Very little is know about Margaret, who has been venerated from a very early age, as a martyr at Antioch during the 3rd century. The legend of St Margaret relates that she was a shepherdess who refused to marry the local ruler because he was not a Christian. He consequently imprisoned her and the devil, representing evil in the form of a dragon, swallowed her. She, however, burst from the belly of the dragon because she was armed with the cross of Jesus. Margaret was tortured further and, despite the reluctance of her executioner, accepted that it was God's will that she should die and was beheaded.

St Margaret was one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers of mediaeval piety and the patron saint of childbearing.