Crushed to death for hiding priests from the protestant Church of England.

Margaret was born in Middleton, England, in 1556, the youngest child of Thomas and Jane Middleton, who were protestant. Her father was a respected businessman, who worked as a wax-chandler. He was also the Sheriff and churchwarden.

She was full of wit and merriment with a charming personality.

Margaret’s father died when she was 14 and at the age of 15, she married John Clitherow, a wealthy butcher and chamberlain of the city. He was a widower and had 2 sons.

Together they had 3 children and during this time she converted to Catholicism. Her husband belonged to the Established Church of England, as demanded by the government, but she refused to attend and was therefore fined, which her husband paid.

After numerous fines, she was imprisoned but released only to be imprisoned 2 more times at York Castle. She learned to read and write while incarcerated and her 3rd child was born in prison.

During the English Reformation, Act 1584 was passed which commanded all Catholic priests to swear an oath to the Queen and the Church of England or leave the country within 40 days. If they didn’t, they were to be punished for high treason.

John’s brother, William, was a Catholic priest and she risked her life by harboring and maintaining priests which was a capital offence. She provided 2 chambers, one adjoining their house, and also a house they rented some distance away, where she kept priests hidden and Mass was celebrated.

Her home became one of the most important places for fugitives in the north of England.

She sent her eldest son, Henry, to Reims, France, to study and train for priesthood. Her husband was summoned by authorities on why he had gone abroad. On March 10, 1586, their house was searched and a frightened boy revealed where the priests hid.

Margaret was arrested and refused to plead, preventing a trial that would entail her children to testify, and subject them to torture. She was thereby sentenced to death.

Although she was pregnant with their 4th child, she was executed on Good Friday, March 25, 1586, by being crushed to death.

The 2 sergeants could not go forward with the execution and hired 4 desperate beggars to do it instead. She was stripped with a handkerchief tied across her face and then laid on a sharp rock the size of a fist. The door of her own house was put on top of her and loaded with weights until the rock broke her back. Her body was left for 6 hours before the weight was removed and she was buried secretly in accordance with Catholic rites.

John remarried a 3rd time but still remained a protestant.

She is the patron saint of businesswomen, converts, martyrs, Catholic Women’s League, and the Latin Mass Society.

Her feast day is March 25.

For God’s Glory.