MIRACULOUS MIRACLES^™

Prayer — Prayers of the Saints

Prayer to St. Bridget of Sweden

Indulgenced by Pius X, 5 July 1905

A prayer for the reunion of the separated, made to the Swedish mystic whose own country left the Church a century and a half after her death: 'that the scattered sheep may return to the one true Shepherd.'

The Prayer

English · Original

With confident hearts we fly to thee, blessed Bridget, and ask, in these times of darkness and unbelief, thy intercession on behalf of those who are separated from the Church of Jesus Christ. By the clear knowledge which thou hadst of the cruel sufferings of our crucified Saviour, the price of our redemption, we beg of thee to obtain for those who are outside the one fold the grace of faith, so that the scattered sheep may return to the one true Shepherd. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Bridget, fearless servant of God, pray for us.
St. Bridget, patient in sufferings and humiliations, pray for us.
St. Bridget, wonderful in thy love towards Jesus and Mary, pray for us.

Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory be.

TO ST. CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, HER DAUGHTER
O God, who didst adorn blessed Catherine in an especial manner with the virtues of humility, charity, and angelic purity, we humbly beseech Thee, by her merits and example, to make us so firm in faith and so ardent in charity that we may obtain the rewards of eternity. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

When the Prayer is Said

On 23 July; during the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity; for Sweden and the north.

History & Background

Birgitta Birgersdotter was a Swedish noblewoman, mother of eight, lady-in-waiting to the queen, and widowed at about forty, after which the visions that fill her <em>Revelations</em> began. She went to Rome in 1350 and stayed twenty-three years, harrying popes by letter to come back from Avignon, founding the Bridgettines, and dying there in 1373. Her daughter Catherine of Sweden is honoured with her. She was named a patroness of Europe by John Paul II in 1999.

The prayer is for Christian reunion, and the poignancy of it is not accidental: Sweden received the Reformation in the 1520s and 1530s, and her own shrine at Vadstena was suppressed. It asks her, 'in these times of darkness and unbelief', for the grace of faith for those outside the one fold.

A caution belongs here. The so-called Fifteen Prayers of St. Bridget circulate widely with a list of extravagant promises attached; the Holy Office warned against publishing those promises on 28 January 1954, since their supernatural origin 'in no way stands up'. The prayers themselves are a tender meditation on the Passion, but they are not by her, and this site does not print the promises.

Pius X indulgenced this prayer in 1905. The text is the Raccolta's of 1910.

Indulgences Attached

Three hundred days, once a day, for either — Pius X, 5 July 1905 (Raccolta, 1910, no. 394).

Related Saints

St. Bridget of Sweden

c. 1303, Finsta, Uppland – July 23, 1373, Rome

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