Book Description

This book consists of The Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden, Book 11: "The Sermon of the Angel," on Salvation History from Adam and Eve to Christ, including much on the Blessed Virgin Mary; Book 12: "Four Prayers" which were divinely revealed to Saint Bridget; plus The 15 "Magnificent Prayers of Saint Bridget" to Our Suffering Lord Jesus Christ. The reader will find in it a fruitful source of prayer and meditation, as have so many people throughout the centuries since they were first revealed to the holy mystic and visionary. See also "The Revelations of St Bridget and Church Reform" and the edited "Revelations of Saint Bridget of Sweden: Books 1-5." St Bridget (or "Birgitta") of Sweden was born in June 1303 in the castle of Finsta near Uppsala in Sweden; her father Birgen Persson was the governor of the region of Upplan, her mother Ingeborga was also of noble lineage. Bridget married very early, had several children, and then in 1341, Bridget and her husband decided to celebrate their Silver Anniversary by going on a pilgrimage to Santiago of Compostella. This event marks a decisive turning point in the life of the two spouses, who for some time were already living their matrimony in chastity. During the return trip, Ulf, her husband, decided to embrace the religious life and was received into the Cistercian Abbey of Alvastra, where he died only a few years later. Bridget, having completed her mission as wife and mother, decided to transfer herself to an outbuilding to the monastery at Alvastra, where she remained for almost three years until 1346. It was the beginning of the most extraordinary phase of her life; after a period of austerity and of meditation on the Divine Mysteries of the Passion of the Lord and the Sorrows and Glories of the Virgin, she began to have visions of Christ, Who in one of these visions elects her "Messenger of the Great Lord." To her spiritual directors, such as Fr. Matthias, Bridget dictated her famous "Revelations," sublime intuitions and supernatural illuminations, which she had all her life and were then collected in eight volumes. Afterwards she went to Rome and here, under the dictation of an Angel, wrote "The Hymn of the Angel" or "Angelic Sermon." It deals with twenty-one Letters to be read every day of the week during the morning Masses in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Saint Bridget, during one Eucharistic celebration, has a revelation of the Angels in Eucharistic Adoration: "After the priest had pronounced the divine words over the bread, it seemed to me that that same bread took on three figures, although it remained in the hands of the priest. That Bread became a living Lamb, in the Lamb was seen the face of a man and on the inside and on the outside of the Lamb and of that face there was an ardent flame. As I was watching the face with attention, without averting my eyes, in it I saw the Lamb. And looking at the Lamb I also saw that same face in the Lamb. A Crowned Virgin was sitting with the Lamb and all the Angels were attending to her; the Lamb emanated a marvelous splendor. Also the multitude of holy souls was so numerous that my eyes could not contain it all, not in length, not in width, not in depth" (Book 8, 54). Later on, the Saint is a witness to a conversation between Jesus and the Virgin about the creation of the world and of all things visible and invisible. Among these the Angels, who at the moment of their creation, in complete liberty, were given the choice either to accept God and His love, or to refuse Him.