A teenage bride
St Bridget of Sweden was pious, like her father, who went to Confession every Friday and made long pilgrimages, including to the Holy Land.
When her mother died Bridget was only 10, with a younger sister aged nine and a newborn baby brother called Israel. They were raised by their maternal aunt. When Bridget was young she had a clear vision of the Man of Sorrows. Bridget asked the Man who had persecuted him and he replied: “Those who despise my love.”
Bridget was married aged 13 (as was typical in the Middle Ages) to a young man. He was named Ulf Gudmarsson and together they had eight children. When Magnus IV of Sweden married Blanche of Namur he asked Bridget to be his lady-in-waiting as she was his kinswoman. After serving at the court for many years, Bridget and her husband went on pilgrimage to Santiago di Compostela. Her husband became seriously ill on their return. As Bridget sat by his bed all night praying, a bishop appeared to her. He told her that Ulf would get better and that “God had great things for her to do.”
When Ulf fell ill again in 1344, Bridget took him to the monks at Alvastra in eastern Sweden, where he died. Bridget remained there and prayed by his grave, saying that she “loved him like my
own body”.
Visions of reform
While she was at the abbey, God called her and gave her the task of founding a female religious order. But as soon as the practical work began she felt God summoning her to Rome, asking her to wait there until the Pope returned from France. So she left Sweden at the end of 1349, never to return.
For the rest of her life she had visions about the reform of the Church, and received messages for kings and popes, directing them to work for the Church.
St Bridget’s order spread rapidly throughout Europe. She was canonised in 1391 and named co-patroness of Europe by Pope John Paul II in 1999.
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