The hill-top Tuscan town of Cortona lies between Arezzo and Perugia, south of Florence. St. Margaret, who lies in a shrine at the very top of the town, was born in 1247, a farmer’s daughter. Her early life was catastrophic; her mother died, her stepmother persecuted her, she fell for the wiles of a knight from Montepulciano, lived as his mistress, and bore him a son. When he was murdered, she returned home and sought forgiveness from her father, something which her embittered stepmother contrived to prevent. She turned in desperation to the Franciscans, who found shelter for her and her son. She then took to a life of public penance, some aspects of which would seem to us to be extreme; her son went to school in Arezzo and then became a Franciscan novice. With his departure she redoubled her efforts, taking responsibility for nursing many sick invalids, and opening a charity hospital. As her own self-mortification increased, she was inevitably criticised as dangerous, fanatical or mad. She became something of a prophetess, calling her fellow-citizens to the pursuit of virtue, and many came to consult her as to a confessor. She died in 1297. Opinion was divided as to whether her sanctity was confirmed or denied by her extreme self-denial; her canonisation finally came in 1728.