TheBridgettines, or Birgittines, formally known as theOrder of the Most Holy Saviour (Latin:Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris; abbreviatedOSsS), is amonasticreligious order of theCatholic Church founded by Saint Birgitta (Bridget of Sweden) in 1344 and approved byPope Urban V in 1370.[1][2] They follow theRule of Saint Augustine. There are today several different branches of Bridgettines.
The first monastery of the order was founded in 1369 at the former royal castle of Vadstena.[3] St. Bridget's granddaughter, LadyIngegerd Knutsdotter, wasAbbess ofVadstena from 1385 to 1403. Upon her death on 14 September 1412, direct descent from St. Bridget became extinct. This opened themedieval concept of "Bridget's spiritual children", members of the order founded by her, to be her true heirs.
The order spread widely inSweden andNorway, and played a remarkable part in promoting culture and literature inScandinavia; this is to be attributed to the fact that themotherhouse atVadstena, by LakeVättern, was not suppressed till 1595 even though theProtestant 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 ofSyon Abbey atIsleworth,Middlesex, was founded and royally endowed by KingHenry V in 1415, and became one of the most fervent, most influential, and materially best endowed religious communities in the country until itsDissolution under KingHenry VIII. One of the monks of the community,Richard Reynolds, O.Ss.S., was among the first members of the Englishclergy to be executed as a traitor for his refusal to accept theOath of Supremacy. He wascanonized as amartyr byPope Paul VI in 1970.
Syon Abbey was among the few religious houses restored during QueenMary I's reign (1553–1558), when nearly twenty members of the old community were re-established there in 1557. Upon theaccession of Queen Elizabeth I and the ensuingpersecution of Catholics by the English Crown, the Bridgettine monastic community left England, first for theLow Countries, then, after many vicissitudes, toRouen in France, and finally, in 1594, toLisbon.[4]
One of the exiled community's recruits during Elizabeth's reign wasElizabeth Sander, known as a writer.[4] She returned to England in 1578 only to be imprisoned and then escaped in 1580. She was to escape from imprisonment inWinchester Castle before she surrendered. She eventually returned to her community in Lisbon, where she died. 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 inDevon 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 theUniversity of Exeter. Among the texts preserved was theShowing of Love byJulian of Norwich andThe Orcherd of Syon, which translatedCatherine of Siena'sDialogue. Syon Abbey'sTudor 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 theNorthern European Bridgettine monasteries (the bulk of the order) were destroyed during theReformation.
As of 2013 there were 800 members.[5] The distinctive part of the Bridgettine veil for the professed sisters is the crown, called the "Crown of the Five Holy Wounds". It has five red marks, one at each joint, to recall theFive Wounds of Christ on the Cross. The monks wear a red cross with the image of aEucharistic host at the center on the right breast of theircloak. The order has its own properRite for theCanonical Hours, called theOffice of Our Lady. Most houses of the order support themselves by providingbed and breakfast hospitality to guests at standard industry rates.
The original medieval branch today consists of four independent monasteries:
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 inSpain, four inMexico and one inVenezuela.
The largest branch of the Bridgettines today is the one founded by SaintElizabeth 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 theHoly See on 7 July 1940, and currently consists of convents inEurope,Asia andNorth America.
The motherhouse of the order is located on thePiazza Farnese,Rome,Italy, the house where Birgitta had once lived (seeSanta Brigida in Rome). On 28 October 2016, Fabia Kattakayam was selected as the order's new Abbess General.[9][10] She is the first person of Indian descent to serve in this position.[11] As in all the houses of the order, this convent offers accommodation. Protestant services also are held in the crypt, as the sisters haveecumenical outreach as part of theircharism. 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 theBenedictineAbbot of Subiaco. At the abbot's request, BishopSilvio Cesare Bonicelli of Parma issued a special decree, permitting the fugitive sisters enter a monastery of Benedictine nuns. As a consequence, theabbot, was subsequently required to resign from office by theHoly See, a highly unusual event.[5]
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 theMaryvale Institute in Birmingham.[12]
The original Bridgettine Order was open to both men and women, and was dedicated to devotion to thePassion of JesusChrist. It was a "double order" each monastery having attached to it a small community of monks to act aschaplains, but under the government of theabbess.
St Bridget'sRule stipulated:
the number of choir nuns shall not exceed sixty, with fourlay sisters; the priests shall be thirteen, according to the number of the thirteen apostles, of whomPaul the thirteenth was not the least in toil; then there must be four deacons, who also may be priests if they will, and they are the figure of the four principal Doctors,Ambrose,Augustine,Gregory andJerome, then eightlay 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 localbishop, and, in honor of theVirgin Mary, they were ruled by an abbess.
An innovative community of Brigittine monks is located inAmity, Oregon, at the Monastery ofOur Lady of Consolation. Founded on 16 March 1976, by Brother Benedict Kirby, O.Ss.S., it is the only Brigittine monastery of men in the world and the first since the nineteenth century when they were dispersed, largely due to the European wars. The monks here do not ordinarily receiveHoly Orders, following the original pattern ofmonasticism. The monastery has thecanonical status of apriorysui juris (one which is autonomous) and is supported mainly through sales of their chocolate fudges and truffles.[13]
The Most Holy Saviour Fraternity was founded in Mexico on 14 September 2012, and was confirmed by the bishop of theAnglican Diocese of the West, Mexico on 26 August 2013, in the city of San Luis Potosí.[citation needed]
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