St. Bridget of Sweden was born in 1303 and died on July 23rd, 1373. Her father, Birger, was the royal prince of Sweden and her mother, Ingeborg, was a very pious woman. She received attentive religious training from a young age and liked to meditate on the Passion of Christ. In 1316, at age thirteen, she was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was eighteen. St. Bridget and her husband had eight children, the youngest of whom later became St. Catherine of Sweden.

After her children were born, St. Bridget and her husband made a vow of chastity (see chaste marriage). She had discussions with many learned theologians and was received at the court of King Magnus Eriksson. In 1341, she and her husband made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Her husband died in 1344 and thereafter St. Bridget devoted herself entirely to her religion. Her visions became much more frequent. She believed that Christ appeared to her and she wrote down her many revelations. She compiled her revelations into a book, which was later translated into Latin and into verncaular languages.   Well known in England by the 15^th century, Bridget's devotional writings greatly influenced Margery Kempe’s spirituality.  Margery has a vision of the sacrament fluttering in the priest's hands at the moment elevation and hears Christ say to her that "Bridget never saw me in this way" ( Chap. 20, lines 1078-1086).

Bridget journeyed to Rome in 1349 and remained there until her death. While living in Rome, she made several pilgrimages, among them one to the Holy Land in 1373. St. Bridget was canonized in October 1391 and her feast day is July 23rd. She is the patron saint of Sweden. She is also known as St. Birgitta, and to the English, as St. Bride. St. Bridget founded an order of nuns, the Bridgittines. Syon Abbey, a Bridgittine house founded by Henry V on the outskirts of London was probably the most distinguished center of female piety in late-medieval England.
SOURCES:
Saint Bride and Her Book: Birgitta of Sweden’s Revelations, trans. from Middle English by Julia Bolton Holloway. Newburyport MA, 1992
Marguerite Tjader Harris and Albert Ryle Kezel, Birgitta of Sweden, Life and Selected Revelations. Paulist Press: Mahwah, NJ., 1990.
The Lives of Saint Birgitta of Sweden in the Vernacular, eds. Bridget Morris and Veronica O'Mara, Brepols Publishers.
Rosalynn Voaden, God’s Words, Women’s Voices: The Discernment of Spirits in the Writings of Late-Medieval Women Visionaries. Rochester, NY: York Medieval Press, 1999.
M. L. de Kreek, Brigitta van Zweden 1330-1373. 600 Jaar Kunst en Cultuur van haar Klooster-Orde, exh. cat. Museum voor Religieuze Kunst: Uden, 1986. 
Catholic Encyclopedia Online.

BRIDGET'S VISION OF THE CRUCIFIXION 
The Vision Lady Birgitta saw in Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, in the chapel of Mount Calvary, on the Friday after the octave of the Ascension of the Lord, when, caught up in spirit, she saw the whole passion of the Lord in painstaking detail.

. . . .He ascended gladly like a meek lamb led to the slaughter (and) extended his arms and opened his right hand and placed it on the cross. Those savage torturers monstrously crucified it, piercing it with a nail through that part where the bone was more solid. And then with a rope, they pulled violently on his left hand and fastened it to the cross in the same manner. Finally they extended his body on the cross beyond all measure; and placing one of his shins on top of the other the fastened to the cross his feet, thus joined, with two nails… Then the crown of thorns, which they had removed from his head when he was being crucified they now put back, fitting it onto his most holy head. It pierced his awesome head with such force that then and there his eyes were filled with flowing blood ad his ears were obstructed. . . .
And as I, filled with sorrow, gazed at their cruelty, I then saw his most mournful Mother lying on the earth, as if trembling and half dead. She was being consoled by John and by those others, her sisters, who were then standing not far from the cross on the right side. Then the new sorrow of the compassion of that most holy Mother so transfixed me that I felt, as it were, that a sharp sword of unbearable bitterness was piecing my heart.

Marguerite Tjader Harris and Albert Ryle Kezel, Birgitta of Sweden, Life and Selected Revelations. Paulist Press: Mahwah, NJ., 1990: 188-89.
 

Her (Mary's) back was turned against the manger.  Verily though all of a sudden, I saw the glorious Infant lying on the ground naked and shining . . . Then I heard also the singing of the angels, which was of miraculous sweetness and great beauty . . . When therefore the Virgin felt that she had already born her Child, she immediately worshipped him, her head bent down and her hands clasped, with great honor and reverence and said to him: Be welcome my God, my Lord, and my Son.

 Henk van Os, Sienese Altarpieces 1215-1460, vol. 2, Form, Content, Function 1444-1460, Groningen, 1990: 119-21, figs. 118, 128a

back to the top