Saint Bridget, Religious

Birgitta Birgersdotter was born in 1303 into a noble family of Sweden. At thirteen she was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, and they had eight children, among them Saint Catherine of Sweden. She served at the court of King Magnus, and with her husband went on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. After Ulf died in 1344, she began to record the revelations she said she received, which were later collected in eight books and widely read.

She founded the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, with a double monastery at Vadstena. In 1349 she went to Rome and never returned, urging the popes to come back from Avignon. In 1372 she made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. She died in Rome on 23 July 1373, was canonized in 1391 and in 1999 was named a patron of Europe.