The Revelations of Saint Bridget (Birgitta) of Sweden

Content - Book 1

CHAPTER 1 - On Christ’s good deeds and the people’s ingratitude; Birgitta must love him above all else.
CHAPTER 2 - On the duties of the bride.
CHAPTER 3 - Birgitta must love and fear God and seek guidance from her spiritual director.
CHAPTER 4 - Birgitta must learn to discern between good and evil spirits.
CHAPTER 5 - About a besieged castle.
CHAPTER 6 - On the arming of spiritual Knights.
CHAPTER 7 - On spiritual clothing.
CHAPTER 8 - Mary teaches Birgitta a prayer of praise to God.
CHAPTER 9 - On the marriage of the Virgin’s parents, on her immaculate conception, and her assumption into Heaven.
CHAPTER 10 - On Mary’s childhood, the annunciation, and her Son’s birth and passion.
CHAPTER 11 - On Christ’s passion and how Birgitta can imitate him.
CHAPTER 12 - Birgitta’s guardian Angel asks for her to be beaten with a rod.
CHAPTER 13 - An enemy of God possessed by three Demons.
CHAPTER 14 - Advice on prayer; on three groups of people who serve God for the wrong reasons.
CHAPTER 15 - About a King with two treasuries.
CHAPTER 16 - Dialogue between the Virgin and a Devil concerning the soul of a sinful woman.
CHAPTER 17 - On a proud and greedy person.
CHAPTER 18 - Instructions about a “House” (i.e., a new Monastery).
CHAPTER 19 - On people’s ingratitude toward God.
CHAPTER 20 - On the chastity and humility of the bride.
CHAPTER 21 - A sorcerer is compared to an ugly frog.
CHAPTER 22 - Reassurance for Birgitta about her concerns.
CHAPTER 23 - The moral attributes of a man of great repute are graphically described; St. Lawrence explains the vision.
CHAPTER 24 - A plea for mercy for the “Daughter” and “Bride”.
CHAPTER 25 - Why Christ tolerates the wicked.
CHAPTER 26 - Spiritual marriage is compared to human marriages.
CHAPTER 27 - Mary describes a dance; and her suffering at witnessing the passion of her Son.
CHAPTER 28 - God Is angry with a man in judgment.
CHAPTER 29 - About two ladies, pride and the Virgin Mary.
CHAPTER 30 - On three instruments of the passion; Birgitta must have three things in her heart.
CHAPTER 31 - John the Baptist praises the beauty and virtues of Mary.
CHAPTER 32 - About three Demoniacs, two never cured, and the third released through Birgitta’s intercession.
CHAPTER 33 - Criticism of the worldly wise; Birgitta should be like a cheese in a mold.
CHAPTER 34 - The Devil envies Birgitta’s spiritual gifts.
CHAPTER 35 - Mary identifies with her Son’s pain at his passion.
CHAPTER 36 - Birgitta’s guardian Angel asks for mercy for her, which is granted.
CHAPTER 37 - Mary describes the will of those who crucified her Son.
CHAPTER 38 - Birgitta is like a sheep; people are lukewarm in their love of God.
CHAPTER 39 - Advice to people with a weak faith.
CHAPTER 40 - About a wife dressed like a lady and her husband like a servant.
CHAPTER 41 - A judgment scene for five categories of people, including the Pope.
CHAPTER 42 - The Virgin Mary tells of her virtues.
CHAPTER 43 - On planting A date-palm; and on a ruptured womb.
CHAPTER 44 - The heedless are like bumblebees.
CHAPTER 45 - Various groups in dialogue with Christ witness God’s power and glory.
CHAPTER 46 - Christ complains about men’s disrespect.
CHAPTER 47 - The law is like clothing; Christ is like bread; present-day Priests are admonished.
CHAPTER 48 - The same Priests are compared to idolaters.
CHAPTER 49 - The same Priests are inhospitable to Christ.
CHAPTER 50 - Mary intercedes with Christ on behalf of those in Purgatory and on Earth.
CHAPTER 51 - Mary is like a tall flower that exceeds five mountains that symbolize the Prophets.
CHAPTER 52 - Birgitta is to take Revelations to the Archbishop and the Pope.
CHAPTER 53 - The Virgin is like the staff, the manna, and the tablets of the ark of the old law; Birgitta is given advice on disseminating her Revelations.
CHAPTER 54 - An Angel describes two spirits and teaches Birgitta to distinguish good and evil thoughts; the Virgin describes the cities of Heaven and Hell.
CHAPTER 55 - Parable about Judges, Defenders, and Laborers in a town founded by a Lord.
CHAPTER 56 - Application of the previous parable to Priests, Knights, and Commoners, and warning them of punishments to follow.
CHAPTER 57 - Christ complains about evil Christians, whom he will abandon in favor of devout heathens.
CHAPTER 58 - The Virgin is sweet; Christ’s passion is bitter, especially for those who follow their own will.
CHAPTER 59 - Parable about a savaged sheep and a negligent shepherd.
CHAPTER 60 - Master Mathias is to promote the message, which is shown to be authentic because Birgitta has driven out Demons.

Content - Book 2

CHAPTER 1 - A blind man walks toward a crossroads; on why people's paths in life are necessarily different.
CHAPTER 2 - A judgment scene on a sinful Priest who touched the Holy Sacrament.
CHAPTER 3 - A Pilgrim (Christ) visits five houses.
CHAPTER 4 - Christ compares himself to Salomon and to a potter and explains how he deals with Christians and Pagans.
CHAPTER 5 - The three sons of King David.
CHAPTER 6 - About a King on a battlefield, and his soldiers whose helmets are back to front.
CHAPTER 7 - Peter and Paul are compared with the Priesthood and the Laity.
CHAPTER 8 - About a dissolute Knight whom other Knights follow.
CHAPTER 9 - Continuation of the preceding Revelation, on dissolute Knights.
CHAPTER 10 - Concerning Moses, Pharaoh, and the children of Israel; and on Birgitta's calling.
CHAPTER 11 - The rewards of true knightly service are described by five legions of Angels.
CHAPTER 12 - Promise of reward to Knights if they convert to a goo way of life.
CHAPTER 13 - A dubbing ritual for Knights is described.
CHAPTER 14 - A goldsmith must sell his gold for ten talents.
CHAPTER 15 - About two chambers in an abyss; Christ's work on the overgrown wilderness of the World.
CHAPTER 16 - The Lord of a vineyard tasting a mediocre wine: an allegory for Birgitta's calling.
CHAPTER 17 - On salvation history; and on how God makes his will known through Birgitta.
CHAPTER 18 - The image of a phoenix and dry twigs is used to signify how Birgitta's heart should be kindled.
CHAPTER 19 - A parable about a beekeeper and his bees.
CHAPTER 20 - The three estates are exemplified by a Cleric, a Defender, and a Laborer.
CHAPTER 21 - Mary describes the deposition of Christ; on a Virgin and her betrothed.
CHAPTER 22 - Two teachers and two kinds of wisdom.
CHAPTER 23 - The Virgin's cloak of humility protects from stormy weather.
CHAPTER 24 - Mary carries a heavy load, that is, her Son's suffering; on three houses.
CHAPTER 25 - More about the three houses.
CHAPTER 26 - Explanation of the linen, leather, and silk garments.
CHAPTER 27 - Further on the instruments in the third house.
CHAPTER 28 - On falsehoods in God's words and in their fulfillment.
CHAPTER 29 - John the Baptist describes a magpie and her chicks.
CHAPTER 30 - About a man who had been regarded as a Saint.

Content - Book 3

CHAPTER 1 - Advice to a Bishop about temperance in his daily life.
CHAPTER 2 - On the pitfalls of the narrow, thorny, and rocky path that the Bishop must tread.
CHAPTER 3 - On the Bishop's miter; on his reputation as a bouquet of flowers.
CHAPTER 4 - Parable about a prudent Canon who is ridiculed by his slack Bishop; the humiliation of the Bishop after his death.
CHAPTER 5 - A helmsman tosses his people in a storm; on Birgitta's calling.
CHAPTER 6 - An allegory about an adulterous husband who spends nine out of every ten hours with his housemaid rather than his wife.
CHAPTER 7 - The same Bishop is like a bellows and a snail; he is compared to St. Ambrose.
CHAPTER 8 - Mary is like a nut; she can discern wisdom; Birgitta must ask a scholar three questions.
CHAPTER 9 - Even for those with impaired senses, disasters and avalanches still occur.
CHAPTER 10 - The Church is near to collapse; Mary is like a rainbow; the addendum describes Papal Nuncios.
CHAPTER 11 - John the Baptist describes a Bishop who is like a monkey; the addendum describes a Cardinal Legate.
CHAPTER 12 - Blessed Agnes discusses a Bishop at a crossroads; another Bishop is mentioned.
CHAPTER 13 - On a treasure locked up in a fortified Castle, which a Bishop should attempt to penetrate.
CHAPTER 14 - Mary compares a Bishop to a butterfly.
CHAPTER 15 - Mary continues about another Bishop who is likened to a gadfly, and condemns both men.
CHAPTER 16 - The same two Bishops enter into dialogue; one is condemned at the end.
CHAPTER 17 - The Virgin praises Saint Dominic and his rule.
CHAPTER 18 - Contemporary Dominican Friars have relaxed the precepts of their rule.
CHAPTER 19 - Reassurance for Birgitta on why the above Dominican Bishop was called but not chosen.
CHAPTER 20 - How St. Benedict was filled with the Holy Spirit in creating his rule.
CHAPTER 21 - More on St. Benedict, with the images of three fires and three sparks.
CHAPTER 22 - About a Benedictine Abbot who is attracted to Harlots.
CHAPTER 23 - A deliberation on the day's epistle about the Trinity.
CHAPTER 24 - Allegory of a maiden and her nine brothers and the love of the King's sons for the maiden.
CHAPTER 25 - Mary speaks of the World's neglect of her little Son.
CHAPTER 26 - On the mystery of the Trinity.
CHAPTER 27 - On the state of the city of Rome using a grammatical analogy; a vision of some gardens on Earth.
CHAPTER 28 - The Virgin describes four cities where four types of love are to be found.
CHAPTER 29 - Mary is like the Temple of Salomon.
CHAPTER 30 - Blessed Agnes encourages Birgitta in her studies.
CHAPTER 31 - On a Doctor, a King, and two imprisoned men.
CHAPTER 32 - Mary is like a magnet.
CHAPTER 33 - About two men, one like a square-set stone, the other like a Pilgrim to Jerusalem.
CHAPTER 34 - About a ring that is too tight, and an unclean filter for a drink.

Content - Book 4

CHAPTER 7 - How Saint Bride sees in her spiritual sight the judgment of a soul whom the fiend accused, and at the last was helped by our Lady; and how she saw all Hell and Purgatory and many other marvels; and how needful it is to help them who are in Purgatory.
CHAPTER 8 - Then after that the angel tells of the pains of the said soul and says...
CHAPTER 9 - ...
CHAPTER 37 - Our Lord Jesus Christ tells Saint Bride of the harsh sentence of judgment that he will do against all mankind if they do not amend themselves.
CHAPTER 40 - Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches Saint Bride the difference between good death and evil death, and how God's servants ought not to despair though they are in this life.
CHAPTER 53 - How our blessed Lady is ready to help all, both the wives, widows and maidens.
CHAPTER 91 - Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches us to humble ourselves in four ways.

Content - Book 5

First Interrogation - I saw a throne in the sky, and on it sat the Lord Jesus Christ as Judge...
Second Interrogation - Second question. "Item. You have given me temporal goods. Why then may I not possess those things that I crave...
Third Interrogation - ..."O Judge, I ask you: Why did you give us bodily senses if we are not to move and live according to the feelings of the flesh...
First Revelation - ...in which Mary informs her about five virtues which she ought to have inside herself and five others outside...
Fourth Interrogation - Second question. "Why should I mourn and weep when the world's joy and glory are mine in abundance...
Fifth Interrogation - First question. Again, the same religious appeared as before and said: "O Judge, why have you created worms which can harm and cannot profit...
Second Revelation - ...in which the Virgin Mary speaks to blessed Birgitta and says that one who desires to taste divine sweetness must first endure bitterness.
Sixth Interrogation - Fifth question. "Item. Why do you suffer men to go to war with deliberate wrath and envy and in a spirit of vengeance...
Seventh Interrogation - Fifth question. "Item. Why may I not seek my own praise although I am good and praiseworthy...
Eighth Interrogation - ..."O Judge, I ask you: Why do you permit it that gods are placed in temples and honored as yourself when your kingdom is nobler than any other...
Third Revelation - ...and gives her - in a similitude - instruction concerning a true physician who is a healer, a false physician who is a murderer, and a man who makes a guess...
Ninth Interrogation - ..."O Judge, I ask you: Why do you seem so unfair in your gifts and graces that you preferred your mother Mary to every other creature and exalted her above the angels?
Fourth Revelation - ...wherein Christ most beautifully praises all the limbs of his Virgin Mother Mary - moralizing the said limbs in a spiritual way...
Tenth Interrogation - Fourth question. "Item. Since you can do all things and are everywhere present, why did you not immediately appear in the stature that you had when you reached your thirtieth year...
Fifth Revelation - ...instructing her not to be worried about the care of earthly riches and informing her of the patience to be had in times of tribulation together with the virtues of perfect self-denial and humility.
Eleventh Interrogation - Fifth question. "Item. At the approach of death, why did you not show yourself in the might of your divinity...
Sixth Revelation - ...and teaches her - saying that in the spiritual life, labor and vigorous perseverance and humble acquiescence in an elder's advice and manly resistance to temptations will gain, for her, repose of mind and eternal glory...
Twelfth Interrogation - Fourth question. "Item. Why did you flee before Herod into Egypt, and why did you permit innocent boys to be killed...
Seventh Revelation - ...in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and praises frequent confession in order that man may not lose the divine grace that he has.
Eighth Revelation - ...in which Christ speaks to the bride and says of those who find their pleasure in carnal and earthly delights - neglecting heavenly desires and charity and the memory of his passion and of eternal judgment...
Thirteenth Interrogation - Sixth question. "Item. Why is greater prosperity given in this world to the wicked rather than to the good...
Ninth Revelation - ...in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and shows her that she has already been rescued and delivered from the house of the world and of vices and that she has now been brought to dwell in the mansion of the Holy Spirit...
Fourteenth Interrogation - Third question. "Item. Why does an infant carry the sin of its father when it does not know how to sin...
Tenth Revelation - ...in which Christ speaks to the bride and warns her not to be disturbed if his divine words, given to her in revelations...
Fifteenth Interrogation - Seventh question. "Item. Why does the devil adhere to some, being always present to them, but never to others...
Eleventh Revelation - ...in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and tells her why and when he began to administer and infuse into her the words of divine revelations in spiritual vision...
Sixteenth Interrogation - Third question. "Item. Since your Holy Spirit spoke in the evangelists, why is there such great discrepancy in the gospels...
Twelfth Revelation - ...in which Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, and says to her that she must not be disturbed by the fact that he does not do justice at once in the case of a man who is a great sinner...
Thirteenth Revelation - ...in which God the Father speaks to blessed Birgitta and subtly informs her about the virtue of those five sacred places which are in Jerusalem and Bethlehem...

Content - Book 6

CHAPTER 50 - Our Lord tells Saint Bride by example that nothing pleases God so much as that he be loved above all things.
CHAPTER 52 - This is a revelation sent to the holy spouse of Christ, Saint Birgitta, in which our Lady Saint Mary reproached the pride of women in their stance, bearing, speech, dress, and other behavior, with the example of three wretched women: of which one was in Hell, another in Purgatory, and the third, alive.
CHAPTER 65 - Our Lord Jesus Christ teaches Saint Bride how active life and contemplative ought to be kept through the example of Mary and Martha; and first, of contemplative life.
CHAPTER 93 - How our Lady and Saint Peter kept a woman from falling into sin, by whose counsel she changed her life, and of special grace she fell ill, and so was purged and went to Heaven.

Content - Book 7

CHAPTER 1 - A revelation which Lady Birgitta had in Rome after the year of jubilee and in which the Virgin Mary foretells to her that she will go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem when it pleases God...
CHAPTER 2 - In Rome Lady Birgitta had this revelation which speaks about the glorious sword of sorrow that pierced the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary and which the just man Simeon...
CHAPTER 3 - A revelation which blessed Francis showed to Lady Birgitta wherein he invited her to his chamber to eat and to drink and explained to her spiritually that his chamber was obedience and that his food was to convert souls to God and that his drink was to see...
CHAPTER 4 - Lady Birgitta had this revelation in the city of Ortona, in the kingdom of Naples. Christ speaks to her and assures her that there are relics of the body of Saint Thomas the Apostle...
CHAPTER 5 - Lady Birgitta had this revelation in Naples at the request of Lord Elzear, son of the countess of Ariano and, at that time, a young scholar of good disposition...
CHAPTER 6 - In the year of our Lord, 1371, in the month of May, on the day of blessed Urban, pope and martyr...
CHAPTER 7 - In Rome before Lady Birgitta went overseas a certain devout Friar Minor consulted the said lady concerning some doubts in his conscience...
CHAPTER 8 - After the abovesaid friar had received from Lady Birgitta the last revelation above, he asked her to pray to God concerning the matter of Christ's private property...
CHAPTER 9 - How Christ, speaking to Lady Birgitta during prayer, instructs her to go now to Jerusalem and promises to her bodily strength and the necessary expenses.
CHAPTER 10 - The Virgin Mary, speaking to Lady Birgitta, says that in no way is it God's will that clerics should have wives or be contaminated by carnal vice...
CHAPTER 11 - This is the beginning of a revelation that Lady Birgitta had in Naples for the lady queen of the same city...
CHAPTER 12 - This revelation was given by God to Lady Birgitta in Naples at the request of Lord Bernard, the Neapolitan archbishop. He asked her to pray to God concerning some doubts he had in his conscience...
CHAPTER 13 - This revelation, made to Lady Birgitta, began in Naples immediately after the death of her son Lord Charles, a knight...
CHAPTER 14 - Lady Birgitta had this revelation in the holy city of Jerusalem, the first time that she was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre...
CHAPTER 15 - This vision Lady Birgitta saw in Jerusalem in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the chapel of Mount Calvary...
CHAPTER 16 - Christ complains to the bride about all the earth's princes and prelates because they will not keep in their memory and recall in their heart these his sorrows and his passion...
CHAPTER 17 - When Lady Birgitta was in Jerusalem, she was doubtful as to whether it were better for her to lodge in the monastery of the Friars Minor on Mount Zion or in the pilgrims' hostel in Jerusalem...
CHAPTER 18 - In the kingdom of Cyprus, Lady Birgitta was asked by Lady Eleanor, the queen of the said kingdom, to pray to God for her son the king and for that kingdom...
CHAPTER 19 - A revelation made to Lady Birgitta in the holy city of Jerusalem concerning the kingdom of Cyprus and its reformation...
CHAPTER 20 - In the kingdom of Cyprus, a certain Friar Minor asked the said lady to advise him as to what he ought to do about some doubts in his conscience, especially concerning the observance of the Rule of his order...
CHAPTER 21 - A vision that Lady Birgitta had in Bethlehem, where the Virgin Mary showed to her the whole manner of her childbearing and how she gave birth to her glorious Son...
CHAPTER 22 - A revelation in Bethlehem at the manger of the Lord, on the same matter as above.
CHAPTER 23 - It was at the manger of the Lord that this revelation was made to the same lady in Bethlehem: how the shepherds came to the manger to adore the newborn Christ.
CHAPTER 24 - This revelation she had in Bethlehem, in the chapel where Christ was born. In it, Mary tells her how the three magi kings adored Christ, her Son.
CHAPTER 25 - The Mother of God, speaking to Lady Birgitta, tells her some things about her own humility and that of her Son...
CHAPTER 26 - When Lady Birgitta now wished to return from Jerusalem to Rome, she went on the birthday of the Virgin Mary to visit her sepulchre...
CHAPTER 27 - When Lady Birgitta, in returning from Jerusalem, passed through the city of Naples, at the request of the lady queen and of the archbishop of the said city...
CHAPTER 28 - A revelation of the Virgin Mary which Lady Birgitta had in the city of Naples. And she directs it to Lord Bernard, the Neapolitan archbishop...
CHAPTER 29 - A certain bishop, who was the ruler of the March of Ancona on behalf of the holy Roman Church...
CHAPTER 30 - The Judge complains to the bride about the universal number of sinners of all states and conditions, narrating the good deeds that he did for them and their ingratitude. He also threatens them with the terrible sentence of his wrath...
CHAPTER 31 - In Rome Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta, foretelling to her the day and manner of her death and ordering what should be done with the books of revelations...

Content - Book 8

CHAPTER 48 - After our Lady had sent many revelations to a king, at last she sent him one and said that it should be the last letter that should be sent to him. But in this revelation following, our Lady spoke again to the same king and declared her first statement and informed Saint Birgitta why the words of God are spoken so darkly that they may have diverse ways of being understood...
CHAPTER 56 - How the Father of Heaven showed to Saint Birgitta a severe judgement upon a king who was unkind and disobedient to the counsels of God. And how they who are in Heaven, on earth, in Purgatory, and in Hell ask wrath upon kings and princes and how our Lady prayed for them.

Content - Book 9

Content - The Sermon of the Angel

CHAPTER 1 - When John in his Gospel speaks of the Word, that is he who is, and has ever been, with the Father and the Holy Spirit...
CHAPTER 2 - Mary, we know that you were ever in the mind of God, before his creating brought you to be...
CHAPTER 3 - From the moment of God's promise, through the long years of waiting, Abraham loved the son who was to be his...
CHAPTER 4 - It was love that led God to create...
CHAPTER 5 - God's creation of the world and all it contains took place in the instant of his will's expression...
CHAPTER 6 - God is the Creator of all beings, and he is Being itself. Nothing can be or come to be without God...
CHAPTER 7 - We read in the Bible of Adam's original state of happiness. Then of his disobedience to God...
CHAPTER 8 - Adam's punishment made him see the justice and mercy of God...
CHAPTER 9 - God is all love, and all loving; infinite in love, and infinite in loving...
CHAPTER 10 - Before God made known his law to Moses, man had to live without a rule of life...
CHAPTER 11 - That seed of life was ready, and at God's chosen moment, life began as he infused into it a living soul...
CHAPTER 12 - In Father, Son and Holy Ghost, there is only the one Divinity. There is ever the one divine will. A fire with three flames is but the one fire...
CHAPTER 13 - Speaking of the beauty of Mary, we think of lovely things: her sacred body is like a vase of purest crystal; her soul like a lantern of clearest light...
CHAPTER 14 - With our slow and clouded minds, it is hard for us to appreciate that moment when Mary first knew God and gave herself to him...
CHAPTER 15 - This union between God and man, between Christ and the Virgin Mary, only God can comprehend...
CHAPTER 16 - We are told that Mary was afraid when the Angel appeared and spoke to her. It was not fear of any bodily harm to herself, but dismay at the thought that this might be a trick of Satan, to lead her into sin...
CHAPTER 17 - The Prophets foretold many things about Christ...
CHAPTER 18 - 'You shall seek me and shall not find me'. These words of Christ were the sharp point of the sword of sorrow, entering Mary's heart...
CHAPTER 19 - We read that the Queen of Sheba made the long journey from her own lands in the south to visit Solomon the King...
CHAPTER 20 - We read in the Gospels these words of Christ - the measure you give shall be the measure you receive...
CHAPTER 21 - The Son of God, the Son of Mary, Christ who is Truth itself, has said to us - return not evil for evil, but return good for evil...

Content - Four Prayers

THE FIRST PRAYER - In this prayer revealed by God to blessed Birgitta, the glorious Virgin Mary is devoutly and beautifully praised for her holy conception and infancy, for all her virtuous acts and labors...
THE SECOND PRAYER - This prayer was revealed by God to blessed Birgitta. In it, by means of a painstakingly detailed narrative, Christ is beautifully and devoutly praised for his glorious incarnation; for all the actions, labors, and sorrows of his life and of his holy death...
THE THIRD PRAYER - In this prayer, revealed by God to blessed Birgitta, praise is given in a beautiful way to all the members of the most holy body of our Lord Jesus Christ...
THE FOURTH PRAYER - In this prayer, which was divinely revealed to blessed Birgitta, most devout and beautiful praise is given to all the members of the glorious body of the Virgin Mary...