Born on June 14, 1303 of a very devout family,
Bridget’s mother died when she was only 10. She was raised with her siblings by
her father and other aunts. As was customary during the Middle Ages, Birgitta
was married when she was 13 years old to a young man, Ulf Gudmarsson with whom
she had eight children, four daughters and four sons, all of them survived
infancy, and that was very rare at that time. The King of Sweden, Magnus Eriksson married a foreigner, and
asked Birgitta to come and be Lady-in Waiting and to teach his new bride and
young queen the language and customs of her new country. After her years of
service at Court, Birgitta and Ulf made the long pilgrimage to Santiago di
Compostela in Spain. On the return journey Ulf became ill but survived until
early in the year 1344, when he was very ill again, and so Birgitta took him to
the monks at Alvastra where he died and was buried. Birgitta remained in a
little house near the abbey and she spent long hours in prayer by Ulf’s grave.
She arranged her affairs among her children and various charities and prayed
for guidance. When she was 41 years old, in the abbey at Alvastra she felt God calling
her to start a religious order, mainly for women. He said that the other orders
had fallen into decay and this new order would be a vineyard whose wine would
revivify the Church. She needed a monastery, chaplains and priests, besides 60
nuns to start the order. King Magnus donated a little palace and much land to
the new monastery in Vadstena, but as soon she had begun altering the palace
and organizing the work, Christ appeared to her and asked her to go to Rome.
Birgitta left Sweden at the end of 1349 never to return, spending the Holy Year
1350 there.
Although she had longed to become a nun, she never even saw
the monastery in Vadstena. It was not until 1370 that Pope Urban V confirmed
the rule of her order, but meanwhile Birgitta had made herself universally
beloved in Rome by her kindness and good works. Save for occasional
pilgrimages, including one to Jerusalem, she remained in Rome until her death
on July 23, 1373. She was originally buried at San Lorenzo in Panisperna before
being moved to Sweden. She was canonized by 1391. Birgitta was the first women
ever to found a religious order, known as the Brigittines.
The order spread swiftly throughout Europe with monasteries
from Scandinavia throughout Europe, in particular Spain, Italy, Mexico and the
USA. None of these foundations have brothers (except U.S.A. which has one male
convent.)
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