Bridget of Sweden

This article is about Saint Bridget of Sweden. For Saint Brigid of Ireland, see Brigid of Kildare.

Saint Bridget (Bridgid) of Sweden
180px altarpiece in Salem church, Södermanland, Sweden
Widow
Born	1303 in Uppland, Sweden
Died	July 23, 1373 in Rome, Papal States
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church Lutheran Church
Canonized	October 7, 1391 by Pope Boniface IX
Major shrine	Vadstena
Feast	July 23 / October 8 (Traditional Roman Catholics)
Attributes	book, staff
Patronage	Europe, Sweden, Widows

Saint Bridget or Bridgid of Sweden (1303 – July 23, 1373), born as Birgitta Birgersdotter and Birgitta of Vadstena, was a Christian mystic and the founder of the Bridgettine Order.

From a young age she kept records of what came to be known as her Celestial revelations which were translated into Latin and became popular throughout Europe. She was also known for her Fifteen Oes, prayers she said she received from Christ in revelation, which also spread throughout Europe and were featured in the Books of Hours (the most common type of surviving medieval illuminated manuscript) and other liturgical texts.

Bridget lived in the time of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453) with much religious and political struggle. She was married for over 20 years to Ulf Gudmarson, the prince of Närke, and had eight children. After her husband's death, she devoted her life solely to religion. She established the Brigettine order at Vadstena, Sweden in 1350, and in August, 1370, Pope Urban V confirmed the Rule of her congregation, at which time Bridget urged the Pope to return the Holy See from Avignon back to Rome.

Unique among saints of the second millennium, she was also the mother of a saint—Catherine of Vadstena. Bridget was a contemporary of Julian of Norwich (1342 – c. 1416) and Catherine of Siena (1347 – 1380), all of whom wrote a book on Revelations. She and her daughter, and Catherine worked together to defend the papacy's rule and urge the return of the See from Avignon to Rome.

She traveled on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain (with her husband) and Jerusalem (after his death) and visited other places to uplift the moral order of the day by educating the leaders of the age. She spent the latter part of her life in Rome where she died at 70. Her sanctuary lies in the Cathedral of Vadstena, the site of the order's establishment.

Life

The most celebrated saint of Sweden was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and lawspeaker of Uppland, and one of the richest landowners of the country, and his wife, a member of the Lawspeaker branch of the Folkunga family. Through her mother, young Bridget was a relation of the Swedish kings of her lifetime. Her family was said to have been devout. Saint Ingrid, whose death had occurred about twenty years before Bridget's birth, was a near relative of the family, and Bridget's paternal family had been on pilgrimage to Jerusalem for four generations to "walk in the path of James," the brother of Jesus. She received a careful religious training, and from her seventh year showed signs of extraordinary religious impressions. Her mother died when Bridget was young and she was raised by her devout maternal aunt. She began having visions after her mother died (c. 1315). Her aunt advised her to keep her visions quiet.

In 1316 at 18, she was married to Ulf Gudmarson, prince of Närke, to whom she bore eight children, one of whom was afterward honored as saint Catherine of Sweden. Bridget influenced her husband to go on pilgrimage (1341–1343) to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, after their return they decided to live in a chaste marriage in a monastery and let go of their worldly possessions.

In 1344, shortly after their return, Ulf died in the Cistercian monastery of Alvastra in Östergötland, and Bridget, at 41, now devoted herself wholly to religion.

File:Vadstena-kloster.jpg

Vadstena convent

It was about this time that she founded the Order of St. Saviour, or the Bridgettines, of which the principal house at Vadstena, was richly endowed by King Magnus Eriksson of Sweden and his queen. In Sweden she created a poor house and when possible went to serve them herself. "She washed their feet and clothed them and visited them when they were infirm and handled their wounds and bodies with tender compassion and the greatest of maternal charity." (The Life of Saint Birgitta by Prior Peter and Master Peter)

The original Bridgettine order was open to both men and women, and was dedicated to "devotion to the passion of Jesus." It was a "double order" each convent having attached to it a small community of canons to act as chaplains, but under the government of the abbess. The nuns were strictly enclosed, emphasizing scholarship and study, but the monks were also preachers and itinerant missionaries. The individual monasteries were each subject to the local bishop, and, in honor of the Virgin Mary, they were ruled by an abbess.

Visions

With her attributes in a 1476 breviary for Bridgettine use

As a child, she had already believed herself to have had visions; as she grew older they became more frequent. In 1345, a year after her husband's death, the first divine revelations came to Bridget while she was awake and in prayer, which she recorded, were called "Revelationes coelestes" ("Celestial revelations") which were translated into Latin by Matthias, canon of Linköping, and by her confessor, Peter, prior of Alvastra. They obtained a great popularity during the late Middle Ages.

Her visions of the Nativity of Jesus had a great influence on depictions of the Nativity of Jesus in art. Shortly before her death, she described a vision which included the infant Jesus as lying on the ground, and emitting light himself, and describes the Virgin as blond-haired; many depictions followed this and reduced other light sources in scenes to emphasize this effect, and the Nativity in art was commonly treated with chiaroscuro through to the Baroque period. Other details often seen such as a single candle "attached to the wall," and the presence of God the Father above, also come from Bridget's vision:

...the virgin knelt down with great veneration in an attitude of prayer, and her back was turned to the manger.... And while she was standing thus in prayer, I saw the child in her womb move and suddenly in a moment she gave birth to her son, from whom radiated such an ineffable light and splendor, that the sun was not comparable to it, nor did the candle that St. Joseph had put there, give any light at all, the divine light totally annihilating the material light of the candle.... I saw the glorious infant lying on the ground naked and shining. His body was pure from any kind of soil and impurity. Then I heard also the singing of the angels, which was of miraculous sweetness and great beauty...

After which the Virgin kneels to pray to her child, to be joined by Joseph, and this (technically known as the Adoration of the Child) becomes one of the most common depictions in the fifteenth century, largely replacing the reclining Virgin in the West. Versions of this depiction were seen as early as 1300, well before Bridget's vision, and have a Franciscan origin, she may have been influenced by them. (Schiller, 1971, pp. 76-78.) Her visions of purgatory and of the passion of Christ were also well known.(Eamon Duffy, 1992, p 338.)

The 15 'Our Father and Hail Mary prayers'

Bridget of Sweden

Bridget prayed for a long time to know how many blows Jesus Christ suffered during His terrible passion. She claims he appeared to her in a vision and said: "I received 5475 blows upon My Body. If you wish to honor them in some way, recite fifteen Our Fathers and fifteen Hail Marys with the following Prayers, which I Myself shall teach you, for an entire year. When the year is finished, you will have honored each of My Wounds." (365 X 15 = 5475)

The prayers became known as the Fifteen Oes, because in the original Latin, each prayer began with the words O Jesu, O Rex, or O Domine Jesu Christe (O Jesus; O King; O Lord Jesus Christ). Some have questioned whether Saint Bridget is in fact their author; contemporary religious historian, Eamon Duffy, (an Irish Professor of the History of Christianity at the University of Cambridge, and former President of Magdalene College) claims that the prayers probably originated in England, in the devotional circles that surrounded Richard Rolle (1290-1349) (an English religious writer, Bible translator, and religious hermit) or from the English Bridgettines.

Whatever their origin, the prayers were widely circulated in the late Middle Ages, and became regular features in Books of Hours and other devotional literature. They were translated into various languages; an early English language version of them was printed in a primer by William Caxton (c. 1415~1422 – c. March 1492) (the first printer in England, and first person to introduce a printing press into England). The prayers themselves reflect the late medieval tradition of meditation on the passion of Christ, and are structured around the seven last words of Christ. They borrow from patristic and Scriptural sources as well as the tradition of devotion to the wounds of Christ.

During the late Middle Ages, the prayers began to circulate with various promises of indulgences and other assurances of supernatural graces supposed to attend from their regular recitation over the course of a year. These indulgences were added to the manuscript tradition of several of the Books of Hours, and may constitute one major source of the prayers' popularity. They promise, among other things, the release from Purgatory of 15 of the devotee's family members, and that they would keep 15 living family members in a state of grace.

A 1664 German copy of Bridget's Book of Revelations (Finnish Nationalmuseum, Helsinki)

The extravagance of the promises made in these rubrics — one widely circulated version promised that the devotee would receive "his heart's desire, if it be for the salvation of his soul"— attracted critics early and late. In 1538, William Marshall (a translator and client of Thomas Cromwell) enjoined his readers to "henseforth ... forget suche prayers as seynt Brigittes & other lyke, whyche greate promyses and perdons haue falsly auaunced." In 1954, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis found the alleged promises (though not the prayers themselves) unreliable, and directed local ordinaries not to permit the circulation of pamphlets containing the promises.

Presence in Rome

Image first printed in 1876–1899 edition of Nordisk familjebok (Swedish encyclopedia)

About 1350, she went to Rome, partly to obtain from the pope the authorization of the new order, and partly in pursuance of her self-imposed mission to elevate the moral tone of the age. It was not until 1370 that Pope Urban V finally confirmed the rule of her order, but meanwhile Bridget had made herself known in Rome by her kindness and good works. Bridget made an earnest request to Pope Urban to return the Holy See back to Rome from Avignon.

Save for occasional pilgrimages, including one to Jerusalem in 1373, she remained in Rome until her death on July 23, 1373, aged 70. She was originally buried at San Lorenzo in Panisperna before being moved to Sweden. She was canonized in the year 1391 by Pope Boniface IX, and confirmed by the Council of Constance in 1415. Her final resting place is at the Vadstena Abbey, the site where the Bridgettine Order was first established.

Legacy

St. Bridget's shrine

Bridget of Sweden, was a devout Christian woman who inspired her own nation and its rulers to live a more religious and moral lifestyle especially through the widely circulated "Celestial revelations" and her prayers, "Fifteen Oes." Through these revelatory writings and prayers she influenced much of Europe as her works were added to a number of liturgical texts including the Books of Hours. Her mystical visions inspired others to devotion to Christ and some miracles were reported through veneration of her as a saint.

Her church and convent at Vadstena became a place welcoming other religious women and men including her own daughter, Catherine (Saint Catherine of Vadstena). The order spread widely in Sweden and Norway, and played a remarkable part in promoting culture and literature in Scandinavia; this is attributed to the fact that the head house at Vadstena, by lake Vättern, was not suppressed till 1595.

In England, the Bridgittine convent of Syon Abbey at Isleworth, Middlesex, was royally endowed by Henry V of England in 1415, and became one of the richest, most fashionable, and influential nunneries in the country. By 1515, with significant royal patronage, it expanded to 27 houses, 13 of them in Scandinavia and spreading to other lands reached an eventual total of 80. The English convent left during the reign of Elizabeth I but returned in 1861. It remains until today with Syon House now at Chudleigh in Devon. Work is done by the order in India, through the Cochin institution and others.

In her travels to other nations and cities she would encourage others toward the religious and pious life, even scolding those rulers who she found wanting. She defended the papacy and encouraged Pope Urban I to return the Holy See to Rome from Avignon, Rome being the rightful seat of Saint Peter.

She lived during the time of the Hundred Years War in Europe and was a contemporary of Catherine of Siena, and Julian of Norwich. All three women, including Bridget, wrote books called Revelations, Bridget's beginning around 1345 until her death in 1373, Catherine's, from 1377-1378, and Julian's perhaps from 1368-1413. Margery Kempe (c. 1373 – after 1438), who wrote the first autobiography in English (which chronicles her extensive pilgrimages to various holy sites in Europe and Asia and her own vision of Jesus Christ) had these texts copied and aided in their distribution. These women are linked by the Norwich Benedictine, Cardinal Adam Easton who wrote the Defensorium Sanctae Birgitta in Norwich, 1389-1391, defending the women's visionary writings.

Her shrine is at Vadstena convent, the main site of the Brigettine Order that she founded in Sweden.

In 1651, the Brigitta Chapel was erected in Vienna, and in 1900 the new district Brigittenau was founded.

In 1999, Pope John Paul II named Bridget as a patron saint of Europe. Her feast is celebrated on July 23, the day of her death. Bridget's feast was not in the Tridentine Calendar, but was later inserted in the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1623 for celebration on October 7, the day she was canonized by Pope Boniface IX in the year 1391. Five years later, her feast was moved to October 8, where it remained until the revision of the Roman Catholic Calendar of Saints in 1969. Traditional Roman Catholics continue to celebrate the feast day of "Saint Bridget, Widow" on October 8.

See also

• Patron saint
• List of Christian mystics
• Julian of Norwich
• Catherine of Siena
• Margery Kempe
• Catherine of Vadstena
• Books of Hours

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Bridget, of Sweden, saint. The Secret of Happiness: The Fifteen Prayers Revealed By Our Lord to Saint Bridget in the Church of Saint Paul in Rome (New York: St. Francis of Assisi Church, [19—]. OCLC 25228073
• Duffy, Eamon. The Stripping of the Altars: Traditional Religion in England 1400-1580, New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1994. ISBN 9780300060768
• Gregersson, Birger, Thomas Gascoigne, and Julia Bolton Holloway. The Life of Saint Birgitta, Toronto: Peregrina Pub. Co., 1991. ISBN 9780920669174
• Mulder-Bakker, Anneke B. Sanctity and motherhood: essays on holy mothers in the Middle Ages, New York: Garland Pub., 1995. ISBN 9780815314257
• Schiller, Gertrud. Iconography of Christian Art, Vol. I, (English trans from German), Greenwich, Conn., New York Graphic Society [1971-72]. OCLC 213792773
• Summit, Jennifer. Lost Property: The Woman Writer and English Literary History, 1380-1589, Univ. Chicago, 2000. ISBN 9780226780139

External links

All links retrieved January 7, 2009.

• saintbirgitta.com Complete Revelations, free download
• The Life of Saint Birgitta by Prior Peter and Master Peter
• J.P. Kirsch, (1907), St. Bridget of Sweden from Catholic encyclopedia.
• Website on Saint Birgitta of Sweden, giving her Latin Revelationes
• Bridgettines of Rome, Italy
• Bridgettines of Vadstena, Sweden
• Institute of the Brigidines

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