Voices and Saints

Saint Margaret of Antioch

Nigel Bruce

• 1 min read
Saint Margaret of Antioch
Detail of a miniature of St. Margaret emerging from the dragon, from the Breviary of Queen Isabella of Castile, Netherlands (Bruges) (circa 1497), British Library.

I have included a selection of paintings of St. Margaret and in none of them does she have a hair out of place, let alone blood on her dress. Below is Raphael's version from around 1518. Supposedly she has just survived being eaten alive by Satan in the form of a dragon, yet she has emerged unscathed. She was revered after this as the patron saint of childbirth and pregnant women.

Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

St. Margaret of Antioch is known as St. Marina in the Eastern Orthodox church. Some more backstory here.

Byzantine and Christian Museum of Athens