Mirrored in the crystal-clear, deep waters of Lake Vaettern (Sweden's second-largest lake) along the fertile plains of western Oestergoetland in south-central Sweden, the medieval town of Vadstena preserves one of the most evocative historic townscapes in Northern Europe. Rising beside the lakeshore and a thirteenth-century royal brick palace is a soaring Gothic hall church constructed of blocks of local limestone that glow with a cool, silvery blue-grey hue in the Nordic light. Known affectionately across Sweden as Blaakyrkan (The Blue Church), this monument is Vadstena Abbey Church (in Swedish, Vadstena klosterkyrka), the mother sanctuary of the Bridgettine Order and the national shrine of Saint Birgitta of Sweden (Heliga Birgitta, 1303 to 1373, often called Saint Bridget of Sweden in English).
In the spiritual geography of Scandinavia and the wider Christian world, Vadstena Abbey occupies a unique place of honor where the Evangelical Lutheran heritage of the Church of Sweden and universal Catholic devotion meet in deep harmony. Whereas Lund Cathedral in Scania represents the twelfth-century Romanesque authority of the medieval archbishops and St. Eric's Cathedral in Stockholm serves the modern Catholic diocese in the capital, Vadstena Abbey is the physical realization of the mystical visions of Sweden's most famous historical figure: Saint Birgitta Birgersdotter, proclaimed by Pope John Paul II in 1999 as one of the Co-Patronesses of Europe. For more than six hundred and fifty years since her daughter Saint Catherine of Vadstena carried Birgitta's relics across Europe from Rome to Lake Vaettern in 1374, pilgrims have walked the trails of Oestergoetland to pray beside her crimson-velvet reliquary shrine inside the Blue Church.
ISaint Birgitta of Sweden, the Heavenly Revelations, Saint Catherine of Vadstena, and the 1391 Reliquary Shrine
The spiritual heart of Vadstena Abbey is Saint Birgitta of Sweden (Birgitta Birgersdotter, born 1303 at Finsta in Uppland; died July 23, 1373 in Rome; canonized by Pope Boniface IX on October 7, 1391). Born into the highest aristocratic circle of medieval Sweden and related to the royal dynasty, Birgitta was married at thirteen to the pious nobleman and lawman Ulf Gudmarsson of Naerke, with whom she lived happily for twenty-eight years and bore eight children, including her fourth child, Saint Catherine of Vadstena (Katarina Ulfsdotter, 1331 to 1381). In 1335 Birgitta was summoned to court as chief lady-in-waiting and counselor to the young King Magnus Eriksson and Queen Blanche of Namur; between 1341 and 1343 she and her husband walked on pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Following Ulf's death in 1344 at the Cistercian Abbey of Alvastra at the foot of Mount Omberg near Vadstena, Birgitta laid aside her noble ring, distributed her wealth, and devoted her life entirely to prophetic prayer.
Between 1344 and 1349 at Alvastra and Vadstena, Birgitta experienced a series of vivid mystical revelations that were recorded by her confessors (Prior Petrus Olavi of Alvastra and Master Mathias of Linkoeping) and compiled into the eight books of the Revelationes Coelestes (Heavenly Revelations), the most internationally influential work of literature and theology ever produced in medieval Scandinavia (whose visionary description of the Nativity of Christ transformed Renaissance Nativity paintings across Italy and Flanders). In these revelations, Christ dictated to Birgitta the Rule of the Order of the Most Holy Savior (Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris, the Bridgettine Order) along with exact architectural measurements for the mother abbey church to be built at Vadstena.
The monastic rule and architectural plan revealed to Saint Birgitta for Vadstena Abbey introduced a remarkable theological vision centered on the Virgin Mary and the dignity of women. Vadstena was established as a Double Monastery housing two strictly separated cloisters that shared a single abbey church, totaling 85 members to mirror the apostolic Church: 60 contemplative nuns, 13 priest-monks (representing the twelve Apostles plus Saint Paul), 4 deacons (representing the four Doctors of the Western Church: Ambrose, Augustine, Jerome, and Gregory), and 8 lay brothers (bringing the male community of 25 together with the 60 nuns to represent the 12 Apostles and 72 Disciples of Luke 10). While the priest-monks served as chaplains, preachers, and confessors, supreme temporal and administrative authority over the entire monastery was vested in the Abbess, who governed as the earthly representative of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Architecturally, Saint Birgitta's revelations decreed that the abbey church must embody humility, strength, and simplicity (humilis, fortis et simplex): she forbade ostentatious bell towers, superfluous stone carvings, and distracting wall paintings, calling instead for plain, enduring stone vaults illuminated by clear windows. As their distinctive sacred emblem, every Bridgettine nun wears over her black veil the Crown of the Five Wounds (the Bridgettine Crown): three white linen bands intersecting in a cross over the head and brow, adorned with five small discs of red cloth symbolizing the Five Sacred Wounds of the Crucified Christ.
On May 1, 1346, moved by Birgitta's prophetic counsel, King Magnus Eriksson and Queen Blanche of Namur signed their royal testament donating the Bjaelbo Royal Palace estate at Vadstena on the shore of Lake Vaettern to become the seat of the new monastery. In late 1349, Birgitta departed Sweden for Rome for the Papal Jubilee of 1350, never to see her homeland alive again: for twenty-four years she lived in Rome (at Piazza Farnese), ministering to pilgrims and the poor, urging the Popes to return from Avignon to Rome, and obtaining papal approval for her Order at Vadstena from Pope Urban V in 1370 before making a final pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 1372 and dying in Rome on July 23, 1373.
Following her mother's death, Saint Catherine of Vadstena led a solemn procession carrying Birgitta's bones in a wooden chest from Rome across the Alps and the Baltic Sea, arriving in triumph at Vadstena on July 4, 1374. After the monastery was formally consecrated in 1384 and Birgitta was canonized in Rome in 1391, the grand limestone Abbey Church (Blaakyrkan) was constructed and consecrated on February 16, 1430. Remarkably, even after the Protestant Reformation in Sweden (when the last Catholic nuns departed Vadstena for Poland in December 1595 and the abbey church became a Lutheran parish church), the 1391 crimson-velvet and silver reliquary shrine containing the relics of Saint Birgitta and Saint Catherine was never destroyed or removed, remaining continuously venerated inside the Blue Church to the present day.
Two misunderstandings frequently puzzle visitors arriving at Vadstena Abbey. First, seeing the red-brick medieval building immediately north of the Blue Church, many assume it was built originally as a monastic dormitory; in fact, that building is the thirteenth-century Royal Pleasure Palace of the Bjaelbo Dynasty (built around 1260 by Birger Jarl and King Valdemar). When King Magnus Eriksson donated the palace to Saint Birgitta in 1346, the nuns considered its royal roof too proud and lofty for a monastery, so they deliberately lowered the palace walls and roof to convert it into their humble nuns' dormitory and chapter house (today it houses the Sancta Birgitta Convent Museum).
Second, visitors often wonder whether Vadstena today is a Lutheran or a Catholic site. The answer is a heartwarming example of Nordic ecumenism: the medieval Blue Church (Klosterkyrkan) housing the reliquary of Saint Birgitta belongs to the Lutheran Church of Sweden (Diocese of Linkoeping), which operates the renowned Vadstena Pilgrim Center; at the same time, just a stone's throw away along the shore of Lake Vaettern stands the Catholic Bridgettine Abbey of Pax Mariae (re-established in Vadstena in 1935 by Saint Elisabeth Hesselblad and elevated to an independent abbey in 1991). Lutheran pastors, Catholic Bridgettine sisters, and pilgrims of all Christian traditions pray side by side in the Blue Church.
IINearly Seven Centuries from the 1346 Royal Donation and 1430 Blue Church to Pope John Paul II's 1989 Pilgrimage
From its fourteenth-century royal foundation and fifteenth-century golden age as the cultural capital of the Kalmar Union to its twentieth-century ecumenical renaissance, Vadstena Abbey has stood at the center of Swedish spiritual history.
- May 1, 1346 and 1370King Magnus Eriksson donates the Vadstena Royal Palace (1346) and Pope Urban V approves the Order (1370)Fulfilling Saint Birgitta's visions, King Magnus Eriksson and Queen Blanche bequeath their lakeside palace at Vadstena for the monastery; in 1370 Pope Urban V grants papal approval for the double monastery at Vadstena.
- July 23, 1373 and July 4, 1374Death of Saint Birgitta in Rome and translation of her relics to Vadstena by Saint CatherineSaint Birgitta dies in Rome on July 23, 1373; her daughter Catherine (Saint Catherine of Vadstena) leads the triumphal translation of her mother's relics across Europe, arriving at Vadstena on July 4, 1374.
- 1384 and October 7, 1391Consecration of the monastery (1384), canonization of Saint Birgitta (1391), and construction of the Blue ChurchThe monastic community is enclosed in 1384; on October 7, 1391 Pope Boniface IX canonizes Saint Birgitta in Rome, and her bones are placed in the crimson-velvet Birgittaskrinet reliquary.
- February 16, 1430 and 1495Solemn consecration of the Blue Church (1430) and establishment of Sweden's first monastery printing press (1495)Built of Omberg blue-grey limestone, the monumental Gothic hall church is consecrated on February 16, 1430; by the late 1400s the abbey houses Scandinavia's largest library (1,500 manuscripts) and sets up a printing press in 1495.
- 1527 to December 13, 1595The Swedish Reformation and departure of the last medieval nuns in 1595Although the Reformation begins in 1527, the nuns of Vadstena remain in their cloister for nearly seventy years until the last eleven sisters depart for Danzig (Poland) on December 13, 1595; the church becomes Lutheran while safeguarding Saint Birgitta's shrine.
- 1935, 1989, 1991, and 1999Return of the Bridgettine Sisters (1935), visit of Pope John Paul II (1989), and Co-Patroness of Europe (1999)Saint Elisabeth Hesselblad re-establishes the Bridgettine Sisters at Vadstena in 1935 (Pax Mariae Abbey, 1991); Pope John Paul II prays at Vadstena Abbey Church on June 9, 1989 and proclaims Saint Birgitta Co-Patroness of Europe on October 1, 1999.
Scandinavia's greatest medieval scriptorium and Queen Margaret I's spiritual home. During the fifteenth century, Vadstena Abbey was not only the wealthiest landowner and premier pilgrimage shrine in Sweden, but also the intellectual powerhouse of the three united Nordic kingdoms of the Kalmar Union (Denmark, Norway, and Sweden). Queen Margaret I (1353 to 1412, architect of the Kalmar Union), who had been raised in childhood by Saint Birgitta's daughter Martha Ulfsdotter, revered Vadstena as the spiritual heart of her realm and was received as an honorary lay sister of the abbey. Inside the scriptorium of Vadstena, the monks and nuns copied, translated, and bound more than 1,500 medieval codices, standardized literary Old Swedish, and in 1495 operated Sweden's first monastic printing press before a fire destroyed the press that same year.
In modern times, this spirit of unity was vividly renewed on June 9, 1989, when Pope John Paul II traveled to Vadstena during his historic visit to Sweden (after visiting St. Eric's Cathedral in Stockholm) to pray alongside the Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala and the Bishop of Linkoeping directly before the reliquary of Saint Birgitta inside the Blue Church, ten years before proclaiming Birgitta Co-Patroness of Europe alongside Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
IIIThe Blue Limestone Hall Church Built to Birgitta's Visions, the 1391 Crimson Reliquary, and Medieval Wood Sculptures
Vadstena Abbey Church (Blaakyrkan) is one of the most original monuments of Late Gothic architecture in Northern Europe because its entire layout, proportions, lack of a bell tower, and reversed dual-choir arrangement were dictated by Saint Birgitta's own visionary writings. Measuring approximately 63 meters in length and 32 meters in width, the church was built between 1384 and 1430 from finely dressed blocks of Borghamn limestone quarried at Mount Omberg on Lake Vaettern, whose natural blue-grey patina gives the church its poetic name.
Following Saint Birgitta's command that the sanctuary be humble, strong, and simple without a proud spire, the exterior rises as a massive, serene gable-roofed hall of blue-grey limestone. Inside, two rows of eight slender octagonal stone piers soar upward to support whitewashed brick star vaults (stellar vaults) of equal height across all three aisles, filling the vast space with calm, clear light reflected off Lake Vaettern.
In a spatial arrangement unique to Bridgettine churches designed by Saint Birgitta, the High Choir for the thirteen priest-monks (Broedrakoret) was placed at the Western end of the church (sunk several steps below the main floor), while the Eastern end was dedicated to the High Altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary, above which stood the elevated gallery where the sixty cloistered nuns chanted the Marian office, while lay pilgrims walked along dedicated perimeter passages.
Enshrined in the vaulted Western Choir beneath a glass case rests the supreme sacred treasure of Sweden: the Reliquary of Saint Birgitta (Birgittaskrinet), crafted in 1391 for her canonization. The oak chest is covered in deep crimson velvet studded with dozens of gilded silver heraldic medallions and quatrefoils; inside rest the authentic skeletal relics of Saint Birgitta of Sweden together with those of her daughter Saint Catherine of Vadstena (placed inside in 1489).
Vadstena Abbey Church preserves one of the finest collections of medieval wooden sculpture in Scandinavia, including more than twenty original statues from the 1300s to the early 1500s. Foremost among them are three celebrated wood carvings of the foundress: the lifelike Portrait Statue of Saint Birgitta (Portraettlika Birgitta) carved around 1435 by Johannes Junge; the Ecstatic Birgitta (Den extatiska Birgitta) receiving a heavenly vision, carved in the mid-fifteenth century by Luebeck master Johannes Stenrat; and the radiant Gothic statue known as the Beautiful Mary (Skoena Maria).
Suspended high beneath the central vault is the fifteenth-century carved oak Triumphal Crucifix attributed to Johannes Junge. At the eastern end stands the monumental gilded oak Winged Altarpiece of the Virgin Mary (Mariaskaapet), commissioned from master carvers in Brussels in Flanders between 1516 and 1521, depicting the life of the Virgin Mary and the apotheosis of Saint Birgitta alongside two other medieval Flemish and North German altarpieces.
Immediately north of the Blue Church stands the red-brick thirteenth-century palace built around 1260 by the royal Bjaelbo dynasty, which was lowered and adapted after 1346 to serve as the medieval nuns' cloister and dormitory (today the Sancta Birgitta Convent Museum, Klostermuseum). Adjacent along the lakeshore stand the Pilgrim Center of the Church of Sweden and the modern Catholic Bridgettine Abbey of Pax Mariae.
| Architectural or Artistic Treasure | Date and Master Builder or Artist | Material Character and Spiritual Significance |
|---|---|---|
| The Blue Church (Blaakyrkan / Klosterkyrkan) | Built 1384 to February 16, 1430 (after Saint Birgitta's visions) | 63 m by 32 m three-aisled Gothic hall church of blue-grey Omberg limestone with whitewashed brick star vaults |
| Reliquary Shrine of St. Birgitta (Birgittaskrinet) | 1391 (relics of St. Catherine added 1489) | Oak chest clad in crimson velvet and silver-gilt medallions housing the relics of Saint Birgitta and Saint Catherine |
| Medieval Wooden Statues of St. Birgitta | c. 1435 to late 15th century (Johannes Junge & Johannes Stenrat) | Masterpieces of Luebeck-school polychrome oak sculpture depicting Saint Birgitta writing and in mystical ecstasy |
| Brussels Marian Altarpiece (Mariaskaapet) | 1516 to 1521 (Brussels workshop, Flanders) | Monumental carved and gilded oak winged altarpiece at the eastern altar honoring the Virgin Mary and Saint Birgitta |
| Bjaelbo Royal Palace (Nuns' Cloister Building) | c. 1260 royal palace; converted to monastery 1346 to 1384 | Sweden's oldest secular brick palace, adapted by the medieval nuns and now housing the Sancta Birgitta Convent Museum |
IVThe Lie of the Land and the Facing
It should be stated clearly that Saint Birgitta of Sweden, King Magnus Eriksson, and the fourteenth-century Nordic master masons did not employ East Asian geomancy (feng shui) in siting or designing Vadstena Abbey. The site on the shore of Lake Vaettern originated as the royal estate of the Bjaelbo dynasty donated in 1346, and the orientation and proportions of the Blue Church follow Saint Birgitta's liturgical revelations. The observations below offer a comparative landform reading through the traditional framework of the Hall of Myriad Paths library.
Viewed within the macro-topography of Oestergoetland in south-central Sweden at coordinates 58.4506 degrees north, 14.8914 degrees east, Vadstena Abbey commands an extraordinary lakeshore-and-mountain convergence on the eastern bank of Lake Vaettern (Europe's sixth-largest lake, stretching 135 kilometers from north to south in a deep tectonic rift valley). Rising ten kilometers to the southwest along the lakeshore is the forested horst mountain of Mount Omberg (263 meters high, site of the medieval Alvastra Abbey where Birgitta received her calling and the quarry of the blue limestone used to build the abbey church), which stands like a protective guardian mountain sheltering the bay of Vadstena from southwestern gales; to the east and southeast unfolds the fertile agricultural plain of Oestgoetaslaetten, providing a broad, stable landward backing.
In terms of water bright hall and dual-ended axial balance, the abbey precinct sits directly on a gentle promontory hugging the crystal-clear waters of Lake Vaettern to the northwest and north. In classical landform analysis, the vast, mirror-like expanse of Lake Vaettern (renowned for water so pure that visibility reaches fifteen meters deep) acts as a luminous great-water bright hall that reflects sky light directly through the tall Gothic windows of the Blue Church. Even more distinctive is the church's internal axial equilibrium: aligned from northeast (liturgical east) to southwest (liturgical west), the sanctuary places the High Altar of the Virgin Mary at the landward eastern end and the vaulted choir enshrining the Reliquary of Saint Birgitta at the lakeside western end, creating a balanced two-pole sacred axis linking the fertile plain of Oestergoetland with the deep waters of Lake Vaettern.
VThe Heavenly Feast of Saint Birgitta on July 23, the Canonization Feast on October 7, and Foot Pilgrimages Along Lake Vaettern
Liturgical and pilgrimage life at Vadstena Abbey follows the Christian liturgical calendar on the Gregorian system throughout the year, uniquely celebrated in tandem by both the Lutheran Church of Sweden in the Blue Church and the Catholic Bridgettine Sisters at the adjacent Abbey of Pax Mariae.
| Time of Day or Year | Calendar System | Liturgical Feast or Pilgrimage Event | Rites and Customs at Vadstena Abbey |
|---|---|---|---|
| Daily throughout the year | Daily | Pilgrim Prayers and Mass in the Blue Church & Sung Liturgy of the Hours at Pax Mariae Abbey | Daily morning, midday, and afternoon pilgrim prayers and Eucharist are celebrated inside the Blue Church beside Saint Birgitta's shrine, while next door in the Catholic Abbey of Pax Mariae the Bridgettine sisters wearing the Crown of the Five Wounds chant the daily Divine Office. |
| February 16 | Gregorian | Dedication Anniversary of Vadstena Abbey Church (February 16, 1430) | Commemorates the solemn winter consecration of the completed Blue Church (Blaakyrkan) in 1430. |
| May through September (especially July 4) | Gregorian (Nordic Summer) | Foot-Pilgrimage Season on the Klosterleden Trail & Anniversary of the Arrival of the Relics (July 4, 1374) | Thousands of modern foot pilgrims walk the historic trails over Mount Omberg from Alvastra to Vadstena; July 4 marks the arrival of Saint Birgitta's relics from Rome in 1374. |
| July 23 | Gregorian (Universal Liturgical Feast) | Solemnity of Saint Birgitta of Sweden, Co-Patroness of Europe (Heavenly Birthday) | The principal summer festival marking the day of Saint Birgitta's death in Rome (July 23, 1373): celebrated with solemn Lutheran and Catholic liturgies, ecumenical processions, and medieval choral music. |
| August 2 | Gregorian | Feast of Saint Catherine of Vadstena (1331 to 1381, First Abbess) | Honors Saint Birgitta's daughter Catherine, who brought her mother's relics to Sweden and guided the fledgling monastery at Vadstena. |
| October 7 | Gregorian (Traditional Nordic Birgitta Day) | Feast of the Canonization of Saint Birgitta (Birgittadagen, October 7, 1391) | Commemorating Pope Boniface IX's canonization of Birgitta on October 7, 1391, observed across Sweden with candlelit evening services, theological symposia, and autumn pilgrimages to Vadstena. |
Saint Birgitta's Pilgrim Prayer and theSeven Key Words of the Vadstena Pilgrim Center. Since the founding of the Vadstena Pilgrim Center (Vadstena Pilgrimscentrum) by the Church of Sweden in 1996, Vadstena has spearheaded the modern revival of foot pilgrimage across Scandinavia. Every pilgrim setting out along the Klosterleden or praying beside the crimson reliquary in the Blue Church encounters Saint Birgitta's timeless prayer carved in stone and printed on pilgrim passports: Lord, show me Your way, and make me willing to walk it (Domine, ostende mihi viam tuam, et fac me voluntarie ambulare eam), accompanied by the seven meditative themes of modern Nordic pilgrimage: slowness, freedom, simplicity, silence, carefree trust, sharing, and spirituality.
VILocation And How To Get There
- Address
- Lasarettsgatan and Klosterledsgatan, Eastern Shore of Lake Vaettern, 592 30 Vadstena, Oestergoetland County, Kingdom of Sweden
- Getting there
- The historic town of Vadstena lies on the eastern shore of Lake Vaettern in Oestergoetland County, approximately 240 kilometers southwest of Stockholm and 50 kilometers west of Linkoeping. By public transport from Stockholm or southern Sweden (Malmoe / Lund), travelers take an SJ high-speed train or Oestgoetapendeln commuter train to Mjoelby or Motala railway station (about 1 hour and 45 minutes by train from Stockholm Central to Mjoelby), then transfer to a direct local Oestgoetatrafiken bus (20 to 25 minutes) to the Vadstena Slott (Castle) or Hovsgatan stop in the center of Vadstena, from which the Blue Church on the lakeshore is a scenic 5-minute walk.
- Coordinates
- 58.4506, 14.8914
Vadstena Abbey Church (Blaakyrkan) is open daily free of charge year-round (typically from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. depending on the season) for prayer and visitation. When descending the steps into the Western Choir to stand before the 1391 crimson-velvet Reliquary of Saint Birgitta and Saint Catherine (Birgittaskrinet), visitors are asked to maintain strict quiet, silence mobile phones, and dress respectfully. Visitors may light a prayer candle in the wrought-iron candle globes inside the church, stroll through the Monastery Herb Garden outside, visit the Sancta Birgitta Convent Museum housed in the adjacent 1260s royal brick palace (admission fee applies), and stop at the Vadstena Pilgrim Center and the chapel of the Catholic Bridgettine Abbey of Pax Mariae along the shore of Lake Vaettern.
Nearby places in the library
VIIContribute To This Page
Contribute photos, information or video for Vadstena Abbey
Master Ưng Khiêm welcomes the community to enrich this page: a photograph taken on site, a historical detail not yet noted, or a short video. Every contribution is read and answered.
No community contribution yet. You could be the first.
?Quick Questions
Who was Saint Birgitta of Sweden, and why is she honored as a Co-Patroness of Europe?
Saint Birgitta of Sweden (Birgitta Birgersdotter, 1303 to 1373) was Scandinavia's greatest medieval mystic, theologian, and author. After her husband Ulf Gudmarsson died in 1344, she received prophetic revelations compiled in the eight books of the Heavenly Revelations, founded the Bridgettine Order centered at Vadstena, and worked tirelessly in Rome for the reform of the Church. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her one of the three female Co-Patronesses of Europe alongside Saint Catherine of Siena and Saint Teresa Benedicta of the Cross.
Why is Vadstena Abbey Church popularly called Blaakyrkan (The Blue Church)?
The monumental Gothic hall church (built between 1384 and its consecration on February 16, 1430) was constructed from blocks of Borghamn limestone quarried from nearby Mount Omberg on Lake Vaettern. Rich in natural minerals, the polished limestone blocks take on a distinctive cool, shimmering blue-grey tone in the light reflected off the lake, earning the church its beloved Swedish name Blaakyrkan (The Blue Church).
Whose relics are preserved inside the crimson reliquary chest in Vadstena Abbey Church, and how did they survive the Reformation?
The crimson-velvet and silver-gilt reliquary chest (Birgittaskrinet, crafted for the 1391 canonization) in the Western Choir holds the skeletal relics of Saint Birgitta of Sweden (brought from Rome to Vadstena in 1374) together with those of her daughter, Saint Catherine of Vadstena (placed inside in 1489). Out of deep national reverence for Sweden's most famous saint, the reliquary was protected intact inside the abbey church throughout the sixteenth-century Reformation and remains in its original sanctuary today.
How did Saint Birgitta's visions shape the architecture of Vadstena Abbey Church?
In her Heavenly Revelations, Saint Birgitta left detailed architectural instructions for the mother church at Vadstena: it had to be built of plain stone without a proud bell tower or distracting wall paintings, and arranged with a reversed dual-choir plan placing the Virgin Mary's altar and the 60 nuns' gallery at the eastern end and the 13 priest-monks' choir at the western end.
Is Vadstena Abbey today a Lutheran church or a Catholic monastery?
Vadstena today is a celebrated symbol of Lutheran-Catholic ecumenical fellowship: the medieval Blue Church (Klosterkyrkan) housing Saint Birgitta's reliquary belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Sweden (Svenska kyrkan), which also runs the Vadstena Pilgrim Center; right next door on the shore of Lake Vaettern stands the Catholic Bridgettine Abbey of Pax Mariae (re-established in 1935 by Saint Elisabeth Hesselblad). Both communities welcome pilgrims from around the world.
What is the thirteenth-century red-brick building standing immediately north of the Blue Church?
The red-brick building beside the church was originally built around 1260 as a Royal Palace of the ruling Bjaelbo dynasty. In 1346 King Magnus Eriksson and Queen Blanche donated the palace to Saint Birgitta; the nuns lowered its lofty roof out of monastic humility to convert it into their cloister and dormitory from 1384 to 1595, and today it houses the Sancta Birgitta Convent Museum (Klostermuseum).