Born: 1303 (circa), Sweden
Died: 23 July 1373
Country most active: International
Also known as: Bridget of Sweden, Birgitta Birgersdotter, Birgitta of Vadstena (Swedish: heliga Birgitta), Princess of Nericia[
The following is excerpted from “400 Outstanding Women of the World and the Costumology of Their Time” by Minna Moscherosch Schmidt, published in 1933.
She was born in Finstad, Uppland (north of Stockholm). Her parents were Judge Birger Persson of Finstad, an important noble of the time, and his wife, Ingeborg Bengtsdotter, daughter of Bengt of the Folkunga dynasty. The child received an exceptionally careful education for that time. As early as the age of seven she had her first vision. At the age of twelve or thirteen she was, for political reasons, married to young Ulf Gudmarsson, who later became Judge of Ostergotland. Birgitta had chosen as her father-confessor and teacher in religion the canon in Linkoping, magister Mattias, Sweden’s most eminent divine of the time. Among the savants and religious men whom she gathered around her was Nicolaus Hermanni and the assistant prior Petrus of Alvastra and his namesake Petrus of Skanninge. The two last mentioned wrote down her revelations and also composed the first biography of Birgitta. In 1335, Birgitta was called to the court, where she allied herself with the aristocratic opposition. In 1341-1343 she and her husband made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella, and on the journey Birgitta familiarized herself with the important questions of the day. The death of her husband in 1344 had a decisive influence on Birgitta’s future. From that time are dated her real revelations, through which God called her to be his mouthpiece among mankind. Her visions became frequent, and, after awakening, she wrote down her revelations or dictated them to her father-confessor, who translated them into Latin. She gave utterance to passionate attacks against the court life, tried to mediate between England and France and also tried to bring the Pope back to Rome. She was inspired to found a new religious order and in 1346, King Magnus gave the royal demesne of Vadstena and several other estates to the new convent. She obtained from the Pope, Urban V, a Papal Bull by which he gave her the right to found a monastery and a nunnery and to use her own rules as secondary to the Rules of the Order of Augustinus. She made a longed-for journey to the Holy Land in 1373 and died in Rome on July 23. Her remains were brought to Vadstena and she was declared a Saint by Pope Boniface IX in 1391. Her books, among them Revelations, Revelationes Extravagatites, the rules Regula S. Salvatoris and the so-called Quatuor Orationes have been translated into most of the European languages.