Birgitta (known in English as Bridget) was born in 1303 into a wealthy family in Uppland, on the eastern coast of Sweden. She married at the age of fourteen, had eight children and often attended the royal court, where she continued to experience the mystical revelations she had known since childhood. After the death of her husband, her mystical revelations increased in intensity, and she responded by founding a ‘double monastery’ (where monks and nuns lived in separate cloisters but shared one church) at Vadstena, on the shores of Lake Vättern, in 1346. Birgitta’s daughter Catherine was the first abbess of the Brigettine Order, which enjoyed the generous patronage of King Magnus, and became very influential in northern Europe. After travelling to Rome to obtain the pope’s approval for her plans, Birgitta never returned to Sweden but spent the rest of her life as a pilgrim, an adviser to rulers and church leaders, and a minister to all in need. Her Revelations were recorded by her confessors before her death, which occurred on this day in 1378.