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Friends in Christ, today is the Feast of St. Bridget. St. Bridget was born in 1303 in Sweden to a noble family. Mysterious events surrounded her birth. Her mother one time almost drowned, but an angel appeared to her and told her that she was saved because of the child to be born to her.
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As a child, Bridget did not speak until she was three years old. But when she did, it was more perfectly than most other children. At age 7, she saw a heavenly vision: a beautiful lady who offered her a crown. When she was 10, she had another vision, of Christ crucified, with blood flowing from his wounds.
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Bridget’s mother died when she was young, and so her father thought it would be best if she got married. He selected a husband for her named Ulf. She was 13, he was 18. She resisted marriage, but nevertheless, accepted it as the will of God. She decided to love her husband, and together they had 8 children. Bridget raised her children in the love of God, and taught them to be gracious and charitable. She also made it a special mission to help girls in the town who had fallen into a life of sin.
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When her husband died, she chose a life of simplicity, fasting, and self-denial. She and her daughter did a great deal to help the poor, and in her helping the poor who lived in horrid conditions, in them she saw the face of the suffering Christ so vividly.
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Bridget had many mystical conversations with Jesus and Mary, which have been written down, and there we read of her love for the suffering Christ. Our Blessed Mother spoke to St. Bridget about the passion of her Son; Mary told her that as Jesus was being nailed to the cross, when the first blow of the hammer came, I was full of grief, and I heard the men say to each other, ‘What crime did he commit? Was it theft or rape? Others said, ‘he was a liar.’ And then a crown of thorns was pressed tight on his head, and blood flowed down his face and in his hair and eyes. Some men, as if gloating, said to me: ‘Mary, your Son is dead.’ (p.51)
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St. Bridget’s mystical revelations, especially about the Passion, show us that she had a very close relationship with Jesus and Mary, and she herself endured many afflictions and sorrows. Yet it may surprise us to know, that despite the heavy crosses and hardships of St. Bridget in her life, to those who knew her, she was best-known for her smiling face.
