic zeal led her to harbor fugitive priests who were considered to be "traitors and seducers of the Queen's subjects." Margaret kept a secret cupboard where all of the vestments, wine, and altar breads were stowed. There was a hole cut between the attics of her house and the adjoining house so that a priest could escape in a raid. The discovery of a priest hole fireplace ultimately led to her death.

JAILBIRD
Margaret was no stranger to jail time. She was imprisoned three times for failing to attend Protestant services, once for a 20 month sentence. Margaret learned to read and write while held captive.

DEFIANCE
When the authorities intensified their crackdown on Catholic separatism, many of the priests Margaret harbored were indicted for treason and hanged / drawn and quartered. Margaret began making regular night-time pilgrimages to the site of their execution. Then she would kneel and pray at the killing ground, which one chronicler calls "an extremely bold, semi-public and provocative performance."

PRESSED TO DEATH WHILE WITH CHILD
"The sheriffs have said that I am going to die this coming Friday, and I feel the weakness of my flesh which is troubled at this news, but my spirit rejoices greatly."

When Margaret refused to deny her faith, she was condemned to be pressed to death. A 33-year-old Yorkshire housewife, Margaret was probably pregnant with her fourth child. A jury of women was convened to examine Margaret, and they gave the opinion that she was likely with child. Margaret would not capitulate beyond saying that she *might be.* Two sergeants were ordered to kill her, but they hired four desperate beggars to do it instead. 

The following details have been attributed to Margaret's torture, depending on the account:

• She was taken to the lowest part of the prison, stripped naked with her back on the ground, and covered with "as much weight laid upon her as she could bear."
• A handkerchief was tied across her face and she was laid out on a sharp rock the size of a man's fist. Then the door from her own house was placed atop her and slowly loaded with an immense weight of rocks and stones.
•  For three days she was starved of meat or drink, on the third day she was stretched out on the ground with her hands and feet tied to posts. 
• The stones they placed upon her broke her ribs and caused them to burst from her skin.
• "She lay sandwiched between a rock and a wooden slab while weights were dropped upon her."
• With a sharp rock on her back, Margaret was crushed under a door laden with unbearable weights. 
• Her bones were broken and she died within minutes. 

She died on Good Friday 1586. After her death, her hand was removed as a relic.