Saint Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad - April 24 catherineweeks
Maria Elizabetta Hesselblad
Memorial
24 April
4 June on some calendars
Profile
Fifth of thirteen children born to Augusto Roberto Hesselblad and Cajsa Pettesdotter Dag. Raised in the Reformed Church of Sweden. Due to economic hard times, the family moved regularly.
Emigrated to New York at age 18 to seek work to support her family back in Sweden. Studied nursing at Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hospital where she worked as a nurse from 1888; did home care for the sick and aged. Her work took her into the large Catholic population of New York; her interest in the Church grew, and she came to see it as the place closest to Christ. She converted to Catholicism, received conditional baptism on 15 August 1902 by the Jesuit priest Giovani Hagen at Washington.
Pilgrim to Rome, Italy in late 1902, receiving Confirmation there. She returned briefly to New York, but then sailed back to Rome to start a religious life. Settled at the Carmelite House of Saint Bridget of Sweden on 25 March 1904. In 1906 she got permission from Pope Pius X to take the habit of the Brigittines (Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget).
She worked to restore the Order in Sweden and Italy, especially in Rome. She returned to her homeland in 1923, ministered to the poor, and tried to revitalize the Brigittine movement there. Received control of Rome‘s Brigittine house and church in 1931. Established Brigittine foundations in India in 1937. Saved Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis by giving them refuge in Rome; in 2004 she was recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the Nations for this work.
Born
4 June 1870 at Faglavik, Alvsborg province, Sweden
Died
24 April 1957 in Rome, Italy of natural causes
Venerated
26 March 1999 by Pope John Paul II
Beatified
9 April 2000 by Pope John Paul II
Canonized
5 June 2016 by Pope Francis