Bridget (Brigitta Or Birgitta)

Bridget (Brigitta Or Birgitta)

Bridget (Brigitta Or Birgitta),

a saint of the Romish Calendar, and daughter of Birgir, prince of Sweden. She was born in 1304, and married Ulpho, prince of Nericia, in Sweden, by whom she had eight children. After the birth of these Bridget and her husband resolved to lead a life of continence. They undertook a pilgrimage to Compostella; and Ulpho died shortly after their return to Sweden, in 1344. Bridget then built the great monastery of Wastein, in the diocese of Linkoping, in which she placed sixty nuns, and, separated from them entirely, thirteen friars, priests, in honor of the twelve apostles and St. Paul, four deacons, representing the four doctors of the Church, and eight lay brothers. (See Brigettines). Bridget, having made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, died at Rome on her return, July 23, 1373. She was canonized by Bonifacius IX, Oct. 7, 1391, and her festival appointed to be kept on the day following. Her Romish biographers tell of many revelations which she is said to have had concerning the sufferings of our Saviour, and about political affairs. John de rorquemada, by order of the Council of Basle, examined the book of Bridget's revelations, and declared it to be profitable' for the instruction of the faithful (?). It was consequently confirmed by the Council of Basle and the popes Gregory XI and Urban VI, but Benedict XIV explained this confirmation as meaning only that the book contained nothing contrary to the doctrines of the Roman Church. Her Revelations were published, Liibeck, 1492, and Rome, 1848.-Butler, Lives of Saints, Oct. 8; Hammerich, Leben Brigitta's (1863).