Sainte Brigitte limestone sculpture - circa 1530 - probably from Germany

Brigitte Birgersdotter or Saint Brigitte of Sweden, daughter of Birger, a Swedish prince and descendant of the Brahe family, was born around 1302, 1303 in Sweden. Mother of eight children including Catherine of Sweden, widowed in 1344. She settled in 1349 in Rome where she lived voluntarily in poverty. Renowned for her prophecies and mystical revelations, she was consulted by the heads of state and popes refugees in Avignon.
After a pilgrimage to Palestine, she died in Rome on July 23, 1373. Canonized as early as 1391, she was first celebrated on October 8 and then on July 23. John Paul II proclaimed her co-patroness of Europe with St. Catherine of Siena and the philosopher Edith Stein, canonized under the name of St. Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.