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The Holy Birgitta
Birgitta was born in 1303
at Finstad nearby Uppsala (Zweden). In 1316 she married with Ulf
Gudmarson.
After the death of
her husband
in 1344, she went to the convent of Alvastra.
There she received in several visions a
convent rule with the task to found a convent herself.
She
made a pilgrimage to Rome and got there authorisation to found the order
of the Birgittinessen. In 1370 she let build a convent in Vadstena.
Birgitta died in 1373. Pope Johannes Paulus II have exclaimed her to
pattern of Europe. We celebrate annually on 23
July.
Blessed
Mother Elisabeth
Hesselblad was born on 4 June 1870
in Fåglacik (Sweden), to Lutheran parents. Elisabeth Hesselblad worked
for several years as a nurse in a hospital in New York. Thanks to the
help and guidance of the Jesuit, Father Hagan, she felt an ardent desire
to deepen her knowledge of the Catholic faith, and was received into the
Church on 15 August 1902.
The following year she travelled
to Rome where she came upon the house of Saint Bridget. After gaining
the encouragement and support of Pope Saint Pius X, she founded the
Order of the Most Holy Saviour on 8th Sept 1911, which had
earlier been founded by Bridget and her daughter St.Catherine.
From that point on, her life was
spent in following Christ and growing in the spirituality of her great
compatriot.

Elisabeth adapted the
Bridgettine religious spirit to the needs of the Church and the world of
her day in a constant effort to blend contemplative life and apostolic
activity, two aspects typical of the life of St Bridget in the fourteen
century.
You're hearty
welcome
Possibilities for
staying into the abbey:
E-mail:
reception@birgittinessen.nl
Telefoon: 0495-453045
Fax: 0495-450615
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