Catherine of Vadstena

{{Infobox saint

|honorific_prefix=Saint

|name=Catherine of Sweden

|birth_date=1331 or 1332

|death_date={{death date|1381|3|24|df=y}}[https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-catharine-of-sweden/ Monks of Ramsgate. "Catherine of Sweden". Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info. 1 October 2012]{{PD-notice}}{{failed verification|date=March 2023}}

|feast_day=24 March (Roman Catholic Church)

2 August (Church of Sweden)

|venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church
Church of Sweden{{Cite web|url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/linkoping/helgon--och-minnesdagar-i-domkyrkan|title = Helgon- och minnesdagar i Domkyrkan| date=5 February 2019 }}

|image=Sankta Katarina, skulptur i Trono kyrka, STF1923.jpg

|imagesize=

|caption=Saint Catherine in Trönö Old Church

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|canonized_date=1484 (cultus confirmed)

|canonized_place=

|canonized_by=Innocent VIII

|attributes=A hind at her side

|patronage=Women who suffer miscarriage

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Catherine of Sweden, Katarina av Vadstena, Catherine of Vadstena or Katarina Ulfsdotter (c. 1332 – 24 March 1381) was a Swedish noblewoman. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Her father was Ulf Gudmarsson, Lord of Ulvåsa, and her mother was Saint Bridget of Sweden (known as Birgitta Birgersdotter of Finsta in her lifetime).{{Catholic Encyclopedia |last=Kirsch |first=Johann P |wstitle=St. Catherine of Sweden |volume=3 |inline=1 |prescript=}}

Life

At the age of twelve or thirteen she married Lord Eggert van Kyren, a religious young nobleman of German descent, whom she persuaded to take a vow of absolute chastity, and both lived in a state of virginity. Catherine accompanied her mother to Rome in 1349 and soon upon arrival heard news of her husband's death.

She stayed on with her mother, accompanied her on several journeys, including one to the Holy Land. At the death of Bridget, Catherine returned to Sweden with her mother's body, which was buried at the monastery of Vadstena. Catherine became head of the Brigittine convent at Vadstena Abbey, founded by her mother. Catherine took on the task of forming the community in the rule her mother had written and directing the Order of the Holy Savior, or Bridgettines. Later, she returned to Rome to work for her mother's canonization. She stayed there five years and formed a close friendship with Catherine of Siena.{{Cite web|url=http://www.ewtn.com/library/MARY/VADSTENA.HTM|title=St. Catherine of Vadstena|website=www.ewtn.com|access-date=29 April 2018}} She was spurred by a vision to visit the Holy Land in 1372, and she died soon after her return to Rome.

Sainthood

In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII gave permission for Catherine's veneration as a saint and her feast was assigned to 22 March in the Roman Martyrology. Catherine is generally represented with a hind (female red deer) at her side, which is said to have come to her aid "when unchaste youths sought to ensnare her".

In 1488, Pope Innocent VIII gave permission for the translation of her relics in Vadstena. The formal beatification and canonization process, which also documented the required miracles,{{cite journal |url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.1999.9715979 |author=Beyer, Jürgen|title=On the Transformation of Apparition Stories in Scandinavia and Germany, c. 1350–1700 |journal=Folklore |volume=110 |number=1–2|date=1999 |pages=39–47 |publisher=Taylor & Francis Online |doi=10.1080/0015587X.1999.9715979 |accessdate=21 February 2014}} Fee required for full article. was never completed because of the Protestant Reformation. [https://runeberg.org/nfbm/0673.html "Katarina Ulfsdotter"]. Nordisk Familjebok (1910). pp. 1281–1283. Retrieved on 21 February 2014. (in Swedish)

In the Church of Sweden the feast of St. Catherine (Katarinamäss) is celebrated on 2 August.{{Cite web|url=https://www.svenskakyrkan.se/vadstena/heliga-birgitta|title = Heliga Birgitta| date=9 March 2023 }}

Catherine of Vadstena

Life

Sainthood

See also

References

Further reading