Birgitta of Sweden: Constructing Female Space in Medieval Sainthood and Pilgrimage
Introduction
As a contemporary “living saint” - a figure who was revered as saintly during her lifetime - Saint Birgitta of Sweden made a unique contribution to the medieval religious landscape around her. Her identities as a mother, pilgrim, monastic founder, and mystic were key to the development of her image and to her success in gaining religious and social authority, no easy feat for a medieval woman. Additionally, her identification with the Virgin Mary provided a model for Birgitta’s relationship with her own female devotees. In developing an image that reflected her religious achievements and engagement with issues of womanhood, Birgitta provided an inspiration for other medieval women, becoming a crucial figure in female pilgrimage and devotion.
The Life of St. Birgitta of Sweden
1. Homeland of St. Birgitta
Birgitta of Sweden was born in 1302 or 1303 to an aristocratic family. Her father, Birger Petersson, was involved in the legal sphere and was a knight and politician,1 while her mother, Ingeborg Bengstdotter, was related to the Swedish royal court. At age thirteen, Birgitta was married to Ulf Gudmarsson, a judge and member of the king’s council five years her senior; the two apparently spent their first year of marriage as “chaste companions.”2 Their first child, a son, was born around 1318, and they went on to have a total of eight children.3 As Birgitta possessed a religious education and valued learning, she educated some of her children at home and sent others to schools, convents, and monasteries, while also encouraging her husband’s devotional activities, managing the family estate, and performing charitable activities.4 Birgitta’s fourteenth-century vita refers to her as the “princess of Närke”5 – the area of Sweden her husband was from – therefore Närke has been demarcated as her “homeland” on this map, as her actual birthplace is less clear.
2. First non-local pilgrimage: Trondheim
During her childhood and early in her marriage, Birgitta is thought to have made pilgrimages to local and regional holy sites in Sweden.6 However, clearer evidence exists for her first longer pilgrimage to the shrine of St. Olaf in Trondheim, Norway, which she undertook with her husband Ulf in 1339-1340.7
3. First major pilgrimage: Santiago de Compostela
Birgitta’s first pilgrimage to a major holy site was to Santiago de Compostela, where she traveled with Ulf as well as other Swedish aristocrats and a cleric in the summer of 1341.8 In doing so, Birgitta followed in the footsteps of her male ancestors, many of whom had made pilgrimages to sites such as Santiago de Compostela and Jerusalem.9 The journey was extremely difficult; Ulf fell gravely ill in Arras, France, where Birgitta reportedly received a vision of Saint Denis, who consoled her and gave her a sign that Ulf would not die at that time.10 This was just one of many visions and revelations that Birgitta would receive throughout the course of her lifetime, which became instrumental in building her authority as a religious figure.
4. Establishment of the Birgittine Order: Vadstena
After Ulf’s death in 1344, Birgitta became more devout than ever. Upon receiving a revelation from Christ, she embarked upon perhaps her most impactful religious endeavor: the founding of her monastic order, the Birgittines.11 As a close friend and advisor of the Swedish royal family, Birgitta was granted a castle in 1346 by King Magnus Eriksson and his wife Blanche in Vadstena, Sweden at which to establish the convent. The order was only officially sanctioned by the pope in 1370, near the end of Birgitta’s lifetime,12 and was inaugurated in 1430 after many years of construction and adaptation.13 By this time, Vadstena had already attracted much attention as a pilgrimage site, where pilgrims could visit the shrines of St. Birgitta and her daughter, St. Katarina, hear religious services, and receive indulgences at the abbey’s Stations of the Cross (Fig. 3).14
5. Home in later life: Rome
Birgitta arrived in Rome in 1349.15 Her Roman pilgrimage had dual motives: her vita recounts her instruction from Christ to make the journey,16 and she furthermore sought papal approval for her monastic order. She remained in Rome for the majority of the last twenty-four years of her life, becoming involved in church politics and earning local respect for her charitable endeavors.17
6. Final pilgrimage and major revelation site: Jerusalem and Bethlehem
Birgitta undertook her final and perhaps most significant pilgrimage in 1371, when she left Rome for the Holy Land.18 As was the case for her other pilgrimages, she was divinely instructed to do so, in this instance both by the Virgin Mary and Christ.19 During her time in the Holy Land, Birgitta was said to have received a variety of divine visions, an experience which aligns with that of many medieval pilgrims as they ritually engaged with biblical sites; however, the foreshadowing of these visions by Birgitta’s previous revelations lent them an air of truth, such that Birgitta could confirm or clarify biblical matters. As such, Birgitta’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land could only have increased the perception of her religious authority.20
St. Birgitta and Female Pilgrimage
Birgitta’s own identities as a mother, pilgrim, and mystic were particularly influential in constructing a compelling saintly image as the object of her followers’ devotion and emulation. As we will explore through the following images and accounts, Birgitta held a strong relationship with female pilgrims and issues of medieval womanhood, creating space within the institution of pilgrimage not only physically with the establishment of her Birgittine Order, but also conceptually and spiritually.
St. Birgitta’s Revelations:
Over the course of her lifetime, Birgitta was said to have received over 700 visions, variously coming to her from God, Christ, the Virgin, and other saints. Essential in constructing her religious authority, her Revelations were recorded, copied, and transcribed into Latin by collaborators, and were circulated in Sweden before becoming widely popular throughout Europe after her death.21 In addition to these texts, which document the precise contents of the revelations, a number of images can be found depicting her receiving her visions, such as this copy from a late fourteenth-century illuminated manuscript (Fig. 4). Birgitta can be seen at the lower right of the image, raising her face heavenward to receive a revelation from the Virgin and Christ. The heavenly message emanates in an uninterrupted beam, emphasizing the directness of Birgitta’s contact with the divine.
St. Birgitta and the Virgin Mary:
A recurring theme in Birgitta’s revelations was her identification with the Virgin Mary, whom Birgitta saw as a “fellow spiritual mother” after her experiences with marriage and motherhood.22 She was particularly interested in the Virgin’s experience of giving birth to the Christ Child, about which Birgitta manifested a vision while on pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In her Revelations Book VII, she describes her vision in detail:23
And so, with raised hands and with her eyes intent on heaven, she [Mary] was as if suspended in an ecstasy of contemplation, inebriated with divine sweetness. And while she was thus in prayer, I saw the One lying in her womb then move; and then and there, in a moment and the twinkling of an eye, she gave birth to a Son…And so sudden and momentary was that manner of giving birth that I was unable to notice or discern how or by what member she was giving birth.
Not even at the birth was that Virgin changed in color or by infirmity. Nor was there in her any such failure of bodily strength as usually happens in other women giving birth, except that her swollen womb retracted to the prior state in which it had been before she conceived the boy.
A very early image of this revelation was created between 1373-1375 by the Tuscan artist Niccolò di Tommaso (Fig. 5), who some scholars have suggested came into direct contact with Birgitta in Naples upon her return from pilgrimage.24 The painting is extremely accurate to Birgitta’s full account, with details such as the angelic host, physical characteristics of the Virgin, and the Christ Child engulfed in light specifically represented. These details came to have a major impact on future depictions of the Nativity,25 and further established Birgitta as an instrumental figure in conceptualizing and visualizing the event.
Birgitta’s own experiences with pregnancy also brought her into close association with the Virgin. Her vita recalls how the Virgin helped Birgitta when her life was in danger during childbirth,26 imparting upon her a painless labor which emulated Mary’s own. Furthermore, Birgitta was said to have experienced a “mystical pregnancy” while praying, in which she was so struck by God’s love that she felt a baby within her heart.27 Both episodes can be seen as Birgitta emulating Mary in the physical sense; however, Birgitta’s identification with the Virgin’s pregnancy and birth also imbued her with Mary’s virginal image that would have been seen as more “holy.”28
A similar relationship appeared between Birgitta and her devotees, as records of Birgitta’s miracles often reference childbirth and other issues of motherhood. There are several accounts of women making pilgrimages to Birgitta’s relics at Vadstena to give birth as well as making pilgrimage vows in exchange for a safe and easy birth. Other miracles make reference to the resurrection of infants and apply to issues such as breastfeeding.29 In the Middle Ages, women’s pilgrimages were often not seen as legitimate unless they had an appropriately “feminine” reason for doing so, such as motivations which related to the care and service of their children or household.30 However, by giving women and mothers a socially acceptable reason for pilgrimage, Birgitta created a natural space for medieval women to express their devotion through pilgrimage.
Birgitta and Margery Kempe
Birgitta’s own life as a pilgrim and “spouse of God” was also recorded as having been a direct inspiration for female pilgrims. One of the most famous female pilgrims, Margery Kempe, seems to have been influenced by Birgitta, as seen in parallels between their respective revelations and accounts of “mystical marriage” to Christ. However, the most direct evidence lies in Margery’s pilgrimage routes, on which she specifically sought out sites in Rome which had been marked by Birgitta’s presence and cultivated her behavior to emulate Birgitta’s charity and piety.31 Regarding Margery Kempe as a case study, it can be understood that Birgitta’s life acted to some extent as a model for female pilgrimage and religious activity. Through her personal endeavors as a mystic, a pilgrim, a monastic leader, and a mother, as well as her identity as a reflection of the Virgin, St. Birgitta constructed a certain level of female autonomy, embodied in her lived experience and emulated by her devotees.
Bibliography
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—–. “Iconography and Visions: St. Birgitta’s Revelation of the Nativity of Christ.” In The Locus of Meaning in Medieval Art: Iconography, Iconology, and Interpreting the Visual Imagery of the Middle Ages, edited by Lena Leipe, 212-37. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 2018. https://www.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1252621/FULLTEXT01.pdf.
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Image Credits
Header image: Master of Soeterbeeck, Saint Bridget of Sweden, ca. 1470, Brabant, Netherlands (made), sculpture, walnut, rock crystal cabochon, originally painted, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1916. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/463798. Open Access.
Fig. 1. Map of significant locations in the life of St. Birgitta, created by the author. Base image: The Map of Europe, by user “Qwdfdsdf”, April 25, 2016. Source: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Map_of_Europe.PNG. Annotated image licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 Deed.
Fig. 2. Modern image of the Vadstena Abbey church. Photograph by Bernt Fransson, July 21, 2012. Source: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vadstena_klosterkyrka-Mittskeppet03.jpg. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 Deed.
Fig. 3. Revelations of St Bridget of Sweden, ca. 1400, illumination on parchment, Naples, Italy (made), last quarter of the 14th century, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.498, fol. 4v. Photograph by Web Gallery of Art. Source: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:15th-century_painters_-_Revelations_of_St_Bridget_of_Sweden_-_WGA15984.jpg. Public Domain.
Fig. 4. Niccolò di Tommaso. St. Bridget and the Vision of the Nativity, 1373-1375, painting, tempera on wood, Pinacoteca, Vatican. Photograph by by Web Gallery of Art. Source: Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Niccol%C3%B2_di_Tommaso_-_St_Bridget_and_the_Vision_of_the_Nativity_-_WGA16558.jpg. Publilc Domain.
Fig. 5. St. Bridget. 15th century, German, print, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Bequest of James Clark McGuire, 1930. [1] Note that this illustration is referred to by an assortment of titles; this citation uses the one assigned to this particular photograph of it. Source: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/382436. Open Access.
The Author
Audra Regan