VADSTENA. - Double monastery of St. Savior in the ancient diocese of Linköping in Östergötland in Sweden, founded in 1346 by St. Bridget (v.) in the time of King Magnus Eriksson. It was the mother house of the Bridgettine nuns. It was richly endowed by the popes Gregory XI (1370-71), Urban VI (1378-89) and Boniface IX (1389-1404).
The abbey church is of very simple architecture, devoid of decorations, according to the prescriptions of St. Bridget; it is divided into three naves by octagonal stone pillars; the presbytery is raised and is reached by means of six steps: on both sides of each of these rises an altar dedicated to an apostle with a corresponding statue. Along the sides of the nave ran a corridor with iron grilles, leading to the choir of the nuns; opposite was the choir of the brothers. On the high altar is preserved a retable by Jan Borman of Brussels. In the church there is a large crucifix carved in Lübeck ca. 1440, a statue of the Madonna and Child and one of St. Bridget executed by Hesse and Stenradt of Lübeck in 1459. Also displayed are some medieval fabrics and a gilded silver casket containing the relics of the Saint. Around the church there survive some parts of the ancient abbey transformed after the Reformation, which suppressed the group of dwellings that had gradually formed around it; not far away Gustav Vasa had the sumptuous castle of W. built, whose interior was decorated at the beginning of the 17th century and which has a monumental church. Since 1935 the Bridgettine nuns have returned to a part of the ancient monastery (v. ORDINE DEL SS. SALVATORE E DI S. BRIGIDA).
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Enrico Josi