Bridgettines

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Habit of the professed Bridgettine nuns with the typical crown of linnen on the veil
Covent church of the Pax Mariae abbey in Vadstena, the first Bridgettine monastery of the old branch
Bridgettine monastery in Hrodna, Belarus

The Bridgettines, or Birgittines, formally known as the Order of the Most Holy Savior (

Latin: Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris; abbreviated OSsS), is a monastic religious order of the Catholic Church founded by Saint Birgitta (Bridget of Sweden) in 1344 and approved by Pope Urban V in 1370.[1][2] They follow the Rule of Saint Augustine
. There are today several different branches of Bridgettines.

History

The first monastery of the order was founded in 1369 at the former royal castle of Vadstena.

medieval
concept of "Bridget's spiritual children", members of the order founded by her, to be her true heirs.

The order spread widely in

Protestant Reformation
had been widespread in Scandinavia. By 1515, with significant royal patronage, there were 27 houses, 13 of them in Scandinavia. Bridgettine houses soon spread into other lands, reaching an eventual total of 80.

In England, the Bridgettine monastery of

canonized as a martyr by Pope Paul VI
in 1970.

Syon Abbey was among the few religious houses restored during Queen

accession of Queen Elizabeth I and the ensuing conflict between Catholics and the English Crown, the Bridgettine monastic community left England, first for the Low Countries, then, after many vicissitudes, to Rouen in France, and finally, in 1594, to Lisbon.[4]
The community remained in Lisbon (where the last monk of the community died), recruiting new members from England, until 1861, when they returned to England.

Syon Abbey in Devon continued as the only English religious community that had existed without interruption since pre-Reformation times. In 2004 the surviving medieval books of the monastic library were entrusted for safekeeping to the University of Exeter. Among the texts preserved was the Showing of Love by Julian of Norwich and The Orcherd of Syon, which translated Catherine of Siena's Dialogue. Syon Abbey's Tudor gatepost in marble, on which parts of St Richard Reynolds' body were placed, was brought by the nuns into their exile, and then returned with them to England. This was later given to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Exeter.

Virtually all the

Reformation
.

Currently active branches

As of 2013 there were 800 members.

Canonical Hours, called the Office of Our Lady. Most houses of the order support themselves by providing bed and breakfast
hospitality to guests at standard industry rates.

Medieval branch

The original medieval branch today consists of four independent monasteries:

Spanish branch

Marina de Escobar founded a Spanish branch in the 1630s, consisting only of nuns, following a slightly modified version of the St Bridget's Rule. It currently consists of four independent monasteries in Spain, four in Mexico and one in Venezuela.

Swedish branch

The largest branch of the Bridgettines today is the one founded by Saint Elizabeth Hesselblad, a nurse, on 8 September 1911, and consisting of religious sisters dedicated to providing hospitality for those in need of rest. It was fully approved by the Holy See on 7 July 1940, and currently consists of convents in Europe, Asia and North America.

The motherhouse of the order is located on the

charism
. After the Reformation a printshop was set up to print Swedish-language Catholic works.

Controversy arose in 2002 over the treatment of the Indian sisters who form a large percentage of the order. This became public in 2002 when six Indian sisters from different houses of the order in Italy fled and approached the

Benedictine Abbot of Subiaco. At the abbot's request, Bishop Silvio Cesare Bonicelli of Parma issued a special decree, permitting the fugitive sisters enter a monastery of Benedictine nuns. As a consequence, the abbot, was subsequently required to resign from office by the Holy See, a highly unusual event.[5]

UK branch

Iver Heath, in Buckinghamshire, was the first foundation of the new branch of the Bridgettine Order in the UK and has been a house of prayer and provided hospitality since 1931. In 1999 Bridgettine sisters took up residence in a newly built convent at the Maryvale Institute in Birmingham.[12]

St Bridget's Rule

Coat of arms The Order of the Most Holy Savior (Bridgettines)

The original Bridgettine Order was open to both men and women, and was dedicated to devotion to the

Christ. It was a "double order" each monastery having attached to it a small community of monks to act as chaplains, but under the government of the abbess
.

St Bridget's

lay brothers
, who with their labors shall minister necessaries to the clerics, therefore counting three-score sisters, thirteen priests, four deacons, and the eight servitors, the number of persons will be the same as the thirteen Apostles and the seventy two-disciples.

The nuns were strictly enclosed, emphasizing scholarship and study, but the monks were also preachers and itinerant missionaries. The individual monasteries were each subject to the local

Virgin Mary
, they were ruled by an abbess.

Brigittine monks

The Brigittine Priory, Our Lady of Consolation in Amity, Oregon, US

An innovative community of Brigittine monks is located in

sui juris (one which is autonomous) and is supported mainly through sales of their chocolate fudges and truffles.[13]

Anglican Brigittines

The Most Holy Saviour Fraternity was founded in Mexico on 14 September 2012, and was confirmed by the bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the West, Mexico on 26 August 2013, in the city of San Luis Potosí.[citation needed]

See also

New St. Bridget convent in Pirita, Tallinn, Estonia

References

  1. ^ Brigittine Order, OSV's Encyclopedia of Catholic History, ed. Matthew Bunson, (Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, 2004), 163.
  2. ^ Franklin Daniel Scott, Sweden, the Nation's History, (Southern Illinois University Press, 1988), 79.
  3. ^ "The order of S. Bridget", Suore Brigidine
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-0-19-861412-8. Retrieved 2021-03-04. (Subscription or UK public library membership
    required.)
  5. ^ a b Berry, Jason (March 5, 2013). "Mother Tekla: The Most Powerful Woman in Rome". Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
  6. ^ Frymann, Abigail. Last nuns of Syon Abbey to sell home, The Tablet, 9 April 2011
  7. ^ Historic German abbey closes, Herald & Review, January 19, 2017
  8. ^ Großmann, Viktoria. Vatikan löst Birgittenkloster auf, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Dezember 2015
  9. ^ "NY generalabbedisse for Birgittasøstrene".
  10. ^ "The Bridgettine Sisters of Trondheim - the Bridgettine Sisters of Trondheim".
  11. ^ "Google Translate".
  12. ^ ""Bridgettines", Maryvale Institute". Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  13. ^ Brigittine Monks Archived February 12, 2015, at the Wayback Machine

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article "Bridgittines".
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bridgettine Order.
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