Bridget (Birgitta) Birgersdotter was surely one of the greatest women of the Christian Middle Ages. Patron saint of her native country, she was also counselor to, and critic of, princes, prelates and popes.
Bridget’s father was a wealthy governor in Sweden. He gave her in marriage, at the age of 14, to Ulf Gudmarsson the 18-year-old son of a land-holding family. The young bride bore Ulf eight children, of whom one, Catherine, is also venerated as a saint. It was an ideal marriage which lasted until his holy death 28 years later. Not that the couple’s life was without family trials. Death robbed them early of their youngest son; their oldest daughter married a violent nobleman; and only an untimely death saved another son from adultery. But the couple faced all their problems with Christian fortitude.
Around 1335 Bridget was called to the court of Magnus II Eriksson, the young king of the Swedes, to serve as chief lady-in-waiting to his new French wife, Queen Blanche of Namur. Bridget earned the respect of the king and queen, but her long-term efforts to train them in wisdom were not very effective. Magnus did, however, assist her generously when, after the death of her husband in 1344, she established around 1365 a double monastery at Vadstena. The double monastery was an arrangement sometimes adopted in medieval congregations in which there was a convent for women and an affiliated convent for men. Both branches were ruled by the abbess in temporal matters, but in spiritual matters both priests and nuns were subject to the priests’ superior. This religious congregation she called the Order of the Most Holy Saviour. They came to be popularly known as “Bridgettines.” Bridget’s daughter St. Catherine (Karin) of Vadstena was later its abbess. Some houses of Bridgettine nuns still exist; the Bridgettine monks are no more.
In 1349, Bridget, now out of favor at court, though beloved by the Swedish for her charities, moved to Rome, never to return to her native country. At Rome she was busy with the affairs of her religious order, she took care of Swedish pilgrims, she worked among the Roman poor, she made many pilgrimages, and in a city that had become impoverished and disorderly because of the absence of the popes, she set a strong personal example of Christian life.
From childhood, Bridget had been the recipient of dreams, visions and revelations. The Swedish courtiers had joked, “What was the Lady Bridget dreaming about last night?” She herself was worried that Satan might be their agent. Then she received a special revelation which told her to submit these communications to the judgment of a learned priest. The priest assured her that the voices were supernatural, and had her dictate them thenceforth to her spiritual adviser. Thus their content has been largely preserved.
Revelations had guided her in Sweden when she advised King Magnus. While she lived at Rome, revelations and prophecies continued to prompt her to warn Christian churchmen and rulers who needed correction, even though her unwelcome messages at times brought mistreatment upon her. She was especially inspired to persuade the popes to return from their residence at Avignon, France. (The French-born Pope Clement V, elected in 1308, had decided not to go to Rome at the time because of the disorder there. His successors wanted to return over the next 70 years, but deferred the move for one or another reason, although Rome suffered much because of their absence.) Bridget, on divine instructions, kept up contact with Popes Urban V and Gregory XII at Avignon; and four years after her death, Pope Gregory finally heeded her admonitions and brought his court back to the Eternal City.
What was she like, this woman who could be called one of the “Mothers of the Church”? No remote mystic, but, as one of her associates put it, a woman who was “kind and meek to every creature, and had a laughing face.” Four years after her death, her body was brought back in triumph to Sweden and laid to rest in her abbey at Vadstena. She was canonized in 1391. During the Reformation Sweden forgot her. But we may be sure that Bridget has never forgotten Sweden. --Father Robert F. McNamara
Scripture(Gal 2:19-20)
Through the law I died to the law, that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.
Writings
(Year C). The bride of God saw the Queen of Heaven, the Mother of God, wearing a priceless and beautiful crown on her head and her wonderfully shining and indescribably beautiful hair hanging down over her shoulders, with a golden tunic shining with an indescribable light, and a blue mantle of the color azure or a clear sky. When the bride of God, Saint Bridget, was full of wonder at such a lovely sight, and in her wonderment was standing there totally enraptured and amazed, then blessed John the Baptist appeared to her and said: “Listen closely to what all this signifies. The crown signifies that she is the Queen and Lady and Mother of the King of angels; the hair hanging down signifies that she is an unstained and pure virgin; the sky colored mantle signifies that all worldly things were as dead in her heart and will; the golden tunic signifies that she was fervent and burning in the love of God, both inwardly and outwardly. Her Son, Jesus Christ, placed seven lilies in her crown, and between the lilies he placed seven gems. The first lily is her humility; the second lily is her fear; the third, her obedience; the fourth, her patience; the fifth, her steadfastness; the sixth, her kindness, for she is kind and gives to all who beg of her with love and a will to amend; the seventh, her mercy in difficulties, for in whatever difficulty a man may be in, if he calls on her with all his heart, he will receive mercy and help from her because she is full of compassion and mercy. Between these shining lilies her Son placed seven precious gem stones. The first gem is her incomparable virtue, for there is no virtue in any other spirit or in any other body, which she does not have in a higher fashion. The second gem is her perfect purity, for the Queen of the kingdom of Heaven was so pure that from her first entrance into the world up to the final day of her death, not a single stain of sin was ever to be found in her; and none of all the devils could ever find enough impurity in her to fit on the head of a needle-point. She was truly the most pure, for it was not fitting for the King of glory to lie in any vessel but the purest, chosen before all angels and men and more pure than they. The third gem was her beauty, for God is praised constantly by his saints for his Mother’s beauty, and all the holy angels and holy souls are filled with joy over her beauty. The fourth precious gem in the crown is the Virgin Mother’s wisdom, for she is filled with all divine wisdom in God and all wisdom is fulfilled and perfected through her. The fifth gem is her power and might, for she is so powerful and strong with God in her that she can subdue anything that has been created. The sixth gem is her clarity, for she shines so clear that she even illuminates the angels, whose eyes are clearer than light, and the devils do not dare to look upon her clarity. The seventh gem is the fullness of every delight and joy and all spiritual sweetness, for her fullness is such that there is no joy that she does not increase, no delight that is not made fuller and more perfect by her and through the blessed vision of her, for she is filled with grace and mercy above all the holy saints. She is the most pure vessel in which the Bread of angels laid and in which all sweetness and all beauty is found. Between the seven lilies in her crown, her Son placed these seven gemstones. Therefore may you, her Son’s bride, honor and praise her with all your heart, for she is in truth worthy of all praise and all honor with her Son! (Revelations)
Musical Selection
Så lilla vän (Sweet friend) Dimman för dig hem igen (The mist will carry you home again) Om du går vilse (If you get lost). Natten är lång (The night is long)
Tusen stjärnors urtidssång (The ancient song of a thousand stars). Dimmorna dansar (The mist is dancing)
Sov lilla vän (Sleep little friend) Skogen vaktar, värmer dig (The forest guards you, and keep you warm) Om du är frusen (If you are cold)
Norrskensljus (Northern lights) Dansar över skog och fjäll (Dancing over the forest and mountains) Brinner i natten (Burning in the night)
Så lilla vän (Sweet friend) Dimman för dig hem igen (The mist will carry you home again) Om du går vilse (If you get lost)
Collect
Lord our God, who revealed the secrets of heaven to Bridget of Sweden
as she meditated on the suffering and death of your Son:
lead us to rejoice in the revelation of your glory, and, when our time on earth is over,
bring us to celebrate your praise with Bridget and all your saints where sorrow and crying are no more.
We ask this through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, now and for ever. Amen. (English Missal)
