St.Brigita Sweden

st. Brigita Sweden

Birgitta de Suecia

BIOGRAPHY

She came from a royal family and had supernatural visions. She was married at the age of 14 and had eight children. She entered III. order of St. Františka and after her husband’s death lived a reciting life. She founded a religious order for the purpose of worshiping the tortured Christ. By her virtues she was an example to all. Towards the end of her life we see her as a penitent pilgrim.

She was born in June 1303 at Finsta Castle near Uppsala, Sweden. This place is located on Lake Bjorken north of Stockholm. Parents came from noble families. Father Governor Birger Persson of the Folkungar family, as Swedish kings, mother of Ingeborg of the Gothic royal family. Brigitte was taught love for God much like her younger sister and brother. However, Brigita started to have visions at the age of seven. At the first night she saw the Virgin Mary, in the next crucified Christ, and this mystical experience continued to spread with her. At about the age of 11, when seeing the Lord Jesus on the cross, she asked the question: “O my dear, who set you up like this?” and she heard an answer that deeply touched her heart: “All those who forget me and despise my love!”

Soon after this experience, Brigitte’s mother died, and her father entrusted her upbringing to her aunt Kateřina, who was also her godmother and used the possibility of leadership by Bishop Brynjolf of Skara.

At the age of 14, she was married to nobleman Ulf Gudmarsson. She submitted to her father’s decision, even though she longed for the consecrated life of nuns. She and her husband then agreed to follow the example of the Old Testament couple Tobias and Sara. They spent the first two years in prayer renouncing intimate coexistence. Married to Ulf, who was a good man, she then had eight children: Marta, Karl, Birger, Bengt, Gudmar, Karin (či Kateřina), Ingeborg and Cecilia.

At the age of 32, after the accession of her relative Magno to the Swedish throne, she was called to Stockholm to be a lady-in-waiting to his young queen, whom she taught and raised for three years. At that time, the student Niels Hermansson, later bishop and saint, helped raise her sons. Brigita also recognized the difficulties of politics and the fragmentation of Europe at the royal court. Her family’s stay in Stockholm ended with the painful loss of her son Gudmar, who died at about the age of ten.

In an effort to constantly deepen the spiritual life, both spouses entered the third order of St. Francis. On the 25th anniversary of their marriage, they made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela and at that time decided again to live a restrained life. After two years, Ulf entered the Cistercian monastery, where their son Bengt already lived. He lived there with him for two years and died. Brigita, after arranging all matters, took refuge in one abode near the monastery of Alvastra and lived in it as an ascetic for two years. She begged for the necessary graces from the church and performed acts of Gemini love. In 1346, she began admonishing the powerful of this world as well as church dignitaries and demanded a change of life from them. Personally, she was also at the court of the king and wrote calls to end the long-standing war to the French and English rulers. Another call to the Pope in Avignon with the desire to return.

King Magnus Eriksson dedicated to Brigitte the royal court of Vadsten at Lake Vättern, and she decided to make it a monastery for the Congregation of the Holy Savior (sv. Salvátora), which she founded. It was built and consecrated only after her death. Her religious community was established in two communities of (male and female), for which one church was built, in which they met for worship. The two communities were to have a combined membership of 85. She chose the order of St. Augustine, to whom she added the worship of the bitter passion of the Savior. He himself made her know the greatness of his torment and taught her the prayers with which she could honor his wounds during the year. He added great promises for those who can endure to perform the devotion with 15 prayers throughout the year. (The devotion was later approved and recommended by the Holy Congregation, the College de propaganda fide, and Pope Clement XII.)

In 1349, Brigita went on a pilgrimage to Rome to not only obtain indulgences the following year, connected with the gracious summer proclaimed by Pope Clement VI, but also wanted to achieve confirmation of the new order. She mostly went barefoot. Cardinal Ratzinger wrote about her that she wandered in the footsteps of God who stepped into our footsteps.

Her order was only confirmed by Pope Urban V when he returned to Rome in 1367. Meanwhile, Brigita was making pilgrimages and continuing her plan. Before her death, she made a large, one-year journey to the Holy Land, which she embarked on in the spring of. 1372. In Jerusalem, she began to develop stomach ailments and after returning to Rome on the 23rd. 7. died. She was temporarily buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna and 13. 11. accompanied by her children Katerina and Birger, transported to Vadstena, Sweden. For an extraordinary life and a number of miracles, Pope Boniface IX. on 7. On 10 1391 he declared a saint.

Pope John Paul II her 1. On 10 October 1999, he declared as the patron saint of Europe and justified it by saying: “By her deep feeling of the mystery of Christ and the Church, she became involved in building her community at an extremely critical moment in the history of the Church. Brigitte exudes a prophetic power. He speaks to princes and popes with a certain openness. For the sake of the moral revival of Christendom and the clergy, he spares no strict admonitions.”

Pope in the following month, 13. 11., served an ecumenical service in her honor, with the participation of two archbishops of the Lutheran Church of Sweden and Finland, as well as the presence of members of the Swedish royal family. He highlighted the new patroness of Europe as the one who “She understood the Church as a community of believers, a place where the Holy Spirit dwells.”

Quotes from her thoughts: “Temptations are the most beneficial means of sifting, purifying, and perfecting man. Those who tend to be tempted at the beginning of their conversion are quite firm at the end of their lives.”