Bridget – formerly Birgitta Birgersdotter – was the best known religiously and politically powerful person in the Nordic countries. She was famous for the visions she’d had since she was a child, usually related to the suffering of Christ and honouring of the Virgin Mary. At her death, Bridget left a considerable written heritage. Many churches in Finland are devoted to the memory of Saint Bridget who died in Rome in 1373 and was subsequently canonised as a saint on October 7, 1391. In 1999, the Catholic Church made Saint Bridget the Patron Saint of Europe.
The convent she founded in Vadstena, Sweden, and its daughter-house in Naantali (or Nådendal), in present-day Finland, were centres of religious and literary activity which had a huge impact on spiritual life in the Nordic countries.
