On Sunday, a solemn Mass of Thanksgiving in the church of San Domenico in Castillo, Italy—where Margaret of Castillo’s body lies incorrupt—provides a joyful conclusion to her long journey to official sainthood.
Margaret was born in 1287 in Metola in Italy. Her father Parisio, a successful soldier, expected a healthy first-born son—instead, God gave him Margaret. Lame, hunchbacked, ugly, a dwarf, and blind, Margaret was immediately rejected by both her parents. At the age of six, they walled her up in a stone cell, where she remained until age eighteen under the spiritual care of their castle chaplain.
