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Franciscan Saints

St. Bridget of Sweden

WIDOW, THIRD ORDER

St. Bridget was born about the year 1302 in Sweden, and belonged to an illustrious and pious family. Shortly after her birth, Bridget lost her saintly mother. Her father then undertook to raise her with the aid of an aunt. As a very young girl she manifested a decided inclination for things spiritual. At the age of ten God favored her with a vision of the Crucified. The thought of the unspeakable torments which our Lord endured on Calvary affected her so deeply that she shed copious tears, and from that moment the Sacred Passion was the subject of her meditation.
She wished to consecrate her virginity to her Lord; but, obedient to the wish of her father, she married Prince Ulf, a young man of solid virtue and in every way deserving of her. Both joined the Third Order of St. Francis in order to strengthen themselves in the works of piety and the practice of penance. God blessed their marriage with eight children, and Bridget made it her sacred duty to raise them in the fear of God.
Among her charities was her service to the poor and the infirm; she waited on them with great care, sometimes even washing their feet and kissing them.
During the return journey from Compostela, where they visited the grave of the Apostle St. James, Ulf fell seriously ill at Arras. St. Denis then appeared to Bridget at night and assured her that her husband would recover. He also foretold events which would take place in their lives. Ulf soon afterwards entered the Cistercian monastery of Alvastra, where he died in the odor of sanctity in 1344.
Bridget now divided her estate among her children and the poor, clothed herself in a coarse garment with a cord for a girdle, and began to lead a very austere life. She built a convent for nuns at Vadstena and gave them the rule of St. Augustine, thus founding the Order of Our Savior. She spent two more years partly at Vadstena and partly at Alvastra, where her husband had died. Then, at God's command, she went to Rome, where she practiced the virtues in a high degree. She labored much for the return of the papacy to Rome, and was charged by God to deliver several messages to Popes Innocent VI, Urban V, and Gregory XI.
In 1371 she made a visit to the Holy Land, in compliance with a command from our Lord. There He bestowed on her extraordinary graces and imparted to her a knowledge of His sacred mysteries. Upon her return to Italy she was stricken with a serious illness, which afflicted her for an entire year. Having foretold the day of her death, she passed into the joys of eternity on July 23, 1373, at the age of seventy-one. She was laid to rest in the Poor Clare convent of St. Lawrence in Panisperna. The following year her body was taken to the convent at Vadstena in Sweden.
Many miracles were wrought at her intercession, and Pope Boniface IX canonized her.

ON THE FREQUENT REMEMBRANCE OF CHRIST'S SUFFERINGS 1. Consider how useful it is to think of the sufferings of Christ. There is no better consolation amid the sufferings of life. Are you being ridiculed and persecuted, have you been laid low by painful illness, is your soul worried and sorrowful, then look at your suffering Savior. Contemplate Him from the time He suffered the agony in the garden until He drew His last breath on the cross. What you are suffering, He endured in far greater measure; and, what is most consoling, His suffering has obtained for you the necessary strength to bear your sufferings patiently and with merit. His death has effected our redemption, so that in time of direct need, when our soul is oppressed because of the sins we have committed, we may look up with confidence to our suffering Savior. "If any man sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the just. He is the propitiation for our sins (1 Jn. 2, 1-2)." Have you always had recourse to your suffering Savior?
2. Consider the manner in which we should recall our Savior's sufferings. St. Bridget's humility, poverty, and austerity prepared her for the grace by which our Lord, so to say, planted His cross in the very center of her heart. The proud, those who consider themselves better than the rest of men, those who are inclined to pamper their bodies, those who always prefer the company of men and women, to the risen Christ, form no part of the group that stands on Calvary. They may grasp the meaning of Christ's Cross and sufferings, but the rememberance of it does not abide with them nor does it produce salutary fruit. Imitate the virtues of St. Bridget and the sufferings of Christ will also bring consolation to your soul and a fore taste of the joys of eternity.

PRAYER OF THE CHURCH

O Lord, our God, who through Thine only-begotten Son didst reveal heavenly secrets to Blessed Bridget, grant that, through her loving intercession, we Thy servants may rejoice and be happy in the revelation of Thine eternal glory. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

From the book of Franciscan Saints