B. MARGARET, V. M. AT LOUVAIN, IN BRABANT

SHE was martyred on the banks of the Dyle or Deel, by certain ruffians, in the beginning of the thirteenth century, because she would not consent to sin; for St. Thomas teaches1 that all Christian virtues, being protestations of our faith, and proofs of our fidelity to God, they are a true motive of martyrdom. She was buried first on the bank of the river where she suffered, and was honored with miracles. Her body was soon after translated to the church-yard of the collegiate church of Saint Peter, in Louvain, and deposited in a chapel contiguous to it, built on purpose, first of wood, since of stone, which, by piercing the wall, is now united to that church. Her immemorial veneration at Louvain, and the exposition of her relics in this chapel, and distributions of the same, approved by the archbishops of Mechlin, are proofs of her rank in the Belgic Martyrologies. See an account of her martyrdom in Cæsarius, the Cistercian monk of the same age at Heisterbac, near Bonne, Dia1.1. 6, c. 34. Another life, published with notes by Stilting, t. 1, Sept. p. 592; Molanus, &c. She lived in the time of Henry I. duke of Brabant, who died near Cologne, in 1235, and was buried in the chancel of St. Peter’s church at Louvain.