[MR] Wikipedia: Saint Bridget of Sweden

[Garth Groff and Sally Sanford]

Noble Friends,

I skipped posting on this two days ago in favor of something more pressing.
Saint Bridget of Sweden died on 23 July 1373, perhaps surprisingly near
Rome, not in her home country. More on this later.

Bridget was born to a noble family in Sweden, and married for some 20 years
to a knight. She bore eight children, six surviving infancy. Her husband
died in 1344, shortly after he and Bridget returned from a pilgrimage to
Compostela. After her husband's death, Bridget joined the Third Order of
Saint Francis, devoting herself to a life of prayer and service to the poor
and sick.

Bridget soon started her own order, what was to become The Order of the
Most Holy Savior, aka The Bridgettines. In the midst of the plague, Bridget
made a pilgrimage to Rome in 1350 to petition for a formal rule for her
order. The Bridgettines were to be an order of both nuns and monks, living
in the same houses, though with separate cloisters. Each house was to be
under the control of an Abbess. The Bridgettines were later noted for their
piety, poverty and service, and soon spread across much of Europe. During
the lead-up to the Dissolution of the Monasteries, the Bridgettines were
among three orders recognized by Thomas Cromwell as being above the general
monastic decay in England (it did them no good in the end, and the
Bridettine houses were also closed down).

Except for pilgrimages, including one to Jerusalem, Bridget spent most of
her remaining days in Rome. She was beloved for her piety and kindness to
the poor. She was also something of a gadfly to Popes Innocent VI, Urban V
and Gregory XI, agitating them against moral laxity in the church (sounds a
bit like Mother Teresa, who wasn't afraid to take on Pope John Paul II).
Pope Urban finally granted Bridget the long-sought rule for her order in
1370.

Bridget was canonized in 1391 by Pope Boniface IX. She remains among the
most important and popular European saints in the Catholic church, and is
one of Europe's recognized patron saints.

You can read more about Bridget at
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridget_of_Sweden .

Yours Aye,


Mungo Napier, Laird of Mallard Lodge  🦆