Saint Bridget of Sweden

St. Bridget was born in 1303 AD at Finsta, her father's estate in the Swedish province of Uppland. Her father, Birger Persson, was lawman of Uppland, the province's judge and governor, and one of the richest landholders in Sweden. Her mother died when she was not yet twelve, and an aunt raised her.

According to longstanding Catholic Tradition, at ten she heard a sermon on the Passion, and that night Christ appeared to her as if he had just been crucified.

In September 1316 AD, at thirteen, St. Bridget married Ulf Gudmarsson. Her father arranged the match against her wishes. Ulf later became lawman of Närke and a councillor of the realm.

They lived at Ulvåsa in Östergötland and had eight children, four sons and four daughters. Together they founded a small hospital and often nursed the sick themselves. Every day St. Bridget fed twelve poor people at her table and served them herself.

King Magnus Eriksson called St. Bridget to his court to teach Swedish ways to his queen, Blanche of Namur, who was only sixteen or seventeen. Over time St. Bridget gained great influence over the king. The king now listened less to one courtier than before, and the man resented St. Bridget for it.

As she passed through a narrow street, he poured water on her from a high window. Another time an envious knight had a man who pretended to be drunk mock her at table in front of the great lords. The people at table wanted revenge, and St. Bridget forbade it.

In 1341 AD St. Bridget and Ulf made the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela with other relatives. On the way home Ulf fell so ill at Arras that he was expected to die, and the bishop of Arras gave him the last sacraments. As she prayed, St. Denis appeared to St. Bridget and told her Ulf would not die of this illness.

Ulf recovered enough to reach home, then retired to the Cistercian monastery of Alvastra, where he died on February 12, 1344 AD. As he lay dying, he put his wedding ring on her finger, and she soon took it off. She said her love had died with him, and that she now wished to give herself to God.

In 1344 AD, the year Ulf died, St. Bridget began to receive the revelations she would dictate for the rest of her life. She doubted them until her confessor, Master Mathias, a canon of Linköping, persuaded her.

Catholic Tradition holds that two years after Ulf's death, the Rule of a new order was revealed to her. The order, the Order of St. Saviour, known as the Brigittines, was to have its chief monastery at Vadstena. In 1346 AD King Magnus and Queen Blanche made a large gift toward the future monastery.

In 1346 AD a revelation told St. Bridget to go to Rome. In 1349 AD she left Sweden for good, parting from her children and relatives. That year Pope Clement VI invited the faithful to Rome for the Jubilee of 1350 AD, and Rome stayed her home until her death.

In those years the Popes lived at Avignon, in France, but Pope Urban V brought the papal court back to Rome in 1367 AD. When he decided in 1370 AD to leave again, St. Bridget went to him at Montefiascone with a revelation warning him against the return, and with the Rule of her order. He sailed for France on September 7, 1370 AD, and died on December 19, soon after he got there.

In May 1371 AD, as St. Bridget prayed in Rome, Christ told her to prepare for a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. At Naples her eldest son, Karl, died on March 9, 1372 AD, and he was buried in the cathedral there. Two days later she sailed for the Holy Land with her son Birger and her daughter, St. Catherine of Vadstena.

She entered Jerusalem on Ascension Day, May 13, 1372 AD. On Calvary she had a vision of the Passion. At Bethlehem she had a vision of the birth of Christ.

Back in Rome, in July 1373 AD St. Bridget sent Pope Gregory XI at Avignon a revelation about his return to Rome. She died at dawn on July 23, 1373 AD, after Holy Communion, with Birger and St. Catherine beside her. Pope Gregory XI had not yet come back to Rome for good.

In 1374 AD Birger and St. Catherine carried her body home to Vadstena, as she had wished. Pope Boniface IX canonized her in 1391 AD.