Saint Bridget, Religious

Saint Bridget of Sweden was born around 1304 into a noble family in Sweden. Married at thirteen to Ulf Gudmarsson, she became the mother of eight children and was known for generous charity, especially toward unwed mothers and the poor. In her early thirties she served at the royal court, and in 1341 she and her husband made pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. After Ulf’s death in 1344, Bridget embraced a deeper life of prayer as a member of the Third Order of Saint Francis, caring for the sick while receiving powerful visions centered on the Passion of Christ. Called to renew the Church’s moral life, she traveled to Rome in 1350 and labored for years for reform and for papal approval of the religious community she founded, the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, or Bridgettines. Pope Urban V confirmed its Rule in 1370. Bridget remained in Rome, with a final pilgrimage to the Holy Land, until her death on 23 July 1373. Venerated as a mystic and founder, she is patroness of Europe, Sweden, and widows. Her feast day is July 23.