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SAINT BIRGITTA 1303-1373
More than 700 years have passed since the birth of St. Bridget. He was declared one of the patron saints of Europe by Pope John Paul II in 1999. A literate, doctrinally educated woman, the mother of a large family. Nordic women can see this as a great tribute to themselves.
By the will of his father, against his own will, he had to marry Ulf Gudmarinpoja, a son of another prominent clan. The marriage gave birth to several children.
Birgitta and Ulf made pilgrimages together, the most significant of which was a trip to the tomb of St. Jacob in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. After the trip, the couple embarked on a "chaste marriage." Ulf died soon after the trip, perhaps in 1344.
Birgitta was 41 when she was a widow. Now she began to realize her dream, to be the bride of Christ.
Revelations of Birgita
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Birgita is said to have seen visions since she was 9 years old. Often in visions Jesus or Mary appeared to him, advising him on how to proceed and take him things going on all the way to the king.
In his call to vision, he heard a voice from the cloud saying, "Woman, hear me. Go to Master Matthias, your penitent father, who has experience in separating spirits. Tell him for me what I am telling you now: things and My Spirit will be with you until your death. "
In the manner of his day, if the recipient of the revelations was a woman, special care had to be taken to ensure that there was no devil behind them, for the woman was far more susceptible to the actions of the devil than the man.
Birgita always had a secretary, an urbanologist, who wrote down the screens dictated by Birgita in Swedish and made a Latin version of them. Birgitta knew so much Latin that she could check the text herself. The final text can be considered their cooperation
as a result.
Bishop Hemming's relic in the Turku Cathedral
Bishop Hemming
Birgitta personally knew Bishop Hemming of Turku. In a vision Birgitta conveys to her a special task: Hemming was to take the message from Christ to Pope Clement VI. The message was: The church leadership needs to repent and move from Avignon to Rome. In addition, the war that broke out between England and France was to be brought to an end, as the year of rejoicing 1350 was coming. Hemming set out with his entourage but failed in his mission.
King
In his vision, Birgitta also extends the then King Maunu Eerikinpoika of Sweden. Birgitta urges the king to go to war against Novgorod to expand the Catholic Church to the east. This would only financially burden the next king and give Maunu a place on the happier side of the sky.
House of the Franciscan Monastery in Rome
To Rome
At the age of 46 Birgitta left for Rome. He wanted the pope to approve his new convent rule. In the vision he had been instructed to be in Rome until the Pope and the Emperor were there at the same time.
In Rome she was received as the Princess of Närken. He had with him a large party that had been assembled of the most influential people of their time . He became acquainted with the mighty clans of Rome. Sometimes she was treated like a witch, sometimes as a pilgrim and as a great seer.
Birgitta convent house in Piazza Farnes
He moved To the house along Piazza Farnese in 1354. The house followed a daily schedule obtained in a vision reminiscent of monastic life. On Fridays, Birgita used to experience Christ’s suffering in concrete terms: She dropped hot wax on her skin, followed by burns. During the week, he tore the already slightly healed wounds with his fingernails open to produce constant pain for himself.
Belief
Birgitta exhorted everyone to personal repentance and faith. Everyone came right I believe in maintaining hope and pursuing charity. Faith was accompanied by fear of God’s punishment: hell and purgatory. The proper following of Christ was to forsake worldly wealth, to abstain from food and drink, yet in moderation. If a person saved himself by fasting too badly, the devil could easily strike a weakened soul and body
Founding document of Vadstena Monastery
Monastery rule
In the abbey of the monastery was the deputy of the Virgin Mary on earth. The nuns had to pray, read spiritual literature, meditate, weave, sew, and copy books.
Birgitt monasteries were for both men and women. However, the monks and nuns lived in very different parts of the building, only during the Mass they were in the same church space, albeit in different shells. It was difficult for medieval men to submit to the abbot, a woman, but in the Bridgettite rule this was done.
Before founding the monastery in Vadstena and moving there, Birgitta wanted to go on a pilgrimage to Palestine. On this trip he fell ill and could no longer return to Sweden. Birgitta died in Rome at Piazza Farnese on July 23, 1773.
Even today, the Birgitta convent in the house of Piazza Farnese preserves the intestinal bone of St. Birgita as a relic.
The coffin of St. Bridget in Vadstena monastery church.
Gunnar Bach Pedersen GNU Free Documentation License
VADSTENA MONASTERY
King Maunu Eerikinpoika gave permission in his will to Vadstena's Georgian monastery establishment. St. Birgitta herself did not have time to be in her monastery. He was succeeded by his daughter Catherine, who had been in Rome with her and brought her mother’s earthly remains to Vadstena.
The monastery quickly became very popular and received a lot of donations. It attracted pilgrims from all over Finland, as miracle stories of Birgita's miracles began to spread. Birgita’s heavenly power was considered to be more powerfully effective if a prayer himself his at their relics praying for help.
Today, Vadstena still has a monastery and is a significant revival pilgrimage center
NAIRAL BIRGITTAL MONASTERY