Margaret was bornin the year 1287 when, in the castel of Metola, a garrison dedicated to the defense of the Metauro valley (PU) commanded then by her father Parisio. Her mother’s name was Emilia, according to some legends. To everyone’s amazement, the little girl immediately exhibitedphysical malformation (lame and gibbosa) and later revealed that she did not even possess the gift of sight.
The various biographies of the past, in search of sensational to arouse piety and devotion, contrasted the sanctity of the blessed with the wickedness of the parents who would first lock her in a cell so as not to show it to the visitors of the fort and then abandoned in Città di Castello. It is forgotten that at that time it was easy to make a deformed newborn disappear, entrusting her for a few pennies to some farmer outside the area or to unscrupulous people.
Margherita is entrusted to the spiritual and cultural care of the chaplain who spent most of the day with her, satisfying the lively curiosity of the little girl and introducing her into the knowledge of sacred texts and Latin.
Given the times and the place, life inside the castle was dangerous for everyone, especially for a little girl who, due to her infirmity, moved with difficulty. Advised by the chaplain, who told them of the miracles done by the Franciscan tertiary Beato Giacomo, his parents accompanied him to Città di Castello at the tomb of the friar, where the faithful flocked from all over the area to ask for a supernatural prodigy.
There were no healings and the parents, perhaps always inspired by the chaplain and given the upcoming battles, decided to leave Margherita at a convent of nuns (perhaps Benedictine) waiting to move on to take her back in better times. The parents never returned because they died, perhaps, in the frequent assaults on the Fort of Metola.
Continuing their stay there, the nuns realized that the cloister did not suit such a small girl and entrusted it to Venturino and Donna Grigia or Grizia, who lived in a beautiful stone house (still preserved intact) in the same small square as the convent. The husband was certainly a trader, his wife a lay Dominican, cape, who provided for the growth and education of children.
Margaret was raised as their daughter, without discrimination for her physical disabilities. Donna Grigia put her in the context of dominican lay people and took her with her when she was dedicated to the poor and the prisoners. The citizens appreciated it and the fame of its holiness and virtues soon spread outside the city walls. The Franciscan Ubertino da Casale talks about it in his work Arbor vitae. Blessed also became a point of reference for many priests and religious.
On April 13, 1320, Margherita died in the house of a Gray woman and, as soon as the news spread, many people flocked to the church of San Domenico and forbade the friars from burying her under the ground. It was put in church, within which it is still located.
Many miracles – which occurred both in life and after his death – are told in the various biographies.
The Congregation of Rites, after a regular process of beatification presided over by Card. Bellarmino, on 19.10.1609 pronounced his beatification. On 8.10.1988, the Congregation of Saints proclaimed her protector of the blind and disabled in the dioceses of Urbino-Urbania- Sant’Angelo in Vado and Città di Castello.
Dominicans spread the cult of Blessed Margaret all over the world. In America, Canada, the Philippines and many nations, she is, today, known and invoked, especially in the centers of life aid dedicated to her.