St. Margaret of Cortona A penitent of the Third Order of St.
Francis, born at Laviano in Tuscany in 1247; died at Cortona, 22
February, 1297. At the age of seven yeas Margaret lost her
mother and two years later her father married a second time.
Between the daughter and her step-mother there seems to have
been but little sympathy or affection, and Margaret was one of
those natures who crave affection. When about seventeen years of
age she made the acquaintance of a young cavalier, who, some
say, was a son of Gugliemo di Pecora, lord of Valiano, whith
whom she one night fled from her father's house. Margaret in her
confessions does not mention her lover's name. For nine years
she lived with him in his castle near Montepulciano, and a son
was born to them. Frequently she besought her lover to marry
her; he as often promised to do so, but never did. In her
confessions she expressly says that she consented to her lover's
importunities unwillingly. Wadding and others who have described
her in these early years as