Birgitta's liturgical creation is of great poetic beauty, essentially a homage to the Virgin Mary, reflecting different phases of her life, always with reference to her being the Mother of the Son of God. Thus the lives of Mary and Christ were followed from day to day during the week, from the Annunciation to the Crucifixion on Friday, the waiting and sorrowing of Saturday, to Sunday and the Resurrection. The basis, of course, was Bible passages, above all from the Prophet Isaiah, the Psalms and from the New Testament. The ritual also included songs of the early Church, adapted by Master Petrus. There were also new hymns, written by Petrus and, with Birgitta's approval, included in the devotional hours. Excerpts from Birgitta's Revelations were added. The singing and the pattern of the sisters' movements during the services were regulated in detail. The best-known of these hymns, though, was written after Birgitta's death, namely Rosa rorans bonitatem, stella stillans claritatem—Rose fragrant with goodness, star with a light like clear drops.
The Bridgettine Office, which to this day is sung in most of the Bridgettine convents, was translated into Swedish as Jungfru Marie örtagård (The Virgin Mary's Arbour). Master Petrus appears also to have written the melodies. In musical terms these are Gregorian: monophonic, free-flowing and asymmetric.
Otherwise Birgitta's Rule does not differ essentially from the Rules of most other orders in the Middle Ages. She prescribed moderate asceticism, a life of work and prayer, and help to those in need. In addition there were detailed rules governing the admission of new members, discipline and apparel. To this day, the sisters wear the habit prescribed by Birgitta: grey and white, with a black veil, and above this a crown of white fabric, adorned with five small red dots-symbols of the wounds of Christ. Nuns and monks naturally came to see in Birgitta an example of fidelity, perseverance and charity. But the essential thing was—and remains—Marian spirituality and the determination to lead, as far as possible, a life of imitatio Christi.
The imitation of Christ under the sign of Mary, integrated with a closely regulated monastic life, the graphic images of the states of the soul in sin and in godliness-these, then, are aspects of Birgitta's religious achievement. They also reflect distinctive characteristics of her spirituality. But perhaps the main emphasis of her personality is her moralism, founded on Christian conviction. Her God was embodied by the suffering Christ. The Crucified was also Judge and Ruler of the World, Emperor Upon the Heavenly Throne, surrounded by saints and angels. Majestas Domini, the majesty of the Lord, governed everything and everybody—and Birgitta felt herself to be His spokeswoman and prophet.
She was as firm in her faith as she was uncompromising. Her admonitions were addressed to both ecclesiastical and secular rulers, wherever she perceived abuses and disregard of the essential ideas of the Gospel. In her dealings with popes and kings, she displayed a complete absence of opportunism, even though for the sake of her order she stood to benefit a great deal from being on good terms with those in power. All other considerations were cast aside for the truth as she saw it. The many court scenes in her Revelations, with the inevitable, definitive victory of justice, are reminders of a belief in God converted into a passion for justice.
This absence of calculation and tactics, of course, is bound up with Birgitta's total absorption in her Christian belief. Her Revelations convey the picture of a life centering completely on God in a practical mysticism, anchored in reality. Aron Andersson, a Swedish medieval historian, has, from a Christian viewpoint, summed up his reading of her writings in the following terms: it conveys, he writes, the picture of a life in the service of God, a life of close intimacy with Christ and Mary, "so full of grace that every step, every thought, every act apparently proceeds under heavenly guidance".
"Amazing and wonderful things have been heard in our land," one of her confessors wrote in a preface to her Revelations. That preface, a biography and the 700 or so visions were presented a few years after her death to the Roman Curia, as the basis of a request for her canonization Several Papal Commissions were appointed. From Sweden, representations were made to three popes; King Albrekt of Sweden and, later, Queen Margareta as well wrote to the Emperor Charles IV and Queen Joan of Naples, requesting their support. Canonizations, even today, are preceded by protracted legal proceedings, testimonies are given, arguments for and against are put to papal judges. In Birgitta's case the petition was successfully prosecuted and her solemn canonization was pronounced on 7th October 1391 in a Papal Bull, Ab origine mundi, From the Beginning of the World. Three years later, at a church meeting in Arboga, the Swedish clergy declared Birgitta to be Sweden's patron saint.
Long before this, under the direction of her daughter Katarina, Birgitta's remains had been brought to Vadstena, where in the summer of 1374 they were placed in the still uncompleted convent church. As we have already seen, she herself had drawn the main outlines of that church, stipulating that it was to be "of plain construction, humble and strong". It is in the Gothic style, built of limestone from Omberg in the vicinity of Vadstena.
In church too, brothers and sisters were segregated; the monks' chancel was at the west end, while the nuns occupied the place of honor in the east, on a gallery dominating the church. Lay people were referred to the middle of the church, separated from the sides by an iron grating. The wide corridor thus formed was reserved for the brothers. Along the walls there were altars dedicated to various saints, but these were torn down at the Reformation.
The solemn translation and deposition of Birgitta's remains took place on 1st June 1393. That date and the day of her death, 23rd July, were declared holy days in the church calendar.
On her return from Rome, Birgitta's daughter Katarina entered the Vadstena Convent, and although not formally installed as abbess she took charge of it until her death in 1381. She was in Rome between 1375 and 1380, promoting her mother's canonization The convent was consecrated in 1384.
The first fifty or sixty years saw the real flowering of the convent. Generous indulgence privileges were awarded by Rome and the convent acquired great revenues, a famous library, and, later, its own printing press. The personality and Revelations of Birgitta had been known already during her lifetime, and her fame now spread throughout Europe. Her practical, down-to-earth mysticism evidently appealed to the people of the time. She herself was of exalted birth, and men and women from the same social class were attracted to her order.
New Bridgettine houses were already founded during the 14th century in Danzig and Florence. Early in the 15th century two houses were set up in Denmark—Mariebo and Mariager—and one at Nådendal in Finland. By the end of the century there were Bridgettine houses in England and the Baltic countries, in Germany, in the Low Countries and in France. The house in Piazza Farnese, where Birgitta had lived while in Rome, was presented to Vadstena Convent by its owner Francesca Papazurra, a lady of the Roman nobility, ten years after Birgitta's death, and it was used as a pilgrims' hostel.
The Reformation brought the dissolution of the Bridgettine houses in the Nordic countries, but in Sweden itself Birgitta's creation lived on, albeit under adverse conditions, in spite of sequestrations elsewhere in the country. Birgitta was Sweden's patron saint, firmly rooted, presumably, in the hearts and minds of the people, and the authorities bided their time. The still extant Memorial Book of Vadstena Convent contains a number of pathetic entries from the reign of Gustav Vasa. The persecutions began in earnest in 1543:
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Topic: St Bridget (Read 2779 times)