Profile – Margaret Clitherow

Basic Information

Name: Margaret Clitherow

Feast Day: March 26

Born: 1556

Died: March 25, 1586 (Good Friday)

Patron of: Businesswomen, Converts, Martyrs

Personal

Born in: York, England

Lived in: York,

Gender: Women

Form of Passing: Martyr

Roles: Martyr

Century: 16th Century

Vocation: Marriage

Family & Relationships

Married to: John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and a chamberlain
of the city of York, in St. Martin’s church, Coney St., 8 July, 157. Her sons Henry and William became priests, and her daughter Anne a nun at St. Ursula’s, Louvain.

Family Members: She was a daughter of Thomas Middleton, Sheriff of York (1564-5), a wax-chandler and Jane Middleton

Details & Interests

Name Variations: "Pearl of York", Margaret Clitheroe, Margaret Middleton, Margarita Clitherow, Margherita Clitherow, Marguerite Clitherow, one of the Forty Martyrs of England and Wales

Favorite Quote

“God be thanked, I am not worthy of so good a death as this.” – Saint Margaret, when advised of her sentence

“I die for the love of my Lord Jesu.” – Saint Margaret, when asked to confess her crimes before execution

Favorite Books

A Book Review of St. Margaret Clitherow by Margaret T. Monro

Her life, written by her confessor, John Mush, exists in two versions. The earlier has been edited by Father John Morris, S.J., in his “Troubles of our Catholic Forefathers”, third series (London, 1877). The later manuscript, now at York Convent, was published by W. Nicholson, of Thelwall Hall, Cheshire (London, Derby, 1849), with portrait: “Life and Death of Margaret Clitherow the martyr of York”. It also contains the “History of Mrs. Margaret Ward and Mrs. Anne Line, Martyrs”.

Canonization Status