Also known as Birgitta. Widow; foundress of the Brigittines. Born c.1303 near Upsala, Sweden; died 23 July 1373 at Rome, Italy. Her parents were among the wealthiest landholders in the country and were renowned for their piety; Saint Ingrid was a near relative. In 1316 at the age of 13, she was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, by whom she had eight children, including Saint Catherine of Sweden. About 1320 she made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. After her husband’s death, Bridget devoted herself entirely to religion and asceticism; the heavenly visions she had had from early childhood became more frequent. She founded a religious order of nuns, called Brigittines, 1346, at Vadstena, Sweden; approval of the order was granted, 1370. In 1349 she journeyed to Rome and remained there until her death, except while absent on pilgrimages, the most important of which was to the Holy Land. She established a hospice for Swedish students and pilgrims at Rome, and played an important part in influencing Urban V to return to Rome from Avignon (1367). Patroness of Sweden. She is represented praying before a crucifix, holding an image of the Blessed Virgin. Canonized, 1391. Relics in the monastery at Vadstena. Feast, Roman Calendar, 8 October.
(Also Birgitta).The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdoms, born about 1303; died 23 July, 1373.Early LifeShe was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country, and, like her mother, distinguished by deep piety. St. Ingrid, whose death had occurred about twenty years before Bridget’s birth, was a near relative of the family. Birger’s daughter received a careful religious training, and from her seventh year showed signs of extraordinary religious impressions and illuminations. To her education, and particularly to the influence of an aunt who took the place of Bridget’s mother after the latter’s death (c. 1315), she owed that unswerving strength of will which later distinguished her.MarriageIn 1316, at the age of thirteen, she was united in marriage to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was then eighteen. She acquired great influence over her noble and pious husband, and the happy marriage was blessed with eight children, among them St. Catherine of Sweden. The saintly life and the great charity of Bridget soon made her name known far and wide. She was acquainted with several learned and pious theologians, among them Nicolaus Hermanni, later Bishop of Linköping, Matthias, canon of Linköping, her confessor, Peter, Prior of Alvastrâ, and Peter Magister, her confessor after Matthias. She was later at the court of King Magnus Eriksson, over whom she gradually acquired great influence. Early in the forties (1341-43) in company with her husband she made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. On the return journey her husband was stricken with an attack of illness, but recovered sufficiently to finish the journey. Shortly afterwards, however, he died (1344) in the Cistercian monastery of Alvastrâ in East Gothland.WidowhoodBridget now devoted herself entirely to practices of religion and asceticism, and to religious undertakings. The visions which she believed herself to have had from her early childhood now became more frequent and definite. She believed that Christ Himself appeared to her, and she wrote down the revelations she then received, which were in great repute during the Middle Ages. They were translated into Latin by Matthias Magister and Prior Peter.St. Bridget now founded a new religious congregation, the Brigittines, or Order of St. Saviour, whose chief monastery, at Vadstena, was richly endowed by King Magnus and his queen (1346). To obtain confirmation for her institute, and at the same time to seek a larger sphere of activity for her mission, which was the moral uplifting of the period, she journeyed to Rome in 1349, and remained there until her death, except while absent on pilgrimages, among them one to the Holy Land in 1373. In August, 1370, Pope Urban V confirmed the Rule of her congregation. Bridget made earnest representations to Pope Urban, urging the removal of the Holy See from Avignon back to Rome. She accomplished the greatest good in Rome, however, by her pious and charitable life, and her earnest admonitions to others to adopt a better life, following out the excellent precedents she had set in her native land. The year following her death her remains were conveyed to the monastery at Vadstena. She was canonized, 7 October, 1391, by Boniface IX.-----------------------------------J.P. HIRSCH Transcribed by Pamela Scofield The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IICopyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York