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From Poverty
to the Factory Floor
to the Gates of Sanctity
A Pictorial
History of a Life in Love with Christ
Drawings by
a Poor Clare Colettine Nun
click
to enlarge
Sister Mary
Francis of the Five Wounds - Margaret Sinclair
A LIGHT COMES INTO THE WORLD
Born March 29th, 1900 to Andrew and Elizabeth Sinclair in Edinburgh, Scotland, Margaret was the third of nine children. Her father was a "dustman” and the family lived in great poverty in a two-room basement. Poor herself, the young girl, who attended Mass daily, Margaret would seek out those poorer still in the slums of Edinburgh, especially the lonely and the elderly.
Initially educated at St. Anne’s School in Cowgate, she later earned a certificate in domestic skills, sewing, cooking, and the like, from the Atholl School of Domestic Economy while working as an errand girl for some small local businesses. Margaret soon knew the drudgery of the factory floor where her piety earned her the scorn of those who worked with her. Before entering Religious Life she was a “French polisher” at the Waverly Cabinet Works, and worked at McVittie’s Biscuit Factory. She was also a member of the Sodality of Children of Mary.
Her solicitude for the poor was always accompanied by cheerfulness. She was an angel in the midst of the working class and the down-trodden – Christ could never hide from her behind the faces of the needy and the lonely. In her care for Him in others, He took her to Himself as spouse ... but that is part of the story you are about to read ...
Morning Prayer of Sister Mary Francis
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Behold
O Lord,
I Come to do your will, to work for your glory,
to correspond to your love, Lord Jesus keep me this
day without sin.
Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
bless me.
Holy Father St.
Francis, Holy Mother St. Clare and St. Colette,
pray for me always to do the Holy Will of God .
Amen.
Sister
Mary Francis of the Five Wounds (Margaret
Sinclair) prayed this each morning.
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A Sacrifice for Souls
Sister
Mary Francis of the Five Wounds (The Venerable Margaret Sinclair)
was a soul motivated to love and suffer, a soul who desired that
her life be a sacrifice for souls.
As she was wont to say, “For just one soul it would be worth it
all.”
This was the fruit of such a deep inner awareness of the duties
of her vocation, and also a sensitivity to the beauty of Jesus Christ,
her Spouse and Saviour.
It made the burdens of life, the trials of her vocation and certainly
the challenge of her last illness bearable, for through it she prayed
for grace and life for sinners.
Intercession for this suffering world is so much part of a Poor
Clare Vocation, to kneel with open hands and heart before Christ
and plead for mercy and grace, it is this zeal for souls that enables
her to bear all hardships and contradictions.
Before the evening collation of bread and tea, Margaret would of
heard the presiding sister pray the following recommendation.
“My dear sisters, I recommend to your prayers our parents, relations
friends and benefactors, the wants of the Holy Church, the intentions
of the Holy Father, all Holy souls, all poor sinners and unbelievers
and all the other intentions ... ( here all the various individual
intentions were mentioned) Hail Mary, full of grace the Lord
is with thee, blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the
fruit of thy womb Jesus, Holy Mary , mother of God, pray for us
sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen.”
Let us praise the Lord. Amen.
A Poor Clare Colettine Nun
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a detailed, beautifully written BIOGRAPHY of the life of Margaret Sinclair
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RARE PICTURES OF MARGARET SINCLAIR
