Women prayed to St. Margarita for easy deliverance. It has been shown by H. Usener (Legenden der heiligen Pelagia, Bonn, 1879) thta this legend belongs to a group of varoious narratives which all have their root in a transition of the Semitic Aphrodite into a Christain penitent or saint. Of these legends that of St. Pelagi os perhaps the most important. Marina is a translation of Pelagia, and both are epithets of Aphrodite as she was worshipped on the coasts of the Levant. Pelagia in the legend has Margarita as her second name. The association of the marine goddess with the pearl is obvious, and the images of Aphrodite were decked with these jewels.
from the 9th edition (1883) of an unnamed encyclopedia.