Saint Bridget of Sweden Will Never Be Featured In Teen Vogue

Mandeville, LA – Saint Bridget of Sweden was born in 1303. She lived her married life in the court of the Swedish King Magnus II. Mother of eight children–the second eldest was Saint Catherine of Sweden–Bridget. From age 7 on, Bridget had visions of Christ crucified. Bridget constantly strove to exert her good influence over king Magnus; while never fully reforming, he did give her land and buildings to found a monastery for men and women at Vadstena. This group eventually expanded into an Order known as the Bridgetines.

During a famous pilgrimage which she made to Rome at the command of Our Lord, He dictated to her the “Fifteen Prayers of Saint Bridget”; in honor of His Passion. This little book of excerpts from the Revelations of St. Bridget is one of the spiritual classics of the Church. There is significant controversy over the prayers of Saint Bridget becuase of the addition of 21 “promises” that were attached to them sometime after here death but becme included in various prayer books as if they were part of the original prayers. The online Treasury of Latin Prayers posits the following about the “promises”.

Sometime after their composition a list of promises unfortunately became attached to these prayers. Over the centuries these promises have varied in number, but 21 promises is the most common form these days. The usual claim is that these promises were revealed to St. Bridget when she was at St. Paul’s in Rome. The promises list a series of rather incredible benefits for those who recite the prayers daily for a whole year, namely the release of the souls of one’s relatives from purgatory and the conversion of one’s descendants from sin. These promises were not given to St. Bridget nor do they have any ecclesiastical standing whatsoever. It is regrettable that these promises are still published in prayer books these days. It really spoils the prayers by including what amounts to little more than superstition, not to mention being contrary to Church Law to do so.

The Treasury also relays that the current translations of the Prayers of Saint Bridget are so varied and numerous it is now impossible to know how the original prayers actually read.

In putting together the prayers below, it soon became apparent that matching a Latin version with a popular English translation of the prayers would be impossible. I have no fewer than five Latin texts and three English texts all dating from the 15th century to the 20th century and none of them match each other terribly well. While the underlying meaning of the prayers is much the same, the order of the prayers is different between the various editions. Moreover, there are a fair number of divergences between those editions in the actual wording of the texts. Quite a few phrases appear in one or more editions that do not appear in the other editions. It is fairly clear that publishers have heavily edited and emended them over time to the point where it is difficult, if not impossible, for me to determine exactly what the wording of the authentic “Prayers of St. Bridget” really is.

Here is the Treasury’s translation of the first prayer, the rest can be read here.

Prayer 1. Oratio Pirma. O JESUS CHRIST! Eternal Sweetness to those who love Thee, joy surpassing all joy and all desire, Salvation and Hope of all sinners, Who hast proved that Thou hast no greater desire than to be among men, even assuming human nature at the fullness of time for the love of men, recall all the sufferings Thou hast endured from the instant of Thy conception, and especially during Thy Passion, as it was decreed and ordained from all eternity in the Divine plan.

The year following her death her remains were conveyed to the monastery at Vadstena. She was canonized, 7 October, 1391, by Boniface IX. In 1999, Bridget, Saints Catherine of Siena and Teresa Benedicta of the Cross, were named co-patronesses of Europe.

It’s safe to say the perverted apostates at the editorial offices of Teen Vogue Magazine will never feature Saint Bridget as a role model, but we can pray they will.

TheKingDude

Host of the Mike Church Show on The Veritas Radio Network's CRUSADE Channel & Founder of the Veritas Radio Network. Formerly, of Sirius/XM's Patriot channel 125. The show began in March of 2003 exclusively on Sirius and remains "the longest running radio talk show in satellite radio history".

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