Margaret of Antioch, Saint

Margaret of Antioch, Saint

 or Saint Marina

(flourished 3rd or 4th century, Antioch, Syria; Eastern feast day July 13; Western feast day July 20) Early Christian martyr. Tradition held that she was a virgin during the reign of Diocletian. When she refused to marry the Roman prefect of Antioch, she was tortured and beheaded. Her designation as patron saint of expectant mothers (especially those in difficult labour) was based on the story that during her trials she was swallowed by Satan in the form of a dragon and later disgorged unharmed. Widely venerated in the Middle Ages, she is now thought to have been fictitious.