So, she was the aunt of the King of Sweden, who although married to a French princess was living a debauched life of homosexuality.
Birgitta -- who was married with several children -- infuriated the King by rebuking him for this life. He responded by turning his courtiers loose on her, who subjected her to many public humiliations -- at one point dumping a slop jar of excrement on her head while she was in court.
Years later, now a widow, Birgitta journeyed to Rome, where she founded an Order. In 1350, a Jubilee Year, Bridget braved a plague-stricken Europe to make a pilgrimage to Rome accompanied by her daughter, Catherine, and a small party of priests and disciples. This was done partly to obtain from the Pope the authorization of the new Order and partly in pursuance of her self-imposed mission to elevate the moral tone of the age. This was during the period of the Avignon Papacy within the Roman Catholic Church, however, and she had to wait for the return of the papacy to Rome from …More