Saint of the Day: Bridget of Sweden

Widow, Mother, and Founder of the Order of the Most Holy Savior (1302-1373)

Her life

+ Bridget (or Birgitta) was born in Finster, Sweden. At the age of sixteen she married and eventually had eight children. Her youngest child, Catherine, is also honored as a saint.

+ After a pilgrimage to the shrine of Saint James in Compostela, Bridget’s husband decided to enter a Cistercian monastery. Bridget eventually renounced her noble title and wealth and built a monastery in Wastein which became the motherhouse of the Order of the Most Holy Savior (the “Brigittines”).

+ Honored as a gifted mystic (the accounts of her visions fills eight volumes), she had a special devotion to the to the Passion of Christ.

+ Bridget later went on pilgrimage to Jerusalem and Rome, where she died in 1373.

+ Saint Bridget was canonized in 1391. She is honored as the patron saint of Sweden and as one of the patron saints of Europe.

For prayer and reflection

“Eternal blessing be yours, my Lord Jesus Christ, because in your last agony you held out to all sinners the hope of pardon, when in your mercy you promised the glory of paradise to the penitent thief… Blessed may you be, my Lord Jesus Christ. You redeemed our souls with your precious blood and most holy death, and in your mercy you led them from exile back to eternal life.”—Saint Bridget of Sweden

Vocations

To more about the Sisters of St. Birgitta: http://www.birgittines-us.com/

To learn about the Brigittine monks of Our Lady of Consolation Priory: www.brigittine.org

Spiritual Bonus

On this day we also remember Saint Phocus. Known as “the Gardener,” he was an innkeeper who grew vegetables and herbs to help feed the poor. He was killed in Sinope, Pontus (in modern-day Turkey) around the year 303.

Prayer

O God, who guided Saint Bridget of Sweden
along different paths of life
and wondrously taught her the wisdom of the Cross
as she contemplated the Passion of your Son,
grant us, we pray,
that, walking worthily in our vocation,
we may seek you in all things.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever.
(from The Roman Missal)

Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.