These are the Catholic saints in my family tree:

1) Saint Margaret, Queen of Scotland.

Saint Margaret was the granddaughter to Edmund Ironside. She was married to King Malcolm III, and crowned Queen of Scotland in 1070 at the age of 24. According to Butler's Lives of the Saints: "She procured zealous pastors to be established in all parts of her dominions. Simony, usury, incestuous marriages and other abuses were banished. Charity to the poor was her darling virtue. Whenever she stirred out of her palace she was surrounded by troops of widows, orphans and other distressed persons; nor did she send any one away without relief. She erected hospitals for poor strangers.

St. Margaret was the grandniece of King Edward the Confessor; also a Saint. King Edward was the son of King Ethelred II, by his second wife Emma, daughter to Richard I, and sister to Richard II the 3rd and 4th Dukes of Normandy. Edward was against "vanity, pleasure and pride." The only war St. Edward ever fought in was to restore King Malcolm (a direct ancestor of this lineage) of Scotland back in power. Butler's Lives of the Saints wrote: The laws framed by St. Edward were the fruit of his wisdom...In them punishments were very mild; scarce any crimes were capital and finder were certain not inflicted at the pleasure of judges. A 120 page book printed in 1691 will be included within this package.

2) Saint David, King David I of Scotland

Saint David was the son of King Malcolm III and Queen Saint Margaret of Scotland. He was sent to the Norman court in England in 1093. In 1113, he married Matilda, the widow of the earl of Northampton, thereby becoming earl himself, and added the title earl of Cumbria when his brother Alexander I became king. He waged a long war against King Stephen for the throne of England on behalf of his niece Matilda, but was defeated at Standard in 1138.

As King of Scotland from 1124, he was much more successful, ruling with firmness, justice, and charity. David established Norman law in Scotland, set up the office of chancellor, and began the feudal court. He also learned the spirit of Cistercian monks from Ailred of Rievaulx, who for a time was David's steward. Scottish monasticism began to flower from the start of David's reign and countless almshouses, leper-hospitals, and infirmaries were established.

The monasteries founded under David's patronage were superb architecturally as well as spiritually. The king refounded Melrose Abbey on the main road from Edinburgh to the south, and it remained one of the richest houses in Scotland. David also founded Jedburgh Abbey in 1138, filling it was monks from Beauvais in France. At Dundrennan in Dumfries and Galloway he founded in 1142 a splendid abbey and staffed it with Cistercians from Rievaulx. The monks were so well managed that they even started their own shipping line and traded from the Solway Firth less than two miles away.

His feast day is May 24th.

3) Saint Maud (or Matilda), Queen of Germany.

She was the daughter of Theodoric a powerful Count of Flingheins. She married in 913 to King Henry, son of Otho, Duke of Saxony. In 919 Henry was chosen King of Germany.

When her husband died in 936 she renounced her jewels and gave them to the priest "as a pledge" that she would no longer be a part of royalty.

St. Maud had three sons Otho; Henry Duke of Bavaria; and St. Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne. According to Butler's Lives of the Saints: "Two of her sons Otho and St. Bruno conspired to strip her of her dowry on the unjust pretence that she had squandered away the revenues of the state on the poor. The unnatural princes at length repented of their injustice, and restored all that had been taken from her. She then became more liberal in her alms than ever, and founded many churches, with five monasteries of which the principal were that of Polden, in the duchy of Brunswick in which she maintained three thousand monks, and that of Quedlinbourg in the duchy of Saxony."

4). Arnulf of Metz

 

Died 640. Arnulf was a courtier of the Austrasian King Theodebert II, a valiant warrior, and a valued adviser. He married the noble Doda (the marriage of his son Ansegisel to Begga, daughter of Blessed Pepin of Landen, produced the Carolingian line of kings of France).

Arnulf desired to become a monk at Lérins. However, when his wife took the veil and Arnulf was at the point of entering Lérins, he was appointed bishop of Metz about 610. He played a prominent role in affairs of state, was one of those instrumental in making Clotaire of Neustria king of Austrasia, and was chief counselor to Dagobert, son of King Clotaire, when the king appointed him king of Austrasia.

About 626, Arnulf resigned his see and retired to a hermitage near the abbey of Remiremont Delaney, Encyclopedia).

In art, Saint Arnulf is portrayed as a bishop with a coat of mail under his cope. He may also be shown (1) with a fish having a ring in its mouth; (2) blessing a burning castle; or (3) washing the feet of the poor (Roeder). He is venerated at Remiremont. Like Saint Antony, Arnulf is invoked to find lost articles. He is also the patron saint of music, millers, and brewers (Roeder).

5). Saint Begga

widow, patron of Benjuines; died Anndenne, December 17, 693 (feast day Dec. 17). 

She was the daughter of Pepin of Landen and St. Iduberga, and the older sister of St. Gertrude of Nivelles. Begga married the nobleman Anseilius, son of St. Arnulf of Metz, and she was the mother of Pepin the Short, also known as Pepin of Herstal, founder of the Carolingian dynasty of rulers of France. After becoming a widow she founded in (691-692) a convent at Andenne, near Namur, Belgium.  The first nuns came from Nivelles and introduced Irish monastic customs.  Begga's remains are preserved at Andenne; her vita was written in the late 11th century. She is invoked for the cure of hernias and of infants' diseases.  Although she has been the patroness of the Beguines since the 14th century, she was not their foundress.

St. Gertrude, sister of St. Begga, has her feast day on March 17. Gertrude was an example of virtue and a defender of Irish monasticism; her abbey later sent the first nuns to Andenne, founded by her sister. Gertrude is invoked against mice, then the bane of the countryside.  Her remains are preserved in a reliquary, a masterpiece of silverwork (dating from 1272-98), now in the collegiate church of Nivelles.  The vita of St. Gertrude of Nivelles was written circa 670 and it was reqritten sometime in the 11th century.

6). Saint Iduberga

hold widow, born circa 592; died Nivelles May 8, 652 (feast day, May 8th).

Iduberga, called also Ida or Itta, was the daughter of a Count of Aquitane, was married to Pepin of Landen, the mayor of the palace, and was the mother of SS.  Begga and Gertrude of Nivelles.  As a widow, she was advised by St. Amandus to found an abbey at Nivelles (Belgium).  She dedicated herself and all her property to this monastery, whose first nuns came from Ireland. 

Five years before she died Iduberga arranged for her daughter Gertrude to succeed her as superior at Nivelles; she was buried in St. Peter's, Nivelles. Later her relics were placed in a reliquary that is carried in a procession each year with the relics of the other saints of Nivelles.