Today the Church celebrates St. Bridget of Sweden with a feast. She is a mystic, a founder, a mother of eight, and one of six patron saints of Europe. She matters to you because she shows that the mystical life does not require fleeing the world but transforming it from within, even when that means confronting popes and kings.
Who St. Bridget of Sweden was
Bridget was born around 1303 in Finsta, Sweden, into a noble and devout family. She married at thirteen and bore eight children, one of whom became St. Catherine of Sweden. After her husband’s death in 1344, Bridget founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, known today as the Bridgettines, which spread across Europe with houses for both men and women under the rule of an abbess.
She spent the last twenty-three years of her life in Rome, living in austere conditions and working for the return of the papacy from Avignon. She received visions throughout her life, beginning in childhood, and recorded them in her Revelationes, which she dictated to confessors and translators. She died in Rome on July 23, 1373, shortly after returning from pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She was canonized in 1391.
What she’s known for
Bridget is known for the boldness of her mystical voice. Her revelations addressed kings, bishops, and popes with specific warnings and reforms, calling them to holiness without regard for their rank. She urged Pope Urban V to remain in Rome and rebuked rulers for their wars and injustices. Her visions were intensely Christocentric, focusing on the Passion and the sufferings of Christ and Mary.
Her iconography shows her with a pilgrim’s staff, book, and candle. The staff marks her pilgrimages to Rome, Jerusalem, and Compostela. The book represents her Revelationes, which the Church approved for reading. The crown at her feet signifies her royal lineage and her renunciation of worldly glory for the sake of the kingdom of God.
For today
Pray one decade of the Rosary today meditating on the Crucifixion, as Bridget did daily. Ask her to intercede for you in one relationship where you have avoided speaking a hard truth out of fear or politeness. Before bed, read one chapter of a Gospel and ask Christ to show you where he is calling you to greater courage.
Carry her name through the day.
