March 24 - Catherine of Sweden also named Catherine of Vadstena (1322-1381). Her mother is Saint Brigitte of Sweden and her father Ulf Gudmarson. She is the second daughter and the fourth of their eight children.

She was brought up in the Cistercian convent of Risaberg (or Bisberg) and did not wish to leave this religious community, but at the age of twelve or thirteen her father granted her in marriage to the much older knight Edgar von Kyren (Eggard of Kyrn or Edgar Lydersson), Lord of Eggerstnæs. She devotedly cares for her invalid husband, of whom she has no children, having obtained from him that he preserve her virginity. Her father died in 1344.

In 1349, with her husband's consent, she joined her mother in Rome, where her mother had settled since she was widowed. It was during this trip that she learned of Edgar's death. She then decided to stay in Rome until her mother's death, resisting all the solicitations of the local lords who asked her to marry them or tried to kidnap her according to several legends.

Both of them visited the churches and tombs of the martyrs for a long time, and engaged in long exercises of mortification. They also go to heal the sick in hospitals, live in poverty and austerity and make pilgrimages to the Holy Land.

His mother died in 1373. Catherine returned to Sweden to bury her mother's remains in the convent of Vadstena, where she became abbess.

Contenu soumis à la licence CC-BY-SA. Source : Article Catherine de Suède de Wikipédia en français (auteurs)