Ten scholars offer a comprehensive introduction to one of the most celebrated visionaries of the Middle Ages. The essays focus on Birgitta as an author, the reception of her writings, and the history of her religious order.
This was the massive, simplified structure which had been built on Birgitta's orders, using the foundations and the walls of the castle given to her by King Magnus.
An account of the life and achievements of St Birgitta of Sweden, one of the most charismatic figures in the late medieval mystical tradition, founder of the Bridgettine order. St Birgitta of Sweden was one of the most charismatic figures in the late medieval mystical tradition. In Rome she succeeded in commanding prelates and popes, and throughout the courts of Europe she engaged in political secular intrigues; she married and produced eight children, yet became the only woman in the fourteenth century to be canonised; and in an age where new monastic foundations were proscribed, she founded an order of her own devising, primarily for women. This first modern biography presents an account of her extraordinary life and achievements, placing the saint in the context of the society from which she emerged, and showing how her public voice and reforming zealwere informed by a private spirituality at all stages of her life. Particular attention is given to her most lasting achievement, the monastic foundation which bears her name and has produced a network of communities throughout Europe, active to the present day. BRIDGET MORRIS is senior lecturer in Scandinavian studies at the University of Hull.
St. Birgitta of Sweden was one of the most charismatic and influential female visionaries of the later Middle Ages. Her revelations influenced the spiritual lives of many individuals including Martin Luther. Interest in Birgitta has grown recently and she is now admired as a powerful voice and prophet of reform.
St. Birgitta of Sweden was one of the most charismatic and influential female visionaries of the later Middle Ages. Her revelations influenced the spiritual lives of many individuals including Martin Luther. Interest in Birgitta has grown recently and she is now admired as a powerful voice and prophet of reform.
Bridget also known as Birgitta of Sweden received revelations from Almighty God and these are recounted in several books. 1.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 1 (books 1-3) 2.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 2 (Book 4) 3.The Book of Questions of Saint Bridget (Book 5) 4.The Prophecies and Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden volume 4 (Books 6*, 7, 8*, 9*) 5.The Book of the Angel (Book 11) 6.The Life and Prayers of Saint Bridget * indicates part of the book is missing.
An examination of awareness of the ecclesiastical doctrine of discretio spirituum, the means of testing whether visions were truly of divine origin, in the works of medieval women visionaries from Bridget of Sweden to Joan of Arc.
This book consists of The Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden, Book 11: "The Sermon of the Angel," on Salvation History from Adam and Eve to Christ, including much on the Blessed Virgin Mary; Book 12: "Four Prayers" which were divinely revealed to Saint Bridget; plus The 15 "Magnificent Prayers of Saint Bridget" to Our Suffering Lord Jesus Christ. The reader will find in it a fruitful source of prayer and meditation, as have so many people throughout the centuries since they were first revealed to the holy mystic and visionary. See also "The Revelations of St Bridget and Church Reform" and the edited "Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden: Books 1-5." St Bridget (or "Birgitta") of Sweden was born in June 1303 in the castle of Finsta near Uppsala in Sweden; her father Birgen Persson was the governor of the region of Upplan, her mother Ingeborga was also of noble lineage. Bridget married very early, had several children, and then in 1341, Bridget and her husband decided to celebrate their Silver Anniversary by going on a pilgrimage to Santiago of Compostella. This event marks a decisive turning point in the life of the two spouses, who for some time were already living their matrimony in chastity. During the return trip, Ulf, her husband, decided to embrace the religious life and was received into the Cistercian Abbey of Alvastra, where he died only a few years later. Bridget, having completed her mission as wife and mother, decided to transfer herself to an outbuilding to the monastery at Alvastra, where she remained for almost three years until 1346. It was the beginning of the most extraordinary phase of her life; after a period of austerity and of meditation on the Divine Mysteries of the Passion of the Lord and the Sorrows and Glories of the Virgin, she began to have visions of Christ, Who in one of these visions elects her "Messenger of the Great Lord." To her spiritual directors, such as Fr. Matthias, Bridget dictated her famous "Revelations," sublime intuitions and supernatural illuminations, which she had all her life and were then collected in eight volumes. Afterwards she went to Rome and here, under the dictation of an Angel, wrote "The Hymn of the Angel" or "Angelic Sermon." It deals with twenty-one Letters to be read every day of the week during the morning Masses in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint Bridget, during one Eucharistic celebration, has a revelation of the Angels in Eucharistic Adoration: "After the priest had pronounced the divine words over the bread, it seemed to me that that same bread took on three figures, although it remained in the hands of the priest. That Bread became a living Lamb, in the Lamb was seen the face of a man and on the inside and on the outside of the Lamb and of that face there was an ardent flame. As I was watching the face with attention, without averting my eyes, in it I saw the Lamb. And looking at the Lamb I also saw that same face in the Lamb. A Crowned Virgin was sitting with the Lamb and all the Angels were attending to her; the Lamb emanated a marvelous splendor. Also the multitude of holy souls was so numerous that my eyes could not contain it all, not in length, not in width, not in depth" (Book 8, 54). Later on, the Saint is a witness to a conversation between Jesus and the Virgin about the creation of the world and of all things visible and invisible. Among these the Angels, who at the moment of their creation, in complete liberty, were given the choice either to accept God and His love, or to refuse Him.