Church to honor St. Bridget of Sweden
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CNA STAFF, Jul 19, 2009 / 04:41 am (CNA).- On Thursday, the Church will celebrate the feast day of St. Bridget of Sweden.  Bridget received visions of Christ’s suffering many times throughout her life and went on to found the order of the Most Holy Savior.

Daughter of Birger Persson, the governor and provincial judge of Uppland, and of Ingeborg Bengtsdotter, Bridget was born in Sweden in 1303. From the time she was a child, she was greatly devoted to the passion of Jesus.

When she was only ten, it is recorded that she had a vision on Jesus on the cross and heard him say, “Look at me, my daughter."

"Who has treated you like this?" cried little Bridget.

Jesus answered, "They who despise me and refuse my love for them.”  From that moment on, Bridget tried to stop people from offending Jesus.

When she was 14, she married 18-year old Ulf. Like Bridget, Ulf had set his heart on serving God. They had eight children, of whom one was St. Catherine of Sweden. Bridget and Ulf served the Swedish court. Bridget was the queen's personal maid. Bridget tried to help King Magnus and Queen Blanche lead better lives, however for the most part, they did not listen to her.

All her life, Bridget had marvelous visions and received special messages from God. In obedience to them, she visited many rulers and important people in the Church. She explained humbly what God expected of them.

After her husband died, Bridget put away her rich clothes and lived as a poor nun. Later, in 1346, she began the order of the Most Holy Savior, also known as Bridgettines. She still kept up her own busy life, traveling about doing good everywhere she went. And through all this activity, Jesus continued to reveal many secrets to her. These she received without the least bit of pride.

Shortly before she died, the saint went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. At the shrines there, she had visions of what Jesus had said and done in each place.

All St. Bridget's revelations on the sufferings of Jesus were published after her death.

St. Bridget died in Rome on July 23, 1373. She was proclaimed a saint by Pope Boniface IX in 1391.

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Subscriber comments:
Published by: S Vatore
Manama, Bahrain 07/19/2009 06:19 AM EST
She has a very uplifting, short prayer for those in purgatory.

The Church has approved her '15 Prayers', but DISAPPROVES of related '15 promises.
- According to a booklet that publishes the alleged promises,5 Our Lord had revealed to St. Bridget that He received 5,480 blows to His Sacred Body during the Passion. Therefore, if one were to pray the 15 prayers daily for a year, along with 15 Our Fathers and Hail Marys, one would thereby have honored each of the wounds received. (Actually, 15 times 365 is 5,475. If the leap year is factored in, the calculation is closer. Thus, 15 x 365.25 = 5,478.75, which rounds off to 5, 479.)

This part of the revelation does not seem to be against Catholic doctrine. When the Scriptural accounts of the Passion are considered, this number seems to be a reasonable calculation. It is entirely possible that the Divine knowledge, which knows the minutest details of the Passion, chose to communicate to St. Bridget the number of actual blows to edify the faithful and inspire them with a greater love of the suffering Redeemer.

It is the promises, though, that are problematic. Some of them are consistent with Church teaching, but some of them definitely are not.
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