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March
29th 1900: Born in Edinburgh, daughter of Andrew
and Elizabeth Sinclair, one of a family of nine children.
April 11th 1900: Baptised
Margaret Anne at St Patrick’s.
August 1906: Attends St
Anne’s School, Edinburgh, under the care of the
Sisters of Mercy.
May 8th 1910: Makes first
Holy Communion; confirmed same day at St Patrick’s.
August 1914: Starts work
as an apprentice french polisher. Joins trades union.
Member of Sodality of Children of Mary. Worked in McVitie’s
Biscuit Factory.
July 22nd 1923: Entered
Convent of Poor Clares Colettines, Notting Hill, London.
February 11th 1924: Received
the habit as an extern sister: Sister Mary of the Five
Wounds.
February 14th 1925: Religious
Profession.
April 9th 1925: Admitted
to Warley Sanatorium, Essex, suffering from tuberculosis
of the throat. Nursed by Sisters of Charity.
November 24th 1925: Margaret
dies after long and painful illness. Buried at Kensal
Green Cemetery, London.
December 22nd 1927: Margaret’s
remains reinterred at Mount Vernon Cemetery, Edinburgh.
August 1931: Informative
Process, Edinburgh, under presidency of Archbishop McDonald.
February 3rd 1942: Cause
introduced to Sacred Congregation of Rites by Pope Pius
XII. Margaret becomes ‘The Servant of God’.
August 15th 1952: Archbishop
Gray presides over Apostolic Process, Edinburgh. Tribunal
closes 13th October 1952.
June 29th 1965: Opening
of National Margaret Sinclair Centre, Rosewell, Midlothian.
February 6th 1978: Pope
Paul VI declares that Margaret practised the Christian
virtues to a heroic degree. She is given the title:
‘The Venerable Marget Sinclair’.
October 2003: Margaret’s
remains reinterred at St Patrick’s, Edinburgh.
On 25th October shrine is blessed and dedicated by the
Apostolic Nuncio, Archbishop Pablo Puente.
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An example for all the faithful
The devout and generous life of sister Mary Francis of the Five
wounds, otherwise known as Margaret Sinclair, an extern sister
in the Order of the Poor Clares, provides a striking contemporary
example of evangelical heroism, not only for her sisters in
religion but for all the faithful whatever their state in life.
Whether we consider her in family
life, or in school, as an ordinary working girl or as a sister
in the Poor Clare convent, or finally as a patient in the
sanatorium where she died, we are presented with a spectacle
of outstanding holiness.
In the presence of the cardinals and others
concerned, the Supreme Pontiff solemnly decreed that the Servant
of God had in fact practised to a heroic degree the theological
virtues of faith, hope and charity, and also the cardinal
virtues of prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance, with
other related virtues. From the Decree of the Sacred Congregation
for the Causes of Saints, 6th February 1978.
One of our own
The life of Margaret Sinclair powerfully captures the imagination
of people today. We can identify with someone who knew what
it was to work for her living, who knew what it was to be
made redundant, who met with prejudice in the workplace because
she was a Catholic. Margaret was immersed in the realities
of everyday living yet was able to transform the ordinariness
of her life into the foundation of a deep spirituality. Her
cheerfulness, her concern for others, her devotion to prayer
are all well attested. She is one of our own who attained
great holiness. We pray that she will one day be made a saint
of the Church.
PRAYER for private use
God our Father,
we honour your servant
Margaret Sinclair
as a model of holiness.
We ask you to grant
the requests we make
through her intercession
as a sign of the favour
she enjoys in your sight.
We make this prayer
through Christ, our Lord.
Amen
Send
a prayer request to be placed before the shrine of the
Venerable Margaret Sinclair. |
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