06 Works, Today, July 23rd, is Saint Bridget's day, her story thru art #204

Unknown artist

Birgitta of Sweden

 Altarpiece in Salem church, Södermanland, Sweden

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

St. Bridget of Sweden, (born c. 1303, Sweden—died July 23, 1373, Rome; canonized October 8, 1391; feast day July 23, formerly October 8), patron saint of Sweden, founder of the Bridgittines, and a mystic whose revelations were influential during the Middle Ages. In 1999 Pope John Paul II named her one of the patron saints of Europe.

Michael Pacher, (1435–1498)

Flagellation, between 1495 and 1498

Oil on panel

Height: 113 cm (44.4 in); Width: 139.5 cm (54.9 in)

 Belvedere palace, in Vienna, Austria.

At the age of ten, St. Bridget sincerely wanted to know how many times the body of Christ was struck during the various scenes of his Passion. She repeatedly prayed about this so that she could honor each one of them. One day Jesus answered her longing and told her,

"I received 5480 blows upon My Body. If you wish to honor them in some way, recite fifteen Our Fathers and fifteen Hail Marys with the following Prayers, which I Myself shall teach you, for an entire year. When the year is finished, you will have honored each of My Wounds." More on this work

Michael Pacher (c. 1435 – August 1498) was an Austrian painter and sculptor from Tyrol, active during the second half of the fifteenth century. He was one of the earliest artists to introduce the principles of Renaissance painting into Germany. Pacher was a comprehensive artist with a broad range of sculpting, painting, and architecture skills producing works of complex wood and stone. He painted structures for altarpieces on a scale unparalleled in North European art.

Pacher's masterpiece, the St. Wolfgang Altarpiece (1471–1481), is considered one of the most remarkable carved and painted altar shrines in all of European art. It contains scenes from the life of Jesus and the Virgin Mary. Pacher's other great work, the Altarpiece of the Church Fathers, created in 1483 for Neustift Monastery, combined painting and sculpture to produce a unique art form.

Pacher's influence was primarily North Italian, and his work shares characteristics with that of painters such as Andrea Mantegna. German influences, however, are also evident in his work, especially in his wood sculpture. Pacher's fusion of Italian Renaissance and Northern Gothic realism helped him to produce a uniquely personal style of painting. More on Michael Pacher

The daughter of Birger Persson, governor of Uppland, she had from an early age remarkable religious visions that influenced her entire life and outlook. As a young teenager in 1316 she married Ulf Gudmarsson, later governor of the province of Nericia. She bore eight children, including St. Catherine of Sweden.

Unknown artist

St. Bridget with the burning candle and red cross

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

On Fridays she would pour burning drops from a wax candle onto her bare flesh, leaving wounds. If sometimes the wounds would heal before the next Friday, she would scratch them open with her fingernails.… This she did on account of the Passion of Jesus Christ. The flaming tip of the candle has faded with time and is nearly unidentifiable. More on this work

On the death of her husband in 1344, Bridget retired to a life of penance and prayer near the Cistercian monastery of Alvastra on Lake Vetter. To the prior, Peter Olafsson, she dictated the revelations that came to her, and he translated them into Latin. One was a command to found a new religious order, which she was not able to fulfill until near the end of her life, receiving papal permission from Pope Urban V for her order of cloistered nuns in 1370. St. Brigit of Sweden and her attributes, the birgittine.

Unknown artist

Birgitta of Sweden

St Bridget depicted with her attributes in a 1476 breviary for birgittine use

The New York Public Library

I have no further description of this artwork at this time

She went to Rome in 1350 and, except for several pilgrimages, remained there for the rest of her life, constantly accompanied by Catherine. She exercised a wide apostolate among rich and poor, sheltering the homeless and sinners, and she worked untiringly for the end of the Avignon papacy and for the pope to return to Rome.

Directed by God to go the Holy Land in 1371, Bridget set out on pilgrimage with her daughter, Catherine, two of her sons, and other pilgrims. Her son Charles died in Naples on the way there, and they were nearly shipwrecked, but once they made it there, Bridget was blessed with extraordinary graces. 

LAND OF PROMISE AND THE HOLY CITY OF JERUSALEM 

Describing the most important events in the OLD & NEW TESTAMENTS., Philadelphia, Oct. 10, 1823.

Engraving and etching on three sheets joined, 22.75"h x 57.5"w at neat line plus margins, original outline color recently retouched

In the Holy Land, she received detailed visions of episodes in the life of Jesus in the places where they were said to have occurred

Unknown artist

Bridget's vision of the Nativity, after 1373

Tempera on wood

Pinacoteca Vaticana, Rome

The painting was made soon after St. Bridget's pilgrimage to Bethlehem in 1373. She is shown in the lower right corner, praying her beads before the scene, which is just as she described her vision to be. Though it is dark night outside, the cave is brightly lit by the child himself. A blonde Mary has set aside her mantle, which is in the lower left corner, and wears only a tunic. At her knees are the linens that she prepared before the birth for the swaddling of the child. He "extends his limbs, seeking to find refreshment and his Mother's favor." Joseph has returned and "and prostrating on the earth, he adores him on bended knee." More on this work

In her Revelations she told of a vision she had in Bethlehem in which the Virgin Mary recounted the birth to her: "I saw that glorious infant lying on the earth, naked and glowing in the greatest of neatness".… When therefore the Virgin felt that she had now given birth, at once, having bowed her head and joined her hands, with great dignity and reverence she adored the boy and said to him: "Welcome, my God, my Lord, and my Son!" 

She died soon after her return to Rome. More on St. Bridget

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