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Margaret Anne Sinclair (born Edinburgh, Scotland, 1900: died London, England, 1925), was a Scottish Roman Catholic nun. She was declared "Venerable" by Pope Paul VI on 6 February 1978. ==Life== '' Margaret Anne Sinclair was born in Middle Arthur Place, Edinburgh in a basement flat of a dilapidated tenement block, one of six children of Andrew, a dustman for Edinburgh City Corporation, and Elizabeth Sinclair. She was baptised at St Patrick's on 11 April. Margaret's family later moved to Blackfriars Street, overlooking St Patrick's Church. She made her First Communion at St Patrick's on 8 May 1910 and was confirmed on the same day.〔("The Venerable Margaret Sinclair", St. Patrick's Parish, Edinburgh )〕 She was educated at St Anne's School, Cowgate and went on to take a certificate in sewing, cooking and dress-making at the Atholl Crescent School of Cookery and Domestic Economy. She stayed off school to nurse her mother in a protracted illness, and had a spare time job scrubbing floors and running errands for a tailoress.〔("Take the Highroad: The Life of Sister Mary Francis of the Five Wounds", Ty Mam Duw Monastery, Hawarden, Wales )〕 At the same time, she worked as a messenger with a business firm in order to help support the two younger children in the family. Both her father and her elder brother, John, were called up to fight in the trenches of "The Great War". She left school at the age of fourteen and, from 1914 to 1918, worked full-time at Waverley Cabinet Works as an apprentice French polisher, and became an active member of her trade union. Her one disagreement with the manager was over a discarded picture of Our Lady she found amongst the junk of the cabinet works. She hung it up over her workplace. The manager took it down and each morning she restored it to its place. Margaret, and her sister Bella, struggled to support their mother with their minimal wages and also worked an allotment. It was a cruel struggle to pay the rent and to feed themselves. Whenever her mother broke down and wept, Margaret had one unvarying answer, "Dinnae give in".〔 After the war ended there was a massive economic slump. The Scottish economy had been heavily war-orientated: arms production, together with coal and steel for the building of battleships on the River Clyde were no longer needed and such skills were not easily transferred. The Great Depression followed and Margaret found herself amongst the unemployed. In 1918 the Waverley Cabinet Works closed down and she eventually found work in one of the biscuit factories run by McVitie.〔 Despite the hardships of her life she was vivacious, loved pretty clothes and enjoyed dancing. A holiday in the nearby town of Rosewell was, for her and Bella, her first encounter with country life. They celebrated their freedom by going to Mass and receiving Communion daily. Bella had some misgivings as to whether they were holy enough to receive so often, but Margaret replied "We're not going because we are good, but because we want to be good."〔 Whilst Bella entered the Little Sisters of the Poor who ministered to those living in poverty, Margaret felt called to spend her life in solitude and prayer. Her first choice was to enter the Poor Clares at Edinburgh, her hometown. However, the community there was experiencing a time of great difficulty and her application was turned down. She understood the true meaning of the words of the Psalmist: "Listen daughter and incline your ear; leave your people and your father's house" (Psalm 45:10). She willingly sacrificed the nearness of family and her Scots culture, and wrote to apply to the Poor Clares in Notting Hill, London.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Margaret Sinclair (nun)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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