Eventually, so many embraced the ways of Christ that we became a Christian country with Christian Kings and Queens, among whom stands out St. Margaret (1046-1093), patroness of Scotland.
Saint Margaret was the daughter of an English family who were political refugees in Hungary when she was born in 1046. The family returned to England just before the Norman Invasion of 1066 when they had to flee again because they knew they would not be acceptable to the new regime. Their ship was blown off-course and ended up in Scotland. Ah, the accidents of history! They were welcomed by Malcolm Canmore, King of Scots, and in time he and Margaret were married. She had a huge civilising influence on her husband and his court; she strengthened the links between Scotland and Rome; she encouraged the monastic orders to come to Scotland; and, not least, she served the poor and the needy with her own hands at her palace in Dunfermline. She had eight children, several of whom ascended the throne after her husband died. Most notable among them was Saint David who was King of Scots from 1124 to 1153, who continued the good work of his mother, until sixty years after her death.