The year is 1335 and Magnus Eriksson, King of the Swedes and Norway, summons Bridget to be principle lady-in-waiting to his new queen, Blanche of Namur. Bridget was the daughter of the wealthiest family in Uppland and she was expected to produce many children. She gave birth to four sons and four daughters and thus fulfilled her parents’ wishes. By now Bridget was already having the revelations that would soon make her famous throughout Europe. She asked the queen-consort for permission and was given time to make the pilgrimage of Santiago de Compostela in distant Spain. On returning to Sweden, Bridget’s husband, Prince Ulf of Mercia, fell ill and died and she retreated to the quiet of Alvastra Monastery on the shores of Lake Vättern to mourn her loss. It was during her four years there in south central Sweden that her visions impelled Bridget to preach repentance openly.

Bridget reproached the king for setting a poor example and for a time he accepted her correction and changed his life. He endowed a great monastery to be built overlooking the crystal waters of Lake Vättern, some 20 km north of Alvastra. Bridget oversaw every aspect of its construction and drew up constitutions for the community’s governance – as provided to her in a vision. This was the beginning of the Order of the Most Holy Savior, known today as the Brigittines.

In 1350 Bridget traveled to Rome for the great jubilee year and planned to gain papal approval for her order, this despite the fact that Pope Clement VI was holed up in Avignon. Her demand that the papal court return to Rome would be echoed in later years by St. Catherine of Siena (also co-patron of Europe along with St. Teresia Benedicta of the Cross, a.k.a. Edith Stein).

Just as she had done in Sweden, Bridget openly criticized the morally corrupt lifestyle of many powerful people in Rome. She was threatened with being burned at the stake and defamed as a witch and a heretic, and yet she was not intimidated and took the hateful misogyny as opportunities for humility to buttress her growing faith. She undertook the study of Latin and ran her Swedish household in Rome along the strict lines and routines of her monastery back home.

Bridget’s spirituality became increasing Marian and her visions of the Nativity, which she had while traveling in the Holy Land, became widespread and influenced generations of artists. It was Bridget, for example, who saw the baby Jesus as glowing radiantly within the darkened stable. This motif would influence the development of many Christmas devotions.

Bridget died in her house at Piazza Farnese in Rome on July 23, 1373 at the age of 71. She was canonized 18 years later by Pope Boniface IX and in 1999 John Paul II named her as co-patron of all Europe.