MEET MARGARET LEO, HER SIGN IS FINDING A SACRED HEART MEDAL, AND THIS HAPPENED TO ME!

When I was writing about Little Nellie of Holy God, the plucky Irish toddler who moved Pope Pius X to lower the age of First Holy Communion to 12 to 7 years of age, I looked into contemporary books about Little Nellie and found one by Austin Ruse entitled, Littlest Suffering Souls.  Ruse profiled Nellie and 5 other little ones who bore physical agony heroically and who died in childhood. It's the Catholic version of Too Young To Die.  They were, however, not celebrities in their day, but their sanctity was so great they are most likely intercessors in Heaven and will, I suggest, become famous for the miracles they will work among the faithful who call on their aid. 

I was particularly touched by the story of Margaret Leo. I was struck by her beautiful eyes of royal-blue and looking at her photo I felt like I'd met her in person even though she perished in 2007. Margaret would have been 30 this year. She died, however, when she was a month shy of her 15th birthday. When her mother Sally was pregnant with her, she had tests that showed her unborn daughter had the severest form of spina bifida. When Margaret was born, she was immediately subject to emergency surgery because her spine was not fully formed and a sack of nerves and fluid had developed and the surgeons needed to reorientate this sack so it fitted into Margaret's back. Just before this extremely complicated surgery, the Leo family had newborn Margaret baptized. As she was being whisked to the operating theater, her mother caught a glimpse of Margaret's blue eyes and was cut to the heart by their intense beauty. Just before this extremely complicated surgery, the Leo family had newborn Margaret baptized.

Margaret's eyes showed her warm, charismatic and loving nature. Her eyes sang with joy, which is all the more inspiring because of the limits her spina bifida placed on her. During her 14 years, she was not in dire pain, however, and this was one reason her parents thought that she ought not be included in Littlest Suffering Souls, but as Ruse points out, "Margaret suffered great evil, which is a deprivation of the good. She could not stand, walk, or run because her legs did not work that way...She could not eat anything other than the blandest foods...She vomited all the time. She had intellectual disabilities...She was in and out of hospitals her entire life." 

In spite of the fact that she found learning difficult, she was quite the social light and with natural vivacity she liked to memorize people's names and birthdays. Every time she met a stranger she asked them when they had been born. She found reading hard but piety came easily. She loved to be around priests because they brought her Holy Communion. She was named for St Margaret Mary who was given the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. This has tremendous bearing on the sign that signals her intercession. In the wake of her death, people who have asked her prayers have reported that they find Sacred Heart medals. There are a wealth of such stories included by Ruse, and one involves the radio talk show star Laura Ingraham. 

It did occur to me as far-fetched, the idea that after asking little Margaret's help, you may find a Sacred Heart medal and on the day I read it, I doubted it and frowned. I thought, well that will never happen to me. Yet I still asked her prayers. And then it happened - on the very day that I read about Margaret Leo. I went into town to see my jeweler friends and ask if my pearls were ready - I was having them cleaned and re-strung because they had gotten grubby. My jewelers are a married couple from Prague and we get into the most intense talks about Bohemia. I was chatting to them when I noticed they were having a sale. Dazzling sunlight played on the medals in a case, so much so I couldn't tell the medals apart. But there was 75 per cent off. One medal had a lovely shape and I asked my friend to hand me it, not knowing what it might be. I felt it between my finger and thumb, lifted it to my eyes and saw it was a Sacred Heart medal. An antique one that was going for 60 bucks. I snapped it up. Well, that had taught me not to doubt little Margaret Leo. 

I don't often have cause to say this about a book but Littlest Suffering Souls would melt the hardest of hearts. If you know someone who is cynical about Catholicism and even bitter because they have had bad experiences with "holy" people, then consider giving them a copy of Littlest Suffering Souls. You may see them soften and cleansed of their bitterness after they've been steeped in the sweetness of the souls like Margaret.