Meet The Saint Who Shaped The Modern Nativity Scene
By: Beth Herman
December 24, 2025
Artists have been depicting the birth of Christ for centuries, but no one made the image warmer and more emotionally accessible than Saint Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373).
It’s a wonderful story: the beloved wife and mother of eight becomes a nun, then a saint, and forever transforms the visual iconography of Christmas. Canonized in 1391, Saint Bridget’s mystical visions of the Virgin and the Nativity had an enormous influence on medieval and Renaissance artists portraying the Holy Family. The impact of these visions can be seen in the work of artists of the current day.
Saint Bridget was born into a wealthy and well-connected Swedish family. Her mother died when she was 11. Two years later, her father arranged for her to be married to Ulf Gudmarsson, a young man of 18 who also came from a well-off and well-connected family. Together, they produced eight children. One daughter eventually became a saint as well, Catherine of Sweden, or Katarina of Vadstena.
In addition to her family, Bridget’s attentions were focused on the needy and less fortunate. She practiced works of charity, aiding the sick and helping girls who found themselves in less-than-honorable circumstances.
After her husband died in (1344/6), religious work became Bridget’s primary focus. As instructed in one of her visions, she founded the Order of the Most Holy Savior, also known as the Bridgettines, in 1344.
Bridget’s many visions were captured in a volume entitled Revelations or Liber celestis revelacionum (heavenly book of revelations) published originally in Latin in the late 1300s. The Library of Congress site describes the work as … “one of the most important and influential works of Swedish medieval literature.”
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https://thefederalist.com/2025/12/24/meet-the-saint-who-shaped-the-modern-nativity-scene/
