Today, July 23, is the memorial of Saint Bridget.
Foundress of the Bridgettines (Order of the Most Holy Savior).
Born in 1303, Bridget was the daughter of Birger Persson, a wealthy landowner and governor/provincial judge of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter. Her family were descendants of the Swedish royal house. She was related to Saint Ingrid of Sweden.
Bridget began receiving visions, mostly the Crucifixion, at age seven. At age 13, Bridget wed Prince Ulfo of Nercia in an arranged marriage. She was the mother of eight, including Saint Catherine of Sweden; some of the other children ignored the Church.
She was a friend and counselor to many priests and theologians of her day. She was the chief lady-in-waiting to Queen Blanche of Namur in 1335, from which position she counseled and guided the Queen and King Magnus II.
After Ulfo’s death in 1344 following a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela, Spain, she pursued a religious life, for which she was harassed by others at the court. She eventually renounced her title of princess. As a mystical writer, she recorded the revelations given her in her visions, and these were popular in the Middle Ages.
She founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior (Bridgettines) at Vadstena, Sweden in 1346. It received confirmation by Pope Blessed Urban V in 1370, and survives today, though few houses remain.
Bridget counseled kings and Popes Clement VI, Gregory XI, and Urban VI, urging each to return to Rome from Avignon. The saint encouraged all who would listen to meditate on the Passion, and of Jesus Crucified.
She died of natural causes in 1373. Pope Boniface IX canonized her in 1391.