Catherine of Sweden, Saint

CATHERINE OF SWEDEN, Saint. - Daughter of the great Swedish saint, Bridget (v.), born in 1331 or 1332 and died on 24 March 1381. Very young she married Egard of Kurner, yet making a vow of chastity: when her husband died she became the inseparable companion of her mother, with whom she had already joined in 1349 on the journey to Rome. Together, in 1372, they went to Jerusalem. When, the following year, Bridget died in Rome, where she had returned,

C. accompanied her body to Sweden, assuming the leadership of the central house of the Brigittines, at Vadstena. In 1375 she was again in Rome, to promote the canonization of her mother and the confirmation of the Order founded by her: and in Rome she met, united with her in the defense of Urban VI, the other Catherine, the saint of Siena. In 1380 she returned to Sweden, dying there shortly afterwards.

An ascetical work of hers, Consolation of the Soul, has not come down to us. Sixtus IV permitted her feast to be celebrated on 24 March and Innocent VIII the translation of her relics. Julius II transferred her feast to 2 August and Leo X, with the brief of 21 March 1512, to 25 June « donec ad eius canonizationem deveniatur ». Her name was entered in the Roman Martyrology on 22 rather than 24 March through an error of Baronio.