Bridget of Sweden

Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303–1373) was a Swedish mystic and founder of the Bridgettine Order. Born Birgitta Birgersdotter to a noble family of Uppland, she married Ulf Gudmarsson in 1316 and bore eight children. After her husband died in 1344 she devoted herself to visions. From 1350 she lived in Rome, seeking papal approval for a new order and the pope's return from Avignon, and Urban V confirmed its rule in 1370 for Vadstena Convent.

She urged church reform and died after her Jerusalem pilgrimage, was canonized in 1391 by Boniface IX, and became a patron saint of Europe.