NICHOLAS of Ermanno (Nils Hermansson, Lat. Nicolaus Hermanni), saint. — Swedish, born at Skåninge in 1326, died at Linköping on 2 May 1391; studied at Paris and Orléans, where he became doctor utriusque iuris. He was canon, then (1374) bishop of Linköping.
He was counsellor to St Bridget and tutor to her children; father of the poor and oppressed, steadfast supporter of the Church against kings Magnus, Håkan and Albert, defender of ecclesiastical celibacy, poet and liturgist. He worked for the canonization of St Bridget and received her body when it was brought from Rome to Wadstana. No confirmation exists of his canonization by John XXIII.
Attributed to him are a paraphrase of the Moralia of Gregory, some Revelations Brigittae, and the Birgittae officium, a collection of offices for various saints and for Bridget herself (among the latter the beautiful Rosa rorans bonitatem, stella stillans claritatem, Birgitta, vas gratiae! Rora coeli pietatem, stilla vitae puritatem, in vallem miseriae).