Vatican City, Nov 3, 2010 / 22:18 pm
The spirituality of St. Marguerite d'Oingt shows people still today that the light of Christ purifies and cleanses and leads a person to be transformed, said Pope Benedict XVI on Nov. 3.
The Pope’s weekly general audience took place in the Vatican's Paul VI Hall with an estimated 7,000 people in attendance. There was a certain joviality to the celebration fostered by the acapella songs of several pilgrim groups and a youth band.
Pope Benedict continued his teaching on the powerful examples of women saints in medieval times as the subject of his catechesis. He chose to focus his teaching on France's St. Marguerite d'Oingt.
She was born to a noble family in 1240 and spent much of her life within the demanding spirituality of the Carthusian order. She was known for her mysticism and wrote a series of meditations that testify to her belief that life is "a journey of purification leading to full configuration with Christ."