Swedish
saint Elisabeth Hesselblad (1857-1957) as a young woman
Sainte Marie-Elisabeth
Hesselblad
Religieuse suédoise de
l'ordre du Très Saint Sauveur (+ 1957)
Religieuse suédoise, elle fut une des pionnières de l’œcuménisme et restaura l'ordre du Très Saint Sauveur appelé aussi de Sainte Brigitte. Elle s'était dévouée pour les malades et c'est auprès d'eux qu'elle découvrit le sens de la croix au cœur de toute vie humaine, révélation ultime de l'amour du Père. Elle s'engagea pour la cause de l'Unité des chrétiens par la prière et le témoignage. Le pape Jean Paul II le souligna lors de sa béatification durant le jubilé 2000.
- Béatifiée le 9 avril 2000 - homélie de Jean-Paul II
"Ce n'est qu'en étant des 'spécialistes de l'esprit', comme le fut sainte Brigitte, que vous pourrez incarner fidèlement à notre époque le charisme d'esprit évangélique radical et d'unité, hérité de la bienheureuse Elisabeth Hesselblad. A travers l'hospitalité et l'accueil que vous offrez dans vos maisons, vous pourrez témoigner de l'amour miséricordieux de Dieu envers chaque homme et de l'aspiration à l'unité que le Christ a laissée à ses disciples."
Jean-Paul II - audience à l'Ordre du Très Saint Sauveur de Sainte-Brigitte - le 9 février 2004
- 4 juin 2016, canonisations d'un prêtre polonais et d'une religieuse suédoise
- Décret de canonisation signé le 15 mars 2016: le religieux polonais Stanislas de Jésus et Marie (1631-1701), un important représentant de l'école polonaise de spiritualité, et la religieuse suédoise Élisabeth Hesselblad (1870-1957), déclarée Juste parmi les nations en 2004 pour avoir caché des juifs à Rome durant la Seconde guerre mondiale.
- Promulgation de décrets du 15 décembre 2015 (en italien): miracle attribué à l'intercession de la bienheureuse Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad, religieuse suédoise fondatrice de l'ordre du St.Sauveur de Ste.Brigitte (1870 - 1957).
À Rome, en 1957, la bienheureuse Marie-Élisabeth Hesselblad, vierge. Née en
Suède, après une longue période passée à travailler dans un hôpital, elle
restaura l'Ordre du Très Saint Sauveur, fondé par sainte Brigitte, et porta
toute son attention à la contemplation, à la charité envers les pauvres et à
l'unité des chrétiens.
Martyrologe romain
HOMÉLIE DU PAPE JEAN PAUL
II
BEATIFICATION
Dimanche, 9 Avril 2000
1. "Seigneur,
nous voulons voir Jésus" (Jn 12, 21).
Telle est la requête
adressée à Philippe par plusieurs Grecs, montés à Jérusalem à l'occasion de la
Pâque. Leur désir de rencontrer Jésus et d'en écouter la parole suscite une
réponse solennelle: "Voici venue l'heure où doit être glorifié le
Fils de l'homme" (Jn 12, 23). Quelle est cette "heure" à
laquelle Jésus fait allusion? Le contexte l'éclaircit: c'est
l'"heure" mystérieuse et solennelle de sa mort et de sa résurrection.
Voir Jésus! Comme ce
groupe de Grecs, d'innombrables hommes et femmes au cours des siècles ont
désiré connaître le Seigneur. Ils l'ont vu avec les yeux de la foi. Ils l'ont
reconnu comme Messie, crucifié et ressuscité. Ils se sont laissés conquérir par
lui et sont devenus ses disciples fidèles. Ce sont les saints et les
bienheureux que l'Eglise indique comme modèles à imiter et exemples à suivre.
Dans le contexte des
célébrations de l'Année Sainte, j'ai aujourd'hui la joie d'élever à la gloire
des autels plusieurs nouveaux bienheureux. Il s'agit de cinq confesseurs de la
foi qui ont annoncé le Christ à travers la parole et qui l'ont témoigné à
travers le service incessant à leurs frères. Il s'agit de Mariano de Jésus Euse
Hoyos, prêtre diocésain et curé; de Franz Xaver Seelos, prêtre profès de la
Congrégation du Très Saint Rédempteur; de Anna Rosa Gattorno, veuve, fondatrice
de l'Institut des Filles de Sainte-Anne; de Marie Elisabeth Hesselblad,
fondatrice de l'Ordre des Soeurs du Très Saint Sauveur et de Mariam Thresia
Chiramel Mankidiyan, fondatrice de la Congrégation de la Sainte Famille en
Inde.
[en espagnol]
2. "Si
quelqu'un me sert, qu'il me suive, et où je suis, là aussi sera mon
serviteur" (Jn 12, 26), nous a dit Jésus dans l'Evangile que nous
venons d'entendre. Le Père Mariano de Jésus Euse Hoyos, Colombien, que j'élève
aujourd'hui à la gloire des autels, fut un disciple fidèle de Jésus-Christ en
exerçant avec abnégation son ministère sacerdotal. A partir de son expérience
intime de rencontre avec le Seigneur, le Père Marianito, comme on l'appelle
familièrement dans son pays, s'engagea inlassablement dans l'évangélisation des
enfants et des adultes, en particulier des paysans. Il ne s'épargna aucun
sacrifice ni aucune souffrance, oeuvrant pendant presque cinquante dans une
modeste paroisse d'Angostura, à Antioquia, à la gloire de Dieu et au bien des
âmes qui lui furent confiées.
Que son lumineux
témoignage de charité, de compréhension, de service, de solidarité et de pardon
soit un exemple en Colombie et également une aide appréciable pour continuer à
travailler à la paix et à la réconciliation totale dans ce pays bien-aimé. Si
la date du 9 avril d'il y a cinquante-deux ans marqua le début de violences et
de conflits, qui, hélas, durent encore, puisse ce jour de l'année du grand Jubilé
marquer le commencement d'une étape au cours de laquelle tous les Colombiens
construiront ensemble une nouvelle Colombie, fondée sur la paix, la justice
sociale, le respect de tous les droits humains et l'amour fraternel entre les
enfants d'une même patrie.
[en anglais]
"Rends-moi la joie de ton salut,
assure en moi un esprit magnanime. Aux pécheurs j'enseignerai tes voies, à toi
se rendront les égarés" (Ps 51, 14-15).
Fidèle à l'esprit et au charisme de la Congrégation des
Rédemptoristes auquel il appartenait, Père Franz Xaver Seelos méditait souvent
sur ces paroles du Psalmiste. Soutenu par la grâce de Dieu et par une intense
vie de prière, le Père Seelos quitta sa Bavière natale et
s'engagea généreusement et joyeusement dans l'apostolat missionnaire parmi les
communautés de migrants aux Etats-Unis.
Dans les divers lieux où
il travailla, le Père Franz Xaver apporta son enthousiasme, son esprit de
sacrifice et son zèle apostolique. Aux personnes abandonnées et
laissées-pour-compte, il prêcha le message de Jésus-Christ, "la source du
salut éternel" (He 5, 9), et au cours des heures passées au
confessionnal, il convainquit de nombreuses personnes de retourner à Dieu.
Aujourd'hui, le bienheureux Franz Xaver Seelos invite les membres de l'Eglise à
approfondir leur union avec le Christ dans les Sacrements de la Pénitence et de
l'Eucharistie. A travers son intercession, puissent tous ceux qui travaillent
dans la vigne de Dieu pour le salut de son peuple, être encouragés et renforcés
dans leur tâche.
[en italien]
4. "Et moi, une
fois élevé de terre, - Jésus a-t-il promis dans l'Evangile - j'attirerai tous
les hommes à moi" (Jn 12, 32). En effet, ce sera du haut de la Croix
que Jésus révélera au monde l'amour infini de Dieu pour l'humanité qui a besoin
de salut. Attirée irrésistiblement par cet amour, Anna Rosa Gattorno transforma
sa vie en une immolation permanente pour la conversion des pécheurs et la
sanctification de tous les hommes. Etre le "porte-parole" de Jésus,
pour faire parvenir partout le message de l'amour qui sauve: voilà
l'aspiration la plus profonde de son coeur!
Entièrement dévouée à la
Providence et animée par un élan courageux de charité, la bienheureuse Anna
Rosa Gattorno eut une unique intention, celle de servir Jésus dans les membres
douloureux et blessés de son prochain, avec sensibilité et attention maternelle
envers chaque souffrance humaine.
Le témoignage de charité
singulier laissé par la nouvelle bienheureuse,
constitue encore aujourd'hui un encouragement stimulant pour ceux qui sont
engagés dans l'Eglise à apporter, de façon plus spécifique, l'annonce de
l'amour de Dieu qui guérit les blessures de chaque coeur et qui offre à tous la
plénitude de la vie immortelle.
[en anglais]
5. "Et moi, une
fois élevé de terre, j'attirerai tous les hommes à moi" (Jn 12, 32).
La promesse de Jésus est merveilleusement remplie dans la vie de Marie
Elisabeth Hesselblad. Comme sa compatriote, sainte Brigitte, elle acquit
également une profonde compréhension de la sagesse de la Croix à travers la
prière et dans les événements de sa vie. Son expérience, très précoce, de
pauvreté, son contact avec les malades qui l'impressionnaient par leur sérénité
et leur confiance en l'aide de Dieu, et sa persévérance, en dépit des nombreux
obstacles, pour fonder l'Ordre du Très Saint Sauveur de Sainte-Brigitte, lui
enseigna que la Croix est au centre de la vie humaine, et est la révélation
ultime de l'amour de notre Père céleste. En méditant constamment sur la Parole
de Dieu, soeur Elisabeth fut confirmée dans sa résolution d'oeuvrer et de prier
pour que tous les chrétiens ne soient qu'un (cf. Jn 17, 21).
Elle fut convaincue qu'en
écoutant la voix du Christ crucifié, ils se réuniraient en un seul troupeau
sous un seul pasteur (cf. Jn 10, 16), et dès le début, sa fondation,
caractérisée par sa spiritualité eucharistique et mariale, s'engagea pour la
cause de l'unité chrétienne à travers la prière et le témoignage évangélique. A
travers l'intercession de la bienheureuse Marie
Elisabeth Hesselblad, pionnière de l'oecuménisme, puisse Dieu bénir et
porter à maturation les efforts de l'Eglise pour édifier une communion toujours
plus profonde et encourager une coopération toujours plus efficace entre tous
les disciples du Christ: ut unum sint.
6. "Si le grain
de blé tombé en terre ne meurt pas, il demeure seul; mais s'il meurt, il porte
beaucoup de fruit" (Jn 12, 24). Depuis l'enfance, Mariam Thresia
Mankidiyan savait instinctivement que l'amour de Dieu pour elle exigeait une
profonde purification personnelle. En s'engageant dans une vie de prière et de
pénitence, la volonté de soeur Mariam Thresia d'embrasser la Croix du Christ
lui permit de demeurer fidèle face aux fréquentes incompréhensions et aux dures
épreuves spirituelles.
Le discernement patient
de sa vocation la conduisit finalement à fonder la Congrégation de la Sainte
Famille, qui continue de puiser son inspiration de son esprit contemplatif et
de son amour des pauvres.
Convaincue que "Dieu
donnera la vie éternelle à ceux qui convertissent les pécheurs et les mettent
sur le droit chemin" (Lettre 4 à son Père spirituel), soeur Mariam se
consacra à cette tâche à travers ses visites et ses conseils ainsi que ses
prières et sa pratique pénitentielle. A travers l'intercession de la
bienheureuse Mariam Thresia, puissent tous les hommes et les femmes consacrées
être renforcés dans leur vocation de prier pour les pécheurs et d'attirer les
autres au Christ à travers leurs paroles et leur exemple.
[en italien]
7. "Alors je
serai leur Dieu et eux seront mon peuple" (Jr 31, 33). Dieu est notre
unique Seigneur et nous sommes son peuple. Ce pacte d'amour indissoluble entre
Dieu et l'humanité s'est réalisé pleinement dans le sacrifice pascal du Christ.
C'est en Lui que, bien qu'appartenant à des terres et des cultures différentes,
nous devenons un unique peuple, une seule Eglise, un même édifice spirituel,
dont les saints sont les pierres lumineuses et solides.
Nous rendons grâce au
Seigneur pour le splendide témoignage de ces nouveaux bienheureux. Nous nous
tournons vers eux, en particulier en ce temps de Carême, pour en tirer un encouragement
dans la préparation aux prochaines célébrations pascales.
Que Marie, Reine des
Confesseurs, nous aide à suivre son divin Fils, comme l'ont fait les nouveaux
bienheureux. Et vous, Mariano de Jésus Euse Hoyos, Franz Xaver Seelos, Anna
Rosa Gattorno, Marie Elisabeth Hesselblad, et Mariam Thresa Chiramel
Mankidiyan, intercédez pour nous, afin que, en participant
intimement à la Passion rédemptrice du Christ, nous
puissions vivre la fécondité de la semence qui meurt et être accueillis comme
sa moisson dans le Royaume des cieux.
Amen!
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Lundi 9 février 2004
Chères Soeurs!
1. Votre visite
aujourd'hui est pour moi un motif de grande joie et je vous accueille avec
plaisir, alors que le IX Chapitre général de votre Ordre du Très Saint Sauveur
de Sainte-Brigitte touche à son terme. Avec vous sont rassemblées en esprit, autour
du Successeur de Pierre, vos consoeurs qui travaillent dans divers pays du
monde. A toutes et à chacune, j'envoie mon plus cordial salut.
Je salue en particulier
avec affection l'Abbesse générale, Mère Tekla Famiglietti, qui a été
reconfirmée pour six années supplémentaires. En la remerciant pour les
sentiments exprimés dans l'hommage qu'elle m'a adressé, je lui présente, ainsi
qu'au nouveau Conseil général, mes voeux pour un travail fructueux au service
de la Famille "brigidine" de grand mérite, qui s'est développée au
cours des dernières années et qui s'est enrichie de nouvelles oeuvres et
activités. Je rends grâce à Dieu avec vous pour ce développement apostolique
réconfortant et pour la floraison prometteuse de vocations.
2. "Revenir aux
racines... pour un renouveau de la vie religieuse": tel est le thème
sur lequel vous avez voulu réfléchir au cours de l'Assemblée capitulaire. Dans
un climat de silence et de prière, vous vous êtes placées à l'écoute de
l'Esprit Saint afin de discerner les priorités de votre Ordre de nos jours.
Tout renouveau authentique demande de retrouver avec sagesse l'esprit des
origines, de façon à traduire le charisme de fondation par des choix
apostoliques en harmonie avec les exigences des temps. C'est pourquoi, fidèles
à la vocation monastique particulière qui caractérise la famille brigidine,
vous avez eu le souci de réaffirmer le primat absolu que Dieu doit occuper dans
l'existence de chacune de vous et de vos communautés. Vous êtes tout d'abord
appelées à être des "spécialistes de l'esprit", c'est-à-dire des âmes
enflammées par l'amour divin, contemplatives et constamment consacrées à la
prière.
3. Ce n'est qu'en
étant des "spécialistes de l'esprit", comme le fut sainte Brigitte,
que vous pourrez incarner fidèlement à notre époque le charisme d'esprit
évangélique radical et d'unité, hérité de la bienheureuse Elisabeth Hesselblad.
A travers l'hospitalité et l'accueil que vous offrez dans vos maisons, vous
pourrez témoigner de l'amour miséricordieux de Dieu envers chaque homme et de
l'aspiration à l'unité que le Christ a laissée à ses disciples.
Dans la Lettre
apostolique Novo
millennio ineunte, j'ai écrit que le grand défi du troisième millénaire est
de "faire de l'Eglise la maison et l'école de la communion" et que,
dans ce but, il faut "promouvoir une spiritualité de communion" (cf.
n. 43). Chères soeurs, je vous demande d'être partout les artisans inlassables
du "grand oecuménisme de la sainteté". Votre action oecuménique est
particulièrement appréciée, car elle concerne les pays du Nord de l'Europe, où
la présence des catholiques est moins nombreuse et la promotion du
dialogue avec les frères des autres confessions chrétiennes importante.
Que la Vierge Marie, Mère
du Christ et de l'Eglise, veille sur votre Ordre et que sainte Brigitte et la
bienheureuse Elisabeth Hesselblad intercèdent pour vous. Pour ma part, je vous
accompagne de mon souvenir quotidien dans le Seigneur, alors que je vous bénis
de tout coeur, ainsi que toutes vos communautés.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
24 Avril
Bse Marie-Élisabeth
Hesselblad.
En 1957
la bienheureuse Née en Suède, luthérienne, elle comprend que la
croix est au centre de la vie humaine, elle est révélation ultime de l'amour de
notre Père céleste. Elle se convertit au catholicisme et se rend à Rome, où
elle entre au carmel. Elle vit d'une spiritualité eucharistique et mariale et
d'un grand amour de l'Église. Pionnière de l'oecuménisme, son oeuvre et son
charisme rappellent aux chrétiens d'Europe les racines évangéliques uniques de
leur culture et de leur civilisation. Elle était convaincue qu'en écoutant la
voix du Christ crucifié, les Chrétiens se réuniraient en un seul troupeau sous
un seul pasteur (Cf. Jn 10,16). Elle meurt en 1957 à l'âge de 87 ans.
SOURCE : https://www.abbaye-tamie.com/archives/martyrolog/avril/j24/marie-elisabeth-hesselblad
Homélie du pape François
lors de la Messe de canonisation de Saint Stanislas de Jésus Marie Papczyński
& Sainte Marie Élisabeth Hesselblad
Sel et Lumière
dimanche 5 juin 2016
La Parole de Dieu que
nous avons écoutée nous reconduit à l’événement central de la foi : la victoire
de Dieu sur la souffrance et sur la mort. C’est l’Évangile de l’espérance
jaillissant du Mystère pascal du Christ ; il irradie à partir de son visage qui
révèle Dieu le Père, consolateur des affligés. C’est une Parole qui nous appelle
à demeurer intimement unis à la passion de notre Seigneur Jésus, afin que se
manifeste en nous la puissance de sa résurrection.
En effet, dans la Passion
du Christ, il y a la réponse de Dieu au cri angoissé, et parfois indigné, que
l’expérience de la souffrance et de la mort suscite en nous. Il s’agit de ne
pas échapper de la Croix, mais de rester là, comme l’a fait la Vierge Mère, qui
en souffrant avec Jésus a reçu la grâce d’espérer contre toute espérance (cf.
Rm 4, 18).
Cela a aussi été
l’expérience de Stanislas de Jésus Marie et de Marie Élisabeth Hesselblad, qui
sont aujourd'hui proclamés saints : ils sont restés intimement unis à la
passion de Jésus et la puissance de sa résurrection s’est manifestée en eux.
La première lecture et
l’évangile de ce dimanche nous présentent justement deux signes prodigieux de
résurrection : le premier opéré par le prophète Elie, le second par Jésus.
Dans les deux cas, les morts sont de très jeunes fils de femmes veuves qui sont
rendus vivants à leurs mères.
La veuve de Sarepta – une
femme non juive, qui cependant avait accueilli dans sa maison le prophète Elie
– s’est indignée contre le prophète et contre Dieu parce que, justement pendant
qu’Elie était son hôte, son enfant était tombé malade et avait à présent expiré
dans ses bras. Alors Elie dit à cette femme : « Donne-moi ton fils ! » (1 R17,
19). Voilà un mot-clé : il exprime l’attitude de Dieu devant notre mort (sous
toutes ses formes) ; il ne dit pas : « Garde-le, arrange-toi ! », mais il dit :
« Donne-le moi ». Et en effet, le prophète prend l’enfant et le porte dans la
chambre à l’étage supérieur, et là, seul, dans la prière, « il lutte avec Dieu
», le mettant devant l’absurdité de cette mort. Et le Seigneur écoute la voix
d’Elie, parce qu’en réalité c’était Lui, Dieu, qui parlait et agissait à
travers le prophète. C’était lui qui, par la bouche d’Elie, avait dit à la
femme : « Donne- moi ton fils ». Et maintenant c’était Lui qui le rendait
vivant à sa mère.
La tendresse de Dieu se
révèle pleinement en Jésus. Nous avons entendu dans l’Évangile (Lc 7, 11-17)
comme il a été saisi de compassion (cf. v. 13) pour cette veuve de Naïm, en Galilée,
qui accompagnait son fils unique, encore adolescent, pour l’enterrer. Mais
Jésus s’approche, touche le cercueil, arrête le cortège funèbre, et il aura
certainement caressé le visage baigné de larmes de cette pauvre maman. « Ne
pleure pas ! », lui dit-il (Lc 7, 13). Comme s’il lui demandait : « Donne-moi
ton fils ». Jésus demande pour lui notre mort, afin de nous en libérer et de
nous redonner la vie. En effet ce jeune s’est réveillé comme d’un sommeil
profond et il a recommencé à parler. Et Jésus « le rendit à sa mère » (v. 15).
Il n’est pas un magicien ! Il est la tendresse de Dieu incarnée ; en lui opère
l’immense compassion du Père.
Que l’apôtre Paul
d’ennemi et persécuteur féroce des chrétiens devienne témoin et héraut de
l’Évangile (cf. Ga 1, 13-17) est aussi une espèce de résurrection. Ce changement
radical n’a pas été son œuvre personnelle mais un don de la miséricorde de
Dieu, qui l’« a mis à part » et l’« a appelé dans sa grâce » et a voulu révéler
« en lui » son Fils pour qu’il annonce ce Fils parmi les nations (vv. 15-16).
Paul dit qu’il a plu à Dieu le Père de révéler le Fils non seulement à lui mais
aussi en lui, c’est-à-dire en imprimant dans sa personne, chair et esprit, la
mort et la résurrection du Christ. Ainsi l’apôtre sera non seulement un
messager, mais avant tout un témoin.
Et de même, avec les
pécheurs, pris un à un, Jésus ne se lasse pas de faire resplendir la victoire
de la grâce qui donne vie. Il dit à la Mère Église : « Donne-moi tes enfants »,
que nous sommes tous. Il prend sur lui nos péchés, les enlève et il nous
redonne vivants à l’Église même. Et cela advient d’une manière spéciale durant
cette Année Sainte de la Miséricorde.
Aujourd’hui, l’Église
nous montre deux de ses enfants qui sont des témoins exemplaires de ce mystère
de résurrection. Les deux peuvent chanter dans l’éternité avec les paroles du
Psalmiste : « Tu as changé mon deuil en une danse, / sans fin, Seigneur, mon
Dieu, je te rendrai grâce » (Ps 30, 12). Et tous ensemble nous nous unissons en
disant : « Je t’exalte, Seigneur : tu m’as relevé » (Refrain du Psaume
responsorial).
Bienheureuse Marie
Elizabeth HESSELBLAD
Nom: HESSELBLAD
Prénom: Marie Élizabeth
Nom de religion: Marie
Élizabeth
Pays: Suède - Italie
Naissance:
04.06.1870 à Fâglavik (Suède)
Mort:
24.04.1957 à Rome
Etat: Religieuse -
Fondatrice
Note: Luthérienne. Émigre
à 18 ans aux Etats-Unis. Se convertit (1902). 1904 à Rome s'installe au couvent
de Ste-Brigitte de Suède. Vœux en 1906. 1911 fonde l'ordre du Très St-Sauveur
et de Ste Brigitte pour prier pour l'union des chrétiens.
Béatification:
09.04.2000 à Rome par Jean Paul II
Canonisation:
Fête: 24 avril
Réf. dans l’Osservatore
Romano: 2000 n.15 p.1-2 – n.16 p.4
Réf. dans la
Documentation Catholique:
Notice
Marie Élizabeth
Hesselblad naît en 1870 à Fâglavik en Suède, cinquième d'une famille de treize
enfants, et reçoit le baptême dans l'Église luthérienne. Elle fait une
expérience précoce de la pauvreté; à 18 ans, elle émigre aux Etats-Unis dans le
but de soutenir financièrement sa famille. Elle travaille comme infirmière à
l'hôpital Roosevelt de New York. Les malades catholiques l'impressionnent par
leur sérénité et leur confiance en l'aide de Dieu. Elle comprend que la croix
est au centre de la vie humaine; elle est révélation ultime de l'amour de notre
Père céleste. Sa recherche de la vérité ainsi que sa dévotion à la Mère du
Rédempteur la conduisent peu à peu vers l'Église catholique. En 1900, elle
assiste à une procession du "Corpus Christi" et, à cette occasion,
elle entend une voix intérieure qui lui dit: "Je suis celui que tu
cherches". Elle est baptisée en 1902 au couvent de la Visitation, à
Washington. Ensuite elle est confirmée à Rome et comprend clairement qu'elle
doit consacrer sa vie à l'unité des Chrétiens. Elle est convaincue qu'en
écoutant la voix du Christ crucifié, les chrétiens se réuniraient en un seul
troupeau sous un seul pasteur (Cf Jn 10,16). En 1904, elle entre au couvent de
Sainte-Brigitte de Suède, à Rome. Ce couvent est un carmel, mais bientôt elle
obtient une permission spéciale du Pape Pie X pour revêtir l'habit des
Brigittines. En 1911, elle reconstitue l'"Ordre du Très Saint-Sauveur et
de Sainte-Brigitte" à Rome, puis en Suède, en 1923. Elle insuffle à ses
filles sa spiritualité eucharistique et mariale, et son amour de l'Église. Sa
charité concrète s'exprime au cours de la Deuxième Guerre mondiale en secourant
de nombreuses personnes en difficulté, parmi lesquelles de nombreux juifs. Son
couvent est rempli de réfugiés, mais malgré sa mauvaise santé et les
difficultés matérielles, elle fait confiance à la Providence. Elle meurt en
1957 à l'âge de 87 ans.
Pionnière de
l'œcuménisme, son œuvre et son charisme rappellent aux chrétiens d'Europe les
racines évangéliques uniques de leur culture et de leur civilisation. Le 11
avril 2000, des luthériens assistaient à sa béatification.
La religieuse suédoise Marie-Elisabeth Hesselblad, « juste parmi les Nations »
En présence de survivants de la shoah
JUIN 07, 2005 00:00ZENIT STAFFEGLISES LOCALES ROME,
Mardi 7 juin 2005 (ZENIT.org) – La religieuse suédoise Marie Elisabeth
Hesselblad, fondatrice de l’ordre du Saint Sauveur et de Sainte Brigitte, est
proclamée « Juste parmi les Nations » par le Mémorial de « Yad Vashem » (www.yadvashem.org):
un motif d’espérance, souligne Benoît XVI. Le cardinal Angelo Sodano,
secrétaire d’Etat a en effet adressé au nom du pape un télégramme à l’occasion
de la remise, à titre posthume, de cette de reconnaissance de l’institut Yad
va-Shem de Jérusalem aux personnes qui, tout en n’étant pas juives, ont
contribué à sauver des vies pendant la persécution nazie et la shoah. Le site
Internet de Yad va-Shem signalait, au 1er janviuer 2005 dix citoyens suédois
ayant reçu cette reconnaissance, dont le plus connu est Raoul Wallenberg. La
salutation du pape a été lue vendredi dernier au palais romain de la
chancellerie – territoire du Vatican – par Mgr Leonardo Sandri, substitut de la
secrétairerie d’Etat, lors de la rencontre modérée par le président de la communauté
juive de Rome, M. Leone Paserman. Le pape souhaite que cette récompense
encourage les efforts pour « promouvoir les valeurs de la paix et de la
solidarité ». Cette reconnaissance a été remise, en présence du maire de Rome,
M. Walter Veltroni, par le conseiller de l’ambassade d’Israël en Italie, Shai
Cohen, à la nièce de la bienheureuse, Mme Britten Hesselblad Hede, et à
l’abbesse générale actuelle de la congrégation, Mère Tekla Famiglietti. La
présence la plus émouvante était celle de M. Piero Piperno, une des personnes
sauvées par Mère Hesselblad, qui cachait les juifs persécutés dans le couvent
des sœurs à Rome, place Farnèse. Les deux familles romaines Piperno et Sed, qui
s’étaient déplacées de lieu en lieu pour échapper à l’occupant nazi, décidèrent,
après le 8 septembre 1943, de revenir à Rome et se réfugièrent au couvent de
Sainte Brigitte. La bienheureuse Marie Elisabeth leur fit voir où ils pouvaient
se réfugier d’urgence en cas de descente de police et elle veilla à ce que
personne ne les contraigne à assister aux prières des sœurs. « Mère Elisabeth
nous a restitué notre dignité en nous accueillant et en respectant en tout
notre vie et notre religion », a affirmé Piero Piperno. Il ajoutait: « Nous
avons cherché désespérément un refuge à ce couvent en nous présentant avec des
faux papiers. Mais ma mère a ensuite révélé notre identité à la bienheureuse
Elisabeth et son hospitalité, qui était bonne, devint encore meilleure ». Le
rabbin Abramo Alberto Piattelli a cité entre autres cette phrase du Talmud qui
affirme: « Qui sauve une vie sauve le monde ». Pour Mgr Sandri, « si, dans la
vision chrétienne, la loi suprême et la norme fondamentale est l’amour du
prochain, à quelque peuple ou race qu’il appartienne, tout ceci acquiert une
valeur encore plus dense et profonde vis à vis de nos frères juifs, qui ont
reçu les mêmes dons de la révélation et de l’alliance divine et sont
dépositaires des mêmes promesses ». Mère Tekla a reconnu comme « surprenant à
première vue que les autorités d’Israël aient pensé à conférer une
reconnaissance si prezstigieuse et si significative à une femme suédoise
convertie au catholicisme et devenue religieuse et fondatrice d’un ordre
religieux ». « Toutefois, disait-elle, au-delà des appartenances sociales et
religieuses, on compprend par cette reconnaissance honorifique la conscience du
caractère central de la personne humaine, la haute et indéniable valeur de tout
être humain, et de sa vie comme un droit et un devoir à défendre, promouvoir et
développer ». Religieuse suédoise, fondatrice de l’Ordre du Très Saint Sauveur,
dit de « Sainte-Brigitte », Marie Elisabeth Hesselblad (1870-1957) a été
béatifiée à Rome pendant le Grand Jubilé de l’An 2000, le 9 avril, comme une
pionnière de l’œcuménisme. Luthérienne, elle avait ensuite embrassé la foi
catholique et elle avait commencé son apostolat au service des malades. « Comme
sa compatriote, sainte Brigitte, disait le pape à cette occasion, elle acquit
également une profonde compréhension de la sagesse de la Croix à travers la prière
et dans les événements de sa vie. Son expérience, très précoce, de pauvreté,
son contact avec les malades qui l’impressionnaient par leur sérénité et leur
confiance en l’aide de Dieu, et sa persévérance, en dépit des nombreux
obstacles, pour fonder l’Ordre du Très Saint Sauveur de Sainte-Brigitte, lui
enseigna que la Croix est au centre de la vie humaine, et est la révélation
ultime de l’amour de notre Père céleste ».
La religieuse suédoise Marie-Elisabeth Hesselblad,
« juste parmi les Nations » | ZENIT - Français
SAINTE MARIE-ELISABETH
HESSELBLAD RELIGIEUSE SUÉDOISE DE L'ORDRE DU TRÈS SAINT SAUVEUR
Elisabeth est née à
Faglavik, en Suède, en 1870, dans une famille où la foi luthérienne est une
réalité concrète, vécue quotidiennement. Dès l’école primaire, observatrice
astucieuse, elle voit ses camarades de classe professer les religions
chrétiennes les plus diverses et se rend compte qu’il ne devrait pas en être
ainsi; elle commence alors à sa manière à chercher l’unique Vérité.
"L’unique
enclos"
Comme cela ressortira de
ses écrits autobiographiques, Elizabeth est frappée très tôt par une phrase du
Nouveau Testament où est évoqué l’unique enclos dans lequel le Seigneur, bon
pasteur, reconduira toutes les brebis. Se baladant à travers la nature sans
limites et puissante de son pays, elle se demande ce qu’est cet unique enclos.
Sans se décourager face à toutes ces questions sans réponse, elle reçoit comme
un don de Dieu grande chaleur et force. Elle entend aussi une voix qui lui fait
une promesse : un jour, elle découvrira ce qu’est cet unique enclos. A sentir
le Seigneur si proche, Elizabeth se calme.
À New York comme
infirmière
À 18 ans, Elisabeth décide
d’émigrer à New York pour aider financièrement sa famille. Elle commence ainsi
à travailler comme infirmière à l’hôpital Roosevelt, et le contact quotidien
avec la souffrance et la maladie la touche profondément. Un épisode remontant à
cette période est raconté dans sa biographie et qui montre combien la future
Sainte était touchée par la grâce. Une nuit, par une mésaventure, elle reste
enfermée dans la morgue de l’hôpital, alors elle décide de passer du temps à
prier à côté de chaque corps. Agenouillée à côté de celle d’un homme,
cependant, elle semble percevoir comme un souffle, bien que faible. Sur la
fiche est écrit qu’il est mort d’une crise cardiaque, mais Elizabeth sent que
le souffle, plus fort et plus clair. Bonne infirmière, elle sait que le corps
ainsi entre la vie et la mort a besoin de chaleur pour reprendre vie, alors
elle met sur lui ses vêtements. Le lendemain, on la trouvera ainsi, priant à
côté d’un jeune homme qui a repris vie.
Le retour en Europe comme
catholique
Aux États-Unis, Elisabeth a comme père spirituel le jésuite Johann Hagen: c’est grâce à lui qu’elle embrasse définitivement la foi catholique se faisant baptisée le jour de la fête de l’Assomption en 1902. En Europe, elle retournera donc comme catholique, d’abord dans sa famille en Suède, puis à Rome, dans la maison qui avait été celle de Sainte Brigitte et qui est maintenant occupée par les Carmélites. Là, avec une permission spéciale du pape Pie X, elle prend l’habit des sœurs de Sainte Brigitte et approfondit la spiritualité de cet Institut originaire de sa terre natale. Elle comprend donc sa vocation : la refondation de l’Ordre en réponse aux exigences de l’époque, mais aussi dans la fidélité à la tradition de nature contemplative et à la célébration solennelle de la liturgie. Nous sommes en 1911.
La refondation de l’ordre de Sainte Brigitte
Désormais, Elizabeth, qui
a ajouté à son nom celui de Marie, travaille à ramener l’Ordre de Sainte
Brigitte en Suède; elle réussit en 1923 à Djursholm, et finalement à Vadstena
en 1935. Sa vie est une vie de charité laborieuse pour tous, en particulier les
nécessiteux et les plus faibles : pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, avec ses
sœurs, elle donnera refuge à de nombreux Juifs persécutés, transformant sa
maison en lieu de distribution de nourriture et de vêtements pour ceux qui
n’ont rien. Fatiguée physiquement, mais pas dans l’âme, Marie Elizabeth mourut
à Rome en 1957. C’est là qu’elle est béatifiée lors du Grand Jubilé de 2000 et
canonisée par le pape François en 2016.
Cette belle prière écrite
de sa propre main, Marie Elizabeth l’a remise à sa grand-mère avant de
retourner aux États-Unis en 1903 :
"Je t’adore, grand prodige du ciel,
qui me donne de la nourriture spirituelle en habit terrestre!
Tu me consoles dans mes moments sombres.
Quand toute autre espérance pour moi s’éteint!
Au Cœur de Jésus près de la rampe de l’autel
Éternellement dans l’amour, je serai liée."
Le pape canonise une
Juste parmi les nations suédoise
Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad
avait caché 60 juifs pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale dans son couvent de
Rome
Par AFP6 juin 2016,
09:58
Le pape François a
canonisé dimanche la religieuse suédoise Marie Elisabeth Hesselblad
(1870-1957), luthérienne convertie au catholicisme, près de cinq mois avant la
visite œcuménique qu’il effectuera dans ce pays scandinave.
La ministre de la Culture
Alice Bah-Kuhnke et quelque 250 pèlerins catholiques suédois étaient présents
sur la place Saint-Pierre.
Marie Elisabeth
Hesselblad, restauratrice de la congrégation des « brigittines », est
née en 1870 au sein d’une famille luthérienne de 13 enfants. Elle part très
jeune travailler aux Etats-Unis pour soutenir financièrement sa famille, comme
de nombreux paysans suédois, et travaille à New York comme infirmière.
En 1902, elle se
convertit au catholicisme et reçoit le baptême. Arrivée à Rome deux ans plus
tard, elle entre chez les carmélites où elle prend, avec une permission
spéciale du pape Pie X, l’habit des « brigittines », l’ordre fondé
par la Suédoise sainte Brigitte en 1363, un siècle et demi avant la naissance
de la Réforme.
Elisabeth Hesselblad a
reconstitué l’ordre à Rome en 1911, et en Suède en 1923, avec un grand souci
constant de l’unité des chrétiens. Elle meurt à Rome en 1957, à l’âge de 87
ans.
C’est le pape Jean-Paul
II qui avait lancé le processus conduisant à sa canonisation. Béatifiée en
avril 2000, elle fut déclarée « Juste parmi les Nations » en 2004
pour avoir sauvé 60 juifs pendant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, à Rome.
François effectuera, le
31 octobre et le 1er novembre, une visite en Suède, pays très sécularisé, où il
participera, à Lund, à l’invitation de la Fédération luthérienne mondiale, à
une commémoration œcuménique pour le prochain 500e anniversaire de la Réforme
protestante de Martin Luther, qui sera célébré en 2017.
La canonisation
d’Elisabeth Hesselblad a une portée limitée en Suède, pays de 150 000
catholiques seulement.
La cérémonie a été
néanmoins retransmise en direct sur la 2e chaîne publique SVT2 et la principale
chaîne privée TV4.
Dimanche matin, le pape a
également canonisé le père Jan Papczyński, en religion Stanislas de Jésus et
Marie (1631-1701), considéré quant à lui comme un éminent représentant de
l’école polonaise de spiritualité.
SOURCE : https://fr.timesofisrael.com/le-pape-canonise-une-juste-parmi-les-nations-suedoise/
Panorama
of St. Peter's Square, Vatican City, during the Canonization Mass of Elisabeth
Hesselblad and Stanisław Papczyński on the morning of 2016 June 05, celebrated
by Pope Francis.
Saint Mary Elizabeth
Hesselblad
Also
known as
Maria Elizabetta
Hesselblad
4
June on some calendars
Profile
Fifth of thirteen children born
to Augusto Roberto Hesselblad and Cajsa Pettesdotter Dag. Raised in
the Reformed Church of Sweden. Due to economic hard times, the family
moved regularly.
Emigrated to
New York at age 18 to seek work to support her family back in Sweden. Studied nursing at
Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hospital where she worked as a nurse from 1888;
did home care for the sick and aged.
Her work took her into the large Catholic population
of New York; her interest in the Church grew,
and she came to see it as the place closest to Christ. She converted to Catholicism,
received conditional baptism on 15
August 1902 by
the Jesuit priest Giovani
Hagen at Washington.
Pilgrim to Rome, Italy in
late 1902,
receiving Confirmation there.
She returned briefly to New York, but then sailed back
to Rome to
start a religious
life. Settled at the Carmelite House
of Saint Bridget of Sweden on 25
March 1904.
In 1906 she
got permission from Pope Pius
X to take the habit of
the Brigittines (Order
of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget).
She worked to restore
the Order in Sweden and Italy,
especially in Rome.
She returned to her homeland in 1923,
ministered to the poor,
and tried to revitalize the Brigittine movement
there. Received control of Rome‘s Brigittine house
and church in 1931.
Established Brigittine foundations
in India in 1937.
Saved Jews and others persecuted by the Nazis by giving them refuge in Rome;
in 2004 she
was recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the Righteous Among the
Nations for this work.
Born
4
June 1870 at
Faglavik, Alvsborg province, Sweden
24
April 1957 in Rome, Italy of
natural causes
26
March 1999 by Pope John
Paul II
9
April 2000 by Pope John
Paul II
beatification celebrated
in Saint
Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
canonization celebrated
in Saint
Peter’s Square, Vatican City, Rome, Italy
the canonization miracle involved
the healing of
a two-year-old child from
“extrinsic bulb-medullary compression following neurosurgical removal of
cerebellar desmoplastic medulloblastoma” in 2005 in
the diocese of Santa
Clara, Cuba through
the intercession of Saint Mary
Elizabeth
Additional
Information
other
sites in english
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
fonti
in italiano
Dicastero delle Cause dei Santi
Readings
In an instant the love of
God was poured over me. I understood that I could respond to that love only
through sacrifice and a love prepared to suffer for His glory and for the
Church. Without hesitation I offered Him my life, and my will to follow Him on
the Way of the Cross. – Blessed Maria,
reflecting on her baptism into
Catholicism
Dear Lord, I do not ask
to see the path. In darkness, in anguish and in fear, I will hang on tightly to
your hand, and I will close my eyes, so that you know how much trust I place in
you, Spouse of my soul. – Blessed Maria
The Lord has called us
from different nations, but we must be united with one heart and one soul. In
the divine Heart of Jesus we will always meet one another and there we seek our
strength to face the difficulties of life. May we be strengthened to practice
the beautiful virtues of charity, humility and patience. Then our religious
life will be the antechamber to Heaven. – Blessed Maria
Our religious houses must
be formed after the example of Nazareth: prayer,
work, sacrifice. The human heart can aspire to nothing greater. – Blessed Maria
We must nourish a great
love for God and our neighbors; a strong love, an ardent love, a love that
burns away imperfections, a love that gently bears an act of impatience, or a
bitter word, a love that lets an inadvertence or act of neglect pass without
comment, a love that lends itself readily to an act of charity. – Blessed Maria
MLA
Citation
“Saint Mary Elizabeth
Hesselblad“. CatholicSaints.Info. 22 January 2023. Web. 23 April 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mary-elizabeth-hesselblad/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/saint-mary-elizabeth-hesselblad/
HOMILY OF THE HOLY FATHER
BEATIFICATION OF 5
SERVANTS OF GOD
Sunday, 9 April 2000
1. "We wish to
see Jesus" (Jn 12: 21).
This is the request made
to Philip by some Greeks who went up to Jerusalem for the Passover. Their
desire to meet Jesus and to hear his word prompts a solemn response:
"The hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified" (Jn 12: 23).
What is this "hour" to which Jesus refers? The context explains
it: it is the mysterious and solemn "hour" of his Death and
Resurrection.
To see Jesus! Like that
group of Greeks, countless men and women down the centuries have
desired to know the Lord. They have seen him with the eyes of faith. They have
recognized him as the crucified and risen Messiah. They have let themselves be
won over by him and have become his faithful disciples. They are the saints and
blesseds whom the Church holds up to us as models to imitate and examples to
follow.
In the context of the
Holy Year celebrations, today I have the joy of raising several new blesseds to
the glory of the altars. They are five confessors of the faith who proclaimed
Christ in word and bore witness to him in continual service to their brethren.
They are Mariano de Jesús Euse Hoyos, a diocesan parish priest; Francis Xavier
Seelos, a professed priest of the Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer; Anna
Rosa Gattorno, a widow, foundress of the Institute of the Daughters of St Anne;
Mary Elisabeth Hesselblad, foundress of the Order of the Sisters of the Most
Holy Saviour; and Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, foundress of the
Congregation of the Holy Family in India.
2. "If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there shall my
servant be also" (Jn 12: 26), Jesus told us in the Gospel we
just heard. A faithful follower of Jesus Christ in the self-sacrificing
exercise of the priestly ministry, Fr Mariano de Jesús Euse Hoyos, a Colombian,
is raised today to the glory of the altars. From his intimate experience of
meeting the Lord, Fr Marianito, as he is familiarly known in his homeland,
dedicated himself tirelessly to the evangelization of children and adults,
especially farmworkers. He spared no sacrifice or hardship, giving himself for
almost 50 years in a modest parish of Angostura, in Antioquia, for the glory of
God and the good of the souls entrusted to his care.
May his shining witness
of charity, understanding, service, solidarity and forgiveness be an example in
Colombia and also an effective help in continuing the work of peace and full
reconciliation in this beloved country. If 9 April 52 years ago marked the
beginning of violence and conflicts, which unfortunately are still going on,
may this day of the Great Jubilee year mark a new phase in which all Colombians
will build a new Colombia together, one based on peace, social justice, respect
for all human rights and brotherly love among children of the same homeland.
3. "Give me again
the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervour sustain me, that I may teach
transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you" (Ps 51: 14-15).
Faithful to the spirit and charism of the Redemptorist Congregation to which he
belonged, Fr Francis Xavier Seelos often meditated upon these words of the
Psalmist. Sustained by God's grace and an intense life of prayer, Fr Seelos
left his native Bavaria and committed himself generously and joyfully to the
missionary apostolate among immigrant communities in the United States.
In the various places
where he worked, Fr Francis Xavier brought his enthusiasm, spirit of sacrifice
and apostolic zeal. To the abandoned and the lost he preached the message of
Jesus Christ, "the source of eternal salvation" (Heb 5: 9),
and in the hours spent in the confessional he convinced many to return to God.
Today, Bl. Francis Xavier Seelos invites the members of the Church to deepen
their union with Christ in the sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist. Through
his intercession, may all who work in the vineyard for the salvation of God's
people be encouraged and strengthened in their task.
4. "I, when I am lifted up from the earth", Jesus promised in the
Gospel, "will draw all men to myself" (Jn 12: 32). Indeed,
from high on the Cross Jesus will reveal to the world God's boundless love for
humanity in need of salvation. Irresistibly drawn by this love, Anna Rosa Gattorno
made a continual sacrifice of her life for the conversion of sinners and the
sanctification of all mankind. To be "Jesus' voice" in order to bring
the message of his saving love everywhere: this was her heart's deepest
desire!
With complete trust in Providence
and motivated by a courageous impulse of charity, Bl. Anna Rosa Gattorno had
one desire: to serve Jesus in the suffering and wounded limbs of her
neighbour, with sensitivity and motherly attention to all human misery.
Today the special witness
of charity left by the new blessed is still a stirring encouragement for
everyone in the Church who is committed more specifically to proclaiming the
love of God, who heals the wounds of every heart and offers the fullness of
immortal life to all.
5. "When I am lifted
up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself" (Jn 12: 32).
The promise of Jesus is wonderfully fulfilled also in the life of Mary
Elisabeth Hesselblad. Like her fellow countrywoman, St Bridget, she too
acquired a deep understanding of the wisdom of the Cross through prayer and in
the events of her own life. Her early experience of poverty, her contact with
the sick who impressed her by their serenity and trust in God's help, and her
perseverance despite many obstacles in founding the Order of the Most Holy
Saviour of St Bridget, taught her that the Cross is at the centre of human life
and is the ultimate revelation of our heavenly Father's love. By constantly
meditating on God's word, Sr Elisabeth was confirmed in her resolve to work and
pray that all Christians would be one (cf. Jn 17: 21).
She was convinced that by
listening to the voice of the crucified Christ they would come together into
one flock under one Shepherd (cf. Jn 10: 16), and from the very
beginning her foundation, characterized by its Eucharistic and Marian
spirituality, committed itself to the cause of Christian unity by means of
prayer and evangelical witness. Through the intercession of Bl. Mary Elisabeth
Hesselblad, pioneer of ecumenism, may God bless and bring to fruition the
Church's efforts to build ever deeper communion and foster ever more effective
cooperation among all Christ's followers: ut unum sint.
6. "Unless a
wheat grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but
if it dies it yields a rich harvest" (Jn 12: 24). From
childhood, Mariam Thresia Mankidiyan knew instinctively that God's love for her
demanded a deep personal purification. Committing herself to a life of prayer
and penance, Sr Mariam Thresia's willingness to embrace the Cross of Christ
enabled her to remain steadfast in the face of frequent misunderstandings and
severe spiritual trials. The patient discernment of her vocation eventually led
to the foundation of the Congregation of the Holy Family, which continues to
draw inspiration from her contemplative spirit and love of the poor.
Convinced that "God
will give eternal life to those who convert sinners and bring them to the right
path" (Letter 4 to her Spiritual Father), Sr Mariam devoted herself to
this task by her visits and advice, as well as by her prayers and penitential
practice. Through Bl. Mariam Thresia's intercession, may all consecrated men
and women be strengthened in their vocation to pray for sinners and draw others
to Christ by their words and example.
7. "I will be their
God, and they shall be my people" (Jer 31: 33). God is our only
Lord and we are his people. This indissoluble covenant of love between God and
humanity was brought to its fulfilment in Christ's paschal sacrifice. It is in
him that, despite belonging to different lands and cultures, we become one
people, one Church, one and the same spiritual building whose bright and solid
stones are the saints.
Let us thank the Lord for
the splendid witness of these new blesseds. Let us look to them, especially in
this Lenten season, in order to be spurred in our preparation for the
forthcoming Easter celebrations.
May Mary, Queen of
Confessors, help us to follow her divine Son as did the new blesseds. May you,
Mariano de Jesús Euse Hoyos, Francis Xavier Seelos, Anna Rosa Gattorno, Mary
Elisabeth Hesselblad, Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan, intercede for us so
that by deeply sharing in Christ's redemptive Passion we can live the
fruitfulness of the seed that dies and be received as his
harvest in the kingdom of heaven. Amen!
© Copyright 2000 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Monday, 9 February 2004
Dear Sisters,
1. Your visit today gives
me great joy and I gladly welcome you at the end of the Ninth General Chapter
of your Order of the Most Holy Saviour of St Bridget. Your Sisters who are
working in various countries of the world are gathered here with you in spirit
around the Successor of Peter. I send my most cordial greeting to each and
every one.
In a special way I
affectionately greet the General Abbess, Mother Tekla Famiglietti, who has been
re-elected for an additional six-years term. In thanking her for the sentiments
she has expressed to me, I offer to her as well as to the new General Council
my very best wishes for fruitful work at the service of the praiseworthy
Brigittine Family, which has grown in recent years and has been enriched by new
institutions and activities. I thank God with you for this comforting apostolic
development and for the promising growth of vocations.
2. "Returning
to the roots... for a renewal of religious life": this is the theme on
which you have chosen to reflect at your Chapter Meeting. You place yourselves
in an atmosphere of silence and prayer to listen to the Holy Spirit in order to
discern the priorities of your Order in this age of ours. Every authentic
renewal requires a wise recovery of its original spirit so as to express the
founding charism in apostolic choices in tune with the needs of the times.
Therefore, faithful to the particular monastic vocation that marks the
Brigittine Family, you have taken pains to reaffirm the absolute primacy that
God must occupy in the lives of each one of you and in your communities. You
are called first of all to be "specialists of the spirit", souls on
fire with divine love, contemplatives ceaselessly dedicated to prayer.
3. Only if you are
"specialists of the spirit", like St Bridget, will you be able to
embody in our age the charism of Gospel radicalness and unity inherited from
Bl. Elizabeth Hesselblad. Through the hospitality and welcome that you offer in
your houses you will be able to witness to God's merciful love for every person
and to the yearning for unity that Christ bequeathed to his disciples.
In my Apostolic
Letter Novo
Millennio Ineunte, I wrote that the great challenge of the third
millennium was to "make the Church the home and school of communion",
and that to this end it is necessary to "promote a spirituality of
communion" (cf. n. 43). I ask you, dear Sisters, to be tireless builders
of the "great ecumenism of holiness". Your ecumenical activity is
particularly appreciated because it is accomplished in countries in Northern
Europe where fewer Catholics are present, and because the encouragement of
dialogue with our brothers and sisters of other Christian denominations is
important.
May the Virgin Mary,
Mother of Christ and of the Church, watch over your Order and may St Bridget
and Bl. Elizabeth Hesselblad intercede for you. I accompany you with daily
remembrance before the Lord, as I cordially bless you and all your communities.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
The Servant of God was born in the little village of Faglavik, in the province of Alvsborg, on the 4 June 1870, the fifth of thirteen children born to Augusto Roberto Hesselblad and Cajsa Pettesdotter Dag. The following month she was baptized and received into the Reformed Church of Sweden in her parish in Hundene. Her childhood was lived out in various places, since economic difficulties forced the family to move on several occasions.
In 1886, in order to make a living and to support her family, she went to work first of all in Karlosborg and then in the United States of America. She went to nursing school at the Roosevelt hospital in New York and dedicated herself to home care of the sick. This meant that she continually had to make many sacrifices, which did not do her health any good, but certainly helped her soul to flourish. The contact she had with so many sick catholics and her thirst for truth helped to keep alive in her heart her search for the true flock of Christ. Through prayer, personal study and a deep daughterly devotion to the Mother of the Redeemer, she was decisively led to the Catholic Church and, on the 15 August 1902, in the Convent of the Visitation in Washington, she received conditional baptism from Fr. Giovani Giorgio Hagen, S.J., who also became her spiritual director. Looking back on that moment of grace, she wrote, "In an instant the love of God was poured over me. I understood that I could respond to that love only through sacrifice and a love prepared to suffer for His glory and for the Church. Without hesitation I offered Him my life, and my will to follow Him on the Way of the Cross." Two days later she was nourished by the Eucharist, and then she left for Europe.
In Rome she received the Sacrament of Confirmation and she clearly perceived that she was to dedicate herself to the unity of Christians. She also visited the church and house of Saint Bridget of Sweden (+ 1373), and came away with a deep and lasting impression: "It is in this place that I want you to serve me." She returned to the United States but, her poor health notwithstanding, she left everything and on 25 March 1904 she settled in Rome at the Casa di Santa Brigida, receiving a wonderful welcome from the Carmelite Nuns who lived there. In silence and in prayer she made great progress in her knowledge and love of Christ, fostered devotion to Saint Bridget and Saint Catherine of Sweden, and nourished a growing concern for her people and the Church.
In 1906 Pope Saint Pius X allowed her to take the habit of the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget and profess vows as a spiritual daughter of the Swedish saint. In the years that followed she strove to bring back to Rome the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, and to that end she visited the few existing Brigettine monasteries in Europe, an experience that brought joys, disappointments and no concrete help. Her dream of bringing to birth a Brigettine community in Rome that was made up of members coming from monasteries of ancient observance, was not realized. However Divine Providence, in ways that were quite unexpected, enabled a new branch to grow from the ancient Brigettine trunk. In fact, on the 9 November 1911, the Servant of God welcomed three young English postulants and refounded the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget, whose particular mission was to pray and work, especially for the unity of Scandinavian Christians with the Catholic Church.
In 1931 she experienced the great joy of receiving the Holy SeeÂ’s permission to have permanent use of the church and house of Saint Bridget in Rome. These became the centre of activity for the Order which, driven on by its missionary zeal, also established foundations in India (1937).
During and after the Second World War, the Servant of God performed great works of charity on behalf of the poor and those who suffered because of racial laws; she promoted a movement for peace that involved catholics and non-catholics; she multiplied her ecumenical endeavours and for many people who belonged to other religions or other christian confessions, she was part of their journey towards the Catholic Church.
From the very beginning of her Foundation she was particularly attentive to the formation of her spiritual daughters, for whom she was both a mother and a guide. She implored them to live in close union with God, to have a fervent desire to be conformed to our Divine Saviour, to possess a great love for the Church and the Roman Pontiff, and to pray constantly that there be only one flock and one shepherd, adding, "This is the prime goal of our vocation." She also devoted herself to fostering a unity of spirit within the Order. "The Lord has called us from different nations," she wrote, "but we must be united with one heart and one soul. In the divine Heart of Jesus we will always meet one another and there we seek our strength to face the difficulties of life. May we be strengthened to practice the beautiful virtues of charity, humility and patience. Then our religious life will be the antechamber to Heaven." On other occasions she said, "Our religious houses must be formed after the example of Nazareth: prayer, work, sacrifice. The human heart can aspire to nothing greater."
Throughout her life she remained faithful to what she had written in 1904: "Dear Lord, I do not ask to see the path. In darkness, in anguish and in fear, I will hang on tightly to your hand and I will close my eyes, so that you know how much trust I place in you, Spouse of my soul." Hope in God and in His providence supported her in every moment, especially in times of testing, solitude and the cross. She put the things of Heaven before the things of earth, GodÂ’s will before her own, the good of her neighbour before her own benefit.
Contemplating the infinite love of the Son of God, who sacrificed Himself for our salvation, she fed the flame of love in her heart, as manifested by the goodness of her works. Repeatedly to her daughters she said, "We must nourish a great love for God and our neighbors; a strong love, an ardent love, a love that burns away imperfections, a love that gently bears an act of impatience, or a bitter word, a love that lets an inadvertence or act of neglect pass without comment, a love that lends itself readily to an act of charity." The Servant of God was like a garden in which the sun of charity brought to bloom the flowers of the spiritual and corporal works of mercy. She was filled with care and concern for her Sisters, for the poor, the sick, the persecuted Jewish people, for priests, for the children to whom she taught Christian doctrine, for her family and for the people of Sweden and Rome. She was a humble Sister and most obliging to all who sought her help. She always felt a sense of duty and great joy in sharing with others the gifts she had received from the Lord, and this she did with gentleness, graciousness and simplicity. She was prudent in her work for the Kingdom of God, in her speaking, acting, advising and correcting. She had great respect for the religious freedom of non-christians and non-catholics, whom she received gladly under her roof. She practiced justice towards God and neighbour, temperance, self-control, reserve, detachment from the honours and things of the world, humility, chastity, obedience, fortitude in tribulation, perseverance in her praise and service of God, faithfulness to her religious consecration.
She walked with God, clinging to the cross of Christ, who was her companion from the days of her youth. "For me," she said, "the way of the Cross has been the most beautiful of all because on this path I have met and known my Lord and Saviour." Unremittingly her physical suffering went hand in hand with her moral suffering. The cross became particularly heavy and painful during the final years of her life, when the Holy See prepared the Canonical Visit of her Order as her health got progressively worse. In prayer and peaceful submission to GodÂ’s will she prepared herself for the final meeting with the Divine Spouse, who called her to Himself in the early hours of 24 April 1957.
The reputation for holiness which surrounded her in life increased after her
death, and almost immediately the Vicariate of Rome began the cause for
Beatification.
SOURCE : https://www.vatican.va/news_services/liturgy/saints/ns_lit_doc_20000409_beat-Hesselblat_en.html
SAINT M.MARY
ELIZABETH HESSELBLAD
Born in 1870 and died in Rome in 1957, after the conversion is called to re-establish the old bridgettine order.
It seeks to "join what is divided" and, in fact, from childhood the allusion to "one fold under one shepherd" has driven the search for truth. The ecumenical zeal has got to bring the new order in Sweden. Known are the care and zeal that she exercised during the Second World War in favor of the Roman people and especially the Jews persecuted.
The path followed by Blessed M. Elizabeth is the one of prayer and of the Cross; is well aware of the context in which to move for a good position, because religion does not allow to be accommodating.
The House of St. Bridget in Piazza Farnese became a landmark thanks to the presence of clerics like the Jesuits Brandi Hagen and Charles Boyer.
The Blessed is part of converts of high spiritual stature (Edith Stein, Paul Claudel, André Frossard to mention the best known) who left a sign of continuity with a glorious past but, for historical reasons, can be turned off or without momentum.
Mother Hesselblad was defined "pilgrim of unity" for that special
gift to think of unity as the mission of the Sisters in the new times. In her
spiritual and social action – we can remember the efforts of the sisters during
the Second War - Blessed Elizabeth was able to leave a mark accepted and
strengthened by her daughters with a faithful interpretation of her message, while
in the continuous renewal of religious life, thanks to many vocations of young
people who respond to Jesus'
THE FOOTSTEPS OF BLESSED
MARY ELIZABETH HESSELBLAD
1870 - born in Fåglavik (Sweden)
1888 - looking for work, to help her large family, she went to America.
1900 - Begins her conversion to Catholicism that leads to baptism (1902), and to the encounter with the house of St. Bridget in Rome.
1904 - She is received between the Carmelites and vows in the room where she lived and died
1906 the Swedish saint.
1911 - At home in Rome in Via Monserrato receives three aspiring British with whom begins the new foundation,
1919 - Various foundations in Sweden (1923), Switzerland (1924), England and Piazza Farnese in Rome (1931) and finally after 350 years,
1935 - Vadstena (Sweden).
1937 - Send her daughters in lndia too.
1939/1945 Missionary and zealous Spirit for unity of Christians, was distinguished for charity during the armed conflict,
1955 - received wide recognition.
1957 - She died in Rome in the house of Saint Bridget, offering her life to join Sweden in Rome.
April 9, 2000 Beatification - San Pietro Square, in Rome, by the Servant of God
Pope John Paul II
SOURCE : https://www.brigidine.org/santa_maria_elisabetta.php?lang=en
St. Maria Elizabeth
Hesselblad Witnessed to the Power of the Resurrection
Patty Knap BlogsAugust 17, 2016
This summer, Pope Francis
canonized St. Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad (1870-1957)—a Swedish convert to the
faith, and only the second saint named from Sweden in history.
Saint
Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad was a convert from Lutheranism to Catholicism.
She was the fifth of thirteen children, whose family moved frequently due
to difficult economic times. She was raised in the Reformed Church of Sweden.
At the age of 18, she emigrated to New York to earn money for her family. First
she studied nursing at Manhattan’s Roosevelt Hospital. She
worked with the sick and aged as a nurse in home care for the Catholics of
New York City. Because of her acquaintance with so many Catholics, her interest
in the Church grew, and she came to view it as the place where one could be
closest to Christ. In 1902 she converted to Catholicism and received
conditional baptism by Giovani Hagen, a Jesuit priest.
Later that year she
sailed to Rome where she received her Confirmation. She returned briefly
to New York, but then returned to Rome to enter religious life. Mother Mary
Elizabeth decided on the Carmelite House of Saint Bridget of Sweden, and
in 1906 she received permission to take the habit of the Brigittines (the
Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint Bridget.) It wasn't her intention to
found a new order originally. She only intended to revive the ancient order in
the same house where Bridget had lived and died. Her dream was to take the
Brigittine Sisters back to Sweden once more and let the order take root
wherever God led it. She wanted to spread the true spirit of Christian unity
and service to others, as it had been spread by the ancient Order of Saint
Bridget. She worked to restore the order in Italy as well, especially in
Rome. In 1923 she returned to Sweden where she ministered to the poor and tried
to revitalize the Brigittine movement there. In 1937 she was successful in
establishing Brigittine foundations in India.
The communities founded
by Mother Elizabeth under a central authority without papal enclosure, and her
insistence that they are an integral part of the ancient Order of the Most Holy
Saviour, gave rise to much criticism and sometimes to controversy. But after
thirty years of continuous trials and persevering through difficulties of all
kinds, her order was canonically approved and on July 7, 1940, recognized by
the Church. Today, her order consists of fifty houses spread over three
continents, whose work is the charism given to them by St. Maria Elizabeth
Hesselblad.
The
Church's newest saint rescued Jews
and others persecuted by the Nazis, hiding them in Rome. She
was recognized by Yad Vashem as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations”
for this heroic work.
Maria Pilar, a Brigittine
nun from Spain, told the Catholic News Agency on June 5 that the canonization
of their foundress is not only a recognition of her sanctity, but also gives
publicity to “the example of a person who lived for God and sought the truth
since she was a child—she was Lutheran and sought the truth as a young girl.”
St. Maria Elizabeth “was
called to offer a lot in the ecumenism of the Church, so that all religions
would be one in Christ, not just in Spain,” she said, and prayed on behalf of
her order that the Church would be “one, holy, Catholic and apostolic.”
Similarly, Ulf
Silverling, a layman from Stockholm, said the canonization means a lot to the
local Catholic community in Sweden since “normally the Catholic Church is
described as some exotic experience from immigrants.”
However, “this is a
Swedish saint, and it's the second Swedish saint officially in history. She's a
follower of St. Bridgette, who was also Swedish, so it's a restoration of the
Catholic history in Sweden, actually.”
With nearly 300 people in
his group alone, including non-Catholics such as Lutherans, Pentecostals and
one Syrian Orthodox priest, Silverling said the event also serves as a strength
for the faith of immigrants, who live “in one of the most secularized countries
in the world.”
Pope St. John Paul II
beatified Mother Maria Elizabeth in 2000. This humble yet great Sister,
transfused the treasures of her spirit, her faith and her love to the Institute
she founded, with the sole intention of making it a humble instrument for the
spreading of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Patty Knap Patty
Knap calls herself a “born again” Catholic. She planned to be a wife and
mother of four or five kids with several girls, but as life played
out, she’s a single mom with two young adult boys. She counsels at a crisis
pregnancy center, teaches CCD, takes online classes with the Avila Institute,
and loves the beach, dalmatians and America’s national parks. She also saves
recipes in a pile until it gets big and then throws them out.
Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad (Moder
Elisabeth)
1870-06-04 — 1957-04-27
Saint, founder of
religious order
Elisabeth Hesselblad
founded the Roman branch of the Order of Birgitta (also
Bridget), now a worldwide religious order, which has been centred at the
Birgitta house in Piazza Farnese in Rome since 1931. She was canonised in 2016.
Elisabeth Hesselblad grew
up in Fåglavik, Falun and Skövde in a family of twelve children. Her family was
intermittently poor and the children had to play their part in providing for
everyone. When she was 18 years old she emigrated to the United States of
America. She settled in New York, where she trained to become a nurse and
regularly sent part of her earnings to her family in Sweden, as they still
required financial support. After various jobs she finally came to work as a
private nurse for a Catholic Cuban family, the Cisneros, who brought her closer
not only to the Catholic faith but also to convent life. One of the Cisneros
daughters was a nun.
After taking religious
education lessons with the Jesuit father Johann Georg Hagen, Elisabeth
Hesselblad joined the Catholic Church in 1902. The next year she accompanied
the Cisneros girls to Rome and visited the Birgitta house, which at that time
was a Carmelite convent. She experienced what she came to call her “Brigittine
calling”; she wanted to serve God in the Birgitta house and to work toward the
conversion of the Nordic peoples to the Catholic faith. She was suffering from
bleeding ulcers at this time, an affliction she had suffered since her teenage
years. Despite this the Prioress of the Carmelites, Mother Hedwig, accepted her
request to enter the convent. In 1904 she became a novice under the name Maria
Elisabeth of Saint Birgitta. With the support of her confessor Hagen, who had
just been transferred to Rome, she obtained papal dispensation to take her
nun’s vows as a Brigittine sister. This exception was awarded her due to the
fact that she was believed to be suffering from a terminal disease.
However, Elisabeth
Hesselblad recovered. In order to better understand Brigittine spirituality she
spent the years from 1906 to 1911 travelling and visiting the Brigittine convents
in Europe. This included Syon Abbey in England, which she came to maintain
close contact with in the following years. As an oblate in this convent she was
allowed to call herself a Brigittine. In 1911 she and two young English women
established their own Brigittine community in a part of the Birgitta house in
Rome rented out by the Carmelites. Whilst the medieval Brigittine order had
consisted of autonomous convents, Elisabeth set up so-called congregations
which were centrally run and had subordinate communities. The taking of vows
occurred at the altar in St Birgitta’s room. The Brigittine community, led by
Mother Elisabeth – as Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad was now known – moved to
premises on Via delle Isole, which still houses a Brigittine community today.
With a steady increase in the number of postulants, the enterprise grew and in
1920 this new Brigittine society obtained temporary papal approval.
Elisabeth Hesselblad had
achieved one of her aims in establishing the Brigittine community in Rome. Her next
goal was to re-establish the order in Sweden. The Birgitta jubilee in 1923 –
when the Swedish church celebrated the 550th anniversary of St Birgitta’s death
– seemed a prime opportunity. On the initiative of representatives of the newly
established high church Birgitta association, in particular Mary von Rosen,
Elisabeth Hesselblad was invited to participate in the celebrations. Encouraged
by the newly appointed apostolic deputy to Sweden, Bishop Johannes Müller, she
used her stay in Sweden to establish a Brigittine community in Djursholm, near
Stockholm, with the help of two fellow nun.
As convents were banned
in Sweden at the time the community was formally presented as a guesthouse run
by nuns, whose numbers steadily increased and who alternated a life of prayer
with running a boarding house. This model came to be used by most of the
communities which Elisabeth Hesselblad set up, for example, in Lugano in
Switzerland, Iver Heath near London, and in Vadstena, where the Birgitta
sisters settled in 1935. The community which was established in Kerala in India
in 1937, however, retained its focus on the contemplative aspects.
This form of convent life
– where contemplation was complemented by outward-looking activities – also
came to be applied at the Birgitta house in Rome. The acquisition of the house
followed a lengthy campaign in which Archbishop Nathan Söderblom and the
Swedish state had presented powerful opposition. With the help of capable
Swedish Catholics, not least Marquis Claes Lagergren and his network among the
Roman curia, Elisabeth Hesselblad emerged victorious from the campaign. Her
letters highlight the significance of the memorials and places related to St
Birgitta to awakening the Nordic population’s interest in the Catholic faith.
In Vadstena the Brigittine sisters had to make do with a building next to the
ancient convent church.
The return of the
Brigittine nuns to Sweden reverberated in the press. Several positive articles
about Elisabeth Hesselblad were published in connection with the Djursholm
establishment. She was presented as a “Swedish woman of note” and a custodian
of Swedish tradition. However, there was also a negative backlash. The
resulting public debate revealed that the anti-Catholicism which marked the
times of Reformation still had a strong grip on Swedish society.
In 1942 the new branch of
the Brigittine order finally obtained papal approbation along with the right to
use the name Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris. Elisabeth Hesselblad had not
actually intended to found a new Brigittine order but rather to reform and
revitalise the old one and to merge the old convents with the new communities
into one single Brigittine society. Her letters reveal that the more active
orientation of the new Brigittine branch was rather a forced result of
circumstances than an expression of an intentional plan and that she had
intended for the new order to also contain a contemplative side.
During the Second World
War the Birgitta house at Piazza Farnese served as an asylum for Jews, and
after the war Elisabeth Hesselblad became very active in supporting refugees in
war-ravaged Europe. She was awarded several merits for her efforts, including
Malteserordens förtjänstkors 1946.
Early biographies
presented Elisabeth Hesselblad as a pioneer of ecumenical dialogue. This
directly contradicts the evidence of contemporary source material and of more
recent research. Elisabeth Hesselblad believed that one of her most important
duties was to pray for and work toward the conversion of the Nordic peoples to
the Catholic faith. She also let this be known to her Protestant high church
network.
Elisabeth Hesselblad was
not ecumenical in the way that it would be understood today. Several of the prelates
and theologians who knew her and supported her work were members of the
conservative camp in the church. Nevertheless the Brigittine communities came
to serve as meeting places for both Catholics and Protestants, particularly
women. This was very apparent in Sweden but also at the Birgitta house in Rome
which once again had become a centre for Nordic pilgrims in the broadest sense.
These included the actress Ingrid Bergman,
amongst others. Using the memory of Birgitta as a common link the new
Brigittine order became a path-breaker which enabled the Catholic-Protestant
ecumenical dialogue to be established during the Second Vatican Council in the
1960s.
Elisabeth Hesselblad died
at the Birgitta house in Rome on 24 April 1957. She is buried there. On 5 June
2016 she was beatified. She was the second Swedish saint, following St
Birgitta, to be canonised by the pope.
(Translated by Alexia Grosjean)
Published 2018-03-08
You are welcome to cite
this article but always provide the author’s name as follows:
Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad,
www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/ElisabethHesselblad, Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon
(article by Yvonne Maria Werner), retrieved 2024-04-23.
SOURCE : https://www.skbl.se/en/article/ElisabethHesselblad
Swedish Sister who hid
Jews from the Nazis is to be canonised
18 December, 2015
Blessed Mary Elizabeth is
a Righteous Among the Nations
A Swedish Sister who hid
Jews from the Nazis during the Second World is to be canonised next year.
Blessed Mary Elizabeth
Hesselblad, who refounded the Bridgettines and worked to restore the order in
Italy and Sweden, saved the lives of over 60 people by hiding them at the
motherhouse in Rome.
Pope Francis approved a
miracle attributed to her intercession earlier this week, paving the way for
her to be proclaimed a saint.
The Swede, a convert from
Lutheranism, was mother superior at the motherhouse in Piazza Farnese during
the Second World War.
The hiding of dozens of
people at the motherhouse was recounted by an Italian Jew, Piero Piperno, as
part of his testimony on behalf of another Bridgettine, Brighton-born Mother
Mary Richard Beauchamp Hambrough, whose Cause was opened five years ago.
Mr Piperno told
the Times newspaper: “We were three families, 13 in all. We stayed in
three rooms, all the men in one, except an uncle who slept in a dark, small
room with no windows, and another two for the women. In the beginning we all
ate in one room by ourselves.”
For six months –until the
Allies liberated Rome – the Piperno family hid in the convent, at every moment
fearing potential arrest.
The nuns did not
discriminate between the people they helped, he said, and took in Fascist
refugees as well as Jews.
He said: “Something which
bothered me back then, but which I now understand, was that the nuns that
helped us also helped Fascist families. There was great solidarity because
everybody was suffering and everybody finally realised we were all in the same
boat. “
Blessed Mary Elizabeth,
who Yad Vashem has named as a Righteous among the Nations, was beatified by St
John Paul II in 2000.
She was born Sweden in
1870 and baptised into the Reform Church. In 1886 she migrated to the United
States to earn money for her family back home.
After working as a nurse,
she converted to Catholicism in 1902.
Moving to Rome, she
dedicated her life and her religious order to prayer and work for the
attainment of Christian unity.
She refounded the Order
of the Most Holy Saviour of St Bridget, better known as the Bridgettines.
Mother Riccarda later
succeeded her as mother superior at the order’s Rome motherhouse.
Jun 2, 2023
Saint Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad
Feast Day: June 4
The following story
appeared in the May 26 Idaho Catholic Register.
By Emily Woodham
Staff Writer
On October 8, 1923, a
Pontifical High Mass was celebrated for the first time in 350 years in
Stockholm.
It was the Feast of St.
Bridget of Sweden, the medieval patron saint of Sweden and Europe. The Mass
also marked the return of the Bridgittine religious Order to the saint’s
homeland, after 400 years of banishment.
The celebration of the
Mass and the revival of the Order came about through the humble perseverance of
St. Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad, a convert whose heart for a unified Church
helped transform Europe.
Elizabeth Hesselblad was
born on June 4, 1870 in a small town in Sweden. She was the fifth of 13
children.
The Catholic Mass had
been outlawed in Sweden since the late 1500s. The Mass was seen as a threat to
the state religion of Lutheranism. The few Catholics who lived in Sweden had to
travel out of country to receive the sacraments. Despite the suppression of
Catholicism, other branches of Protestantism were allowed in Sweden.
The Hesselblads were
staunch Lutherans. While at school, Elizabeth couldn’t understand why there
were so many divisions in Christianity.
Elizabeth asked Jesus to
show her what He meant when He said He was the one Good Shepherd of one, united
flock. She felt a voice in her heart say to her that he would show her this
truth one day. Then she had a vision of the house in Rome that was used by St.
Bridget of Sweden in the 14th century. Elizabeth didn’t know what to think of
the vision, but she carried it with her as she grew up.
Although Elizabeth loved
school, her family’s finances became so dire that she had to leave home to
work. She became a nanny for a small family, but they were difficult and
dishonest. After two years, she took the opportunity to go to the United States
with a group of family friends, who were also seeking a better life. Only 18,
she also took her younger brother, who was 11.
After a year working as a
nanny in the United States, she became seriously ill with intestinal ulcers.
She was hospitalized for two months. Although she was in excruciating pain and
the doctors believed she would not survive, she was still aware of the suffering
of other patients. She asked God to heal her enough so that she could become a
nurse and help relieve the suffering of others. Miraculously, she recovered,
but she suffered from ulcers throughout her life.
After becoming a nurse,
she learned of Catholicism through her patients. Elizabeth decided to leave
hospital work for private nursing in 1896. She became a nurse and companion to
two teenage daughters of wealthy Catholics, the Cisneros family.
While in Europe with the
family, she saw her first Eucharistic procession. She hid herself because she
did not want to kneel, but she also did not want to be rude. She prayed
silently, “I do kneel before You, God, but not here.”
Soon after praying this,
she felt something stir within her. When the Bishop passed by her with the
monstrance, she heard an interior voice say, “I am the One you are looking
for!” She could not help but fall to her knees and worship.
She struggled with this
experience and so many other signs that the Catholic Church was the one, true
flock of Christ. She wanted to hold on to her Protestant beliefs, especially
her love of personal freedom. She could not understand submitting to the
authority of the Church, believing, instead in only the authority of scripture.
It wasn’t until 1902 that
her eyes were opened to her perfectionism. She had been looking for a perfect
church free of suffering. She realized that the only Church that held the full
truth about sin, suffering and salvation was the Catholic Church.
When she told a Jesuit
priest whom she had just met, Father Johan Hagen,
S.J., that she wanted to
enter the Church immediately, he did not think she was prepared. He thought she
was prideful. But after examining her for hours, he had to agree that she was
prepared for reception in the Church and that it would be wrong to make her
wait. From then on, their friendship deepened, and he became her spiritual
director.
During a visit to Rome
with the Cisneros family, she stayed at the Piazza Farnese, where St. Bridget
of Sweden lived. She remembered her childhood vision and felt a strong call to
become a Sister and revive the Order of St. Bridget. Her journey through
re-establishing the Order in Rome and Sweden was marked by setbacks, especially
from other Catholic Religious who were jealous of her perseverance and hard
work.
With help from Pope St.
Pius X and Father Hagen, she succeeded in establishing a branch of the
Bridgittines: The Order of the Most Holy Saviour. At her vows, she took the
name “Mary Elizabeth.” It was in her convent in Sweden that author Sigrid
Undset went to contemplate her conversion to the Church.
During World War II,
Mother Mary Elizabeth and her Sisters successfully kept more than 60 Jews safe
from the Nazis. (Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust remembrance center, honored her
posthumously in 2004 as one of the “Righteous Among the Nations,” an award
given to non-Jews who helped Jews during the Holocaust.)
Toward the end of her
life, she became more concerned with ecumenical efforts and for peace. She refused
to water down her Catholic faith to please others. However, she believed that
the best way to answer Christ’s call for unity was to reach out in friendship
to everyone. She believed that it was possible for friends to have differing
beliefs and that it was through everyday friendships that the world would be
changed for the better.
She died on April 24,
1957. She was canonized in 2016.
St. Mary Elizabeth
Hesselbad is a patron saint of the Bridgittines, nuns and nursing.
Santa María Isabel
Hesselblad
Fiesta: 4 de junio
Por Emily Woodham
Colaboradora
El 8 de octubre de 1923
se celebró por primera vez en 350 años una Misa Pontificia en Estocolmo.
Era la Fiesta de Santa
Brígida de Suecia, la santa patrona medieval de Suecia y Europa. La Misa
también marcó el regreso de la Orden religiosa Brigittina a la patria de la
santa, después de 400 años de destierro.
La celebración de la Misa
y el renacimiento de la Orden se dieron gracias a
la humilde perseverancia
de Santa María Isabel Hesselblad, una conversa cuyo corazón por una Iglesia
unificada ayudó a transformar Europa.
Elizabeth Hesselblad
nació el 4 de junio de 1870 en un pequeño pueblo de Suecia. Fue la quinta de 13
hijos.
La Misa católica había
sido prohibida en Suecia desde finales del siglo XVI. La Misa fue vista como
una amenaza para la religión estatal del luteranismo. Muy pocos católicos
vivían en Suecia. Tuvieron que viajar fuera del país para recibir los
sacramentos. A pesar de la supresión del catolicismo, se permitieron otras
ramas del protestantismo en Suecia.
Los Hesselblad eran
luteranos acérrimos. Mientras estaba en la escuela, Elizabeth a menudo se
preguntaba acerca de las muchas ramas del cristianismo. Ella no podía entender
por qué había tantas divisiones, cuando Jesús declaró claramente en las
Escrituras que quería que sus creyentes fueran un solo rebaño unido.
Isabel le pidió a Jesús
que le mostrara lo que Él quiso decir cuando dijo que Él era el único Buen
Pastor del único rebaño. Sintió una voz en su corazón que le decía que él le
mostraría esta verdad algún día. Luego tuvo una visión de la casa en Roma que
fue utilizada por Santa Brígida de Suecia en el siglo XIV. Elizabeth no sabía
qué pensar de la visión, pero la llevó consigo a medida que crecía.
Aunque a Elizabeth le
encantaba la escuela, las finanzas de su familia se volvieron tan malas que
tuvo que salir de casa para trabajar. Después de un año trabajando como niñera
para otra familia en los Estados Unidos, enfermó gravemente de úlceras
intestinales. Estuvo hospitalizada durante dos meses. Aunque sufría un dolor
insoportable y los médicos creían que no sobreviviría, todavía era consciente
del sufrimiento de otros pacientes. Le pidió a Dios que la sanara lo suficiente
para poder convertirse en enfermera y ayudar a aliviar el sufrimiento de los
demás. Milagrosamente, ella se recuperó.
Inmediatamente fue a la
escuela de enfermería y luego trabajó en el hospital donde había sido tratada.
Ella comenzó a aprender sobre el catolicismo a través de sus pacientes.
Elizabeth decidió dejar
el trabajo en el hospital para dedicarse a la enfermería privada en 1896. Se
convirtió en enfermera y compañera de dos hijas adolescentes de católicos
adinerados, la familia Cisneros.
Mientras estaba en Europa
con la familia, vio su primera procesión eucarística. Se escondió porque no
quería arrodillarse, pero tampoco quería ser grosera. Ella oró en silencio: “Me
arrodillo ante ti, Dios, pero no aquí”.
A pesar de su resolución
de no arrodillarse ante el Santísimo Sacramento, sintió que algo se movía
dentro de ella. Cuando el obispo pasó junto a ella con la custodia, escuchó una
voz interior que le decía: “¡Soy yo a quien buscas!”. No pudo evitar caer de
rodillas y adorarlo.
Ella luchó con esta
experiencia y tantas otras señales de que la Iglesia Católica era el único y
verdadero rebaño de Cristo. Quería aferrarse a sus creencias protestantes,
especialmente a su amor por la libertad personal. Ella no podía entender
someterse a la autoridad de la Iglesia, creyendo, en cambio, solo en la
autoridad de las Escrituras.
No fue hasta 1902 que sus
ojos se abrieron a su perfeccionismo. Ella había estado buscando una iglesia
perfecta libre de sufrimiento. Se dio cuenta de que la única Iglesia que tenía
la verdad completa sobre el pecado, el sufrimiento y la salvación era la
Iglesia Católica.
Cuando le dijo al padre
Johan Hagen, S.J., que quería ingresar a la Iglesia de inmediato, él pensó que
no estaba preparada. Él pensó que ella era orgullosa. Pero después de
examinarla durante horas, tuvo que estar de acuerdo en que estaba preparada
para recibirla en la Iglesia y que sería un error hacerla esperar. A partir de
entonces, su amistad se profundizó y él se convirtió en su director espiritual.
Durante una visita a Roma
con la familia Cisneros, se hospedó en la Piazza Farnese, donde vivía Santa
Brígida de Suecia. Recordó la visión de su infancia y sintió un fuerte llamado
a convertirse en Hermana y revivir la Orden de Santa Brígida. Su viaje por el
restablecimiento de la Orden en Roma y Suecia estuvo marcado por reveses,
especialmente por parte de otras religiosas católicas que estaban celosas de su
perseverancia y arduo trabajo.
Con la ayuda del Papa San
Pío X y el Padre Hagen, logró establecer una rama de las Brigittinas: La Orden
del Santísimo Salvador. En sus votos, tomó el nombre de “Mary Elizabeth”. En 12
años, se celebró la primera Misa pública en Suecia en más de 350 años. Fue en
su convento en Suecia donde la autora Sigrid Undset fue a contemplar su
conversión a la Iglesia Católica.
Durante la Segunda Guerra
Mundial, la Madre María Isabel y sus hermanas lograron mantener a más de 60
judíos a salvo de los nazis.
Hacia el final de su
vida, se preocupó más por los esfuerzos ecuménicos y por la paz. Se negó a
diluir su fe católica para complacer a los demás. Sin embargo, ella creía que
la mejor manera de responder al llamado de unidad de Cristo era llegar a todos
en amistad. Ella creía que era posible que los amigos tuvieran creencias
diferentes y que era a través de las amistades cotidianas que el mundo
cambiaría para bien.
Murió el 24 de abril de
1957.
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SOURCE : https://www.catholicidaho.org/post/saint-mary-elizabeth-hesselblad-feast-day-june-4
Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad (Moder
Elisabeth)
1870-06-04 — 1957-04-27
Saint, founder of
religious order
Elisabeth Hesselblad
founded the Roman branch of the Order of Birgitta (also
Bridget), now a worldwide religious order, which has been centred at the
Birgitta house in Piazza Farnese in Rome since 1931. She was canonised in 2016.
Elisabeth Hesselblad grew
up in Fåglavik, Falun and Skövde in a family of twelve children. Her family was
intermittently poor and the children had to play their part in providing for
everyone. When she was 18 years old she emigrated to the United States of
America. She settled in New York, where she trained to become a nurse and
regularly sent part of her earnings to her family in Sweden, as they still
required financial support. After various jobs she finally came to work as a
private nurse for a Catholic Cuban family, the Cisneros, who brought her closer
not only to the Catholic faith but also to convent life. One of the Cisneros
daughters was a nun.
After taking religious
education lessons with the Jesuit father Johann Georg Hagen, Elisabeth
Hesselblad joined the Catholic Church in 1902. The next year she accompanied
the Cisneros girls to Rome and visited the Birgitta house, which at that time
was a Carmelite convent. She experienced what she came to call her “Brigittine
calling”; she wanted to serve God in the Birgitta house and to work toward the
conversion of the Nordic peoples to the Catholic faith. She was suffering from
bleeding ulcers at this time, an affliction she had suffered since her teenage
years. Despite this the Prioress of the Carmelites, Mother Hedwig, accepted her
request to enter the convent. In 1904 she became a novice under the name Maria
Elisabeth of Saint Birgitta. With the support of her confessor Hagen, who had
just been transferred to Rome, she obtained papal dispensation to take her
nun’s vows as a Brigittine sister. This exception was awarded her due to the
fact that she was believed to be suffering from a terminal disease.
However, Elisabeth
Hesselblad recovered. In order to better understand Brigittine spirituality she
spent the years from 1906 to 1911 travelling and visiting the Brigittine
convents in Europe. This included Syon Abbey in England, which she came to
maintain close contact with in the following years. As an oblate in this
convent she was allowed to call herself a Brigittine. In 1911 she and two young
English women established their own Brigittine community in a part of the
Birgitta house in Rome rented out by the Carmelites. Whilst the medieval
Brigittine order had consisted of autonomous convents, Elisabeth set up
so-called congregations which were centrally run and had subordinate
communities. The taking of vows occurred at the altar in St Birgitta’s room.
The Brigittine community, led by Mother Elisabeth – as Maria Elisabeth
Hesselblad was now known – moved to premises on Via delle Isole, which still
houses a Brigittine community today. With a steady increase in the number of
postulants, the enterprise grew and in 1920 this new Brigittine society
obtained temporary papal approval.
Elisabeth Hesselblad had
achieved one of her aims in establishing the Brigittine community in Rome. Her
next goal was to re-establish the order in Sweden. The Birgitta jubilee in 1923
– when the Swedish church celebrated the 550th anniversary of St Birgitta’s
death – seemed a prime opportunity. On the initiative of representatives of the
newly established high church Birgitta association, in particular Mary von Rosen,
Elisabeth Hesselblad was invited to participate in the celebrations. Encouraged
by the newly appointed apostolic deputy to Sweden, Bishop Johannes Müller, she
used her stay in Sweden to establish a Brigittine community in Djursholm, near
Stockholm, with the help of two fellow nun.
As convents were banned
in Sweden at the time the community was formally presented as a guesthouse run
by nuns, whose numbers steadily increased and who alternated a life of prayer
with running a boarding house. This model came to be used by most of the
communities which Elisabeth Hesselblad set up, for example, in Lugano in
Switzerland, Iver Heath near London, and in Vadstena, where the Birgitta
sisters settled in 1935. The community which was established in Kerala in India
in 1937, however, retained its focus on the contemplative aspects.
This form of convent life
– where contemplation was complemented by outward-looking activities – also
came to be applied at the Birgitta house in Rome. The acquisition of the house
followed a lengthy campaign in which Archbishop Nathan Söderblom and the
Swedish state had presented powerful opposition. With the help of capable
Swedish Catholics, not least Marquis Claes Lagergren and his network among the
Roman curia, Elisabeth Hesselblad emerged victorious from the campaign. Her
letters highlight the significance of the memorials and places related to St
Birgitta to awakening the Nordic population’s interest in the Catholic faith.
In Vadstena the Brigittine sisters had to make do with a building next to the
ancient convent church.
The return of the
Brigittine nuns to Sweden reverberated in the press. Several positive articles
about Elisabeth Hesselblad were published in connection with the Djursholm
establishment. She was presented as a “Swedish woman of note” and a custodian
of Swedish tradition. However, there was also a negative backlash. The
resulting public debate revealed that the anti-Catholicism which marked the
times of Reformation still had a strong grip on Swedish society.
In 1942 the new branch of
the Brigittine order finally obtained papal approbation along with the right to
use the name Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris. Elisabeth Hesselblad had not
actually intended to found a new Brigittine order but rather to reform and
revitalise the old one and to merge the old convents with the new communities
into one single Brigittine society. Her letters reveal that the more active
orientation of the new Brigittine branch was rather a forced result of
circumstances than an expression of an intentional plan and that she had
intended for the new order to also contain a contemplative side.
During the Second World
War the Birgitta house at Piazza Farnese served as an asylum for Jews, and
after the war Elisabeth Hesselblad became very active in supporting refugees in
war-ravaged Europe. She was awarded several merits for her efforts, including
Malteserordens förtjänstkors 1946.
Early biographies
presented Elisabeth Hesselblad as a pioneer of ecumenical dialogue. This
directly contradicts the evidence of contemporary source material and of more
recent research. Elisabeth Hesselblad believed that one of her most important
duties was to pray for and work toward the conversion of the Nordic peoples to
the Catholic faith. She also let this be known to her Protestant high church
network.
Elisabeth Hesselblad was
not ecumenical in the way that it would be understood today. Several of the
prelates and theologians who knew her and supported her work were members of
the conservative camp in the church. Nevertheless the Brigittine communities
came to serve as meeting places for both Catholics and Protestants,
particularly women. This was very apparent in Sweden but also at the Birgitta
house in Rome which once again had become a centre for Nordic pilgrims in the
broadest sense. These included the actress Ingrid Bergman,
amongst others. Using the memory of Birgitta as a common link the new
Brigittine order became a path-breaker which enabled the Catholic-Protestant
ecumenical dialogue to be established during the Second Vatican Council in the
1960s.
Elisabeth Hesselblad died
at the Birgitta house in Rome on 24 April 1957. She is buried there. On 5 June
2016 she was beatified. She was the second Swedish saint, following St
Birgitta, to be canonised by the pope.
(Translated by Alexia Grosjean)
Published 2018-03-08
You are welcome to cite
this article but always provide the author’s name as follows:
Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad,
www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/ElisabethHesselblad, Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon
(article by Yvonne Maria Werner), retrieved 2024-04-24.
SOURCE : https://skbl.se/en/article/ElisabethHesselblad
Hesselblad Elisabetta
Righteous
Hesselblad, Elisabetta
Maria (Mother) Mother Elisabetta Maria, b.1870, was the Mother Superior of the
Monastery of the Order of Salvatore di Santa Brigida in Piazza Farnese in Rome.
In that Monastery, which she founded, she offered refuge to twelve members of
the Piperno-Sed families, from December 1943 until June 4, 1944, when Rome was
liberated. After the German occupation of Italy on September 8, 1943, the
Piperno-Sed families left the capital and wandered in the countryside
surrounding Siena. They were absent from Rome on October 16, 1943 when the
Germans seized Jews to be deported to Auschwitz. Nevertheless, after several
weeks away, they decided to return to their hometown, hoping to find there a
safe place to hide. A friend of the family recommended the Monastery of
Salvatore di Santa Brigida. The nuns were cooperative and the first members of
the family moved in on December 5th, with the rest to follow a few days
later.In January 1944, one of the members of the family, Wanda Sed, born in
Rome in 1901, was summoned to Mother Superior Hesselblad’s office, and
questioned about her family and its real reasons for seeking refuge in the
monastery. Wanda revealed the truth, and this meeting was a turning-point since
from that moment on all the nuns treated the family with special care and
affection. They were also very discreet and respectful. Mother Superior
Elisabetta Maria Hesselblad revealed herself as a charismatic personality who
took great risks in saving them and helping other persons in need. At the
monastery, Mother Elisabetta Maria organized a center of assistance for the
needy, using her connections to obtain extra food provisions and clothing and
other necessities of life. She cooperated with the Vatican and the director of
the Swedish Institute in Rome. Among the fugitives she assisted were two
Gentiles, a painter and a Naval officer, who needed refuge for political
reasons. The children of the Piperno-Sed families were then 18, 16 and
8years-old and were impressed by the openness of Mother Elisabetta Maria who
never tried to convince them to convert, on the contrary, insisting that they
their Hebrew prayers and fulfill other obligations of their religion. After the
war, the rescued Jews retained a vivid memory of their benefactor, regarding
themselves very fortunate to have met such an outstanding person. Many still
lived to witness with great joy the beatification of Mother Elisabetta Maria by
the Catholic Church in April 2000. On August 9, 2004, Yad Vashem recognized
Mother Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad as Righteous Among the Nations.
Hesselblad Elisabetta
(1870 - 1957 )
Last Name : Hesselblad
First Name : Elisabetta
Date of Birth : 01/01/1870
Date of Death : 01/01/1957
Fate : survived
Nationality : SWEDEN
Religion : CATHOLIC
Gender : Female
Profession : NUN
Item ID : 5203980
Recognition Date : 09/08/2004
Ceremony Place : Rome,
Italy
Commemoration : Wall
of Honor
Ceremony In Yad Vashem
No File Number ; M.31.2/10333
SOURCE : https://collections.yadvashem.org/en/righteous/5203980
Santa Maria
Elisabetta Hesselblad Vergine, Fondatrice
Faglavik, Svezia, 4
giugno 1870 - Roma, 24 aprile 1957
Elisabeth Hesselblad,
nata in Svezia da famiglia luterana, iniziò dalle scuole elementari a percepire
su di sé la frattura tra le Chiese, cominciando a pregare per riuscire a
trovare il “vero Ovile” di cui aveva letto nel Vangelo. S’imbarcò per cercare
lavoro negli Stati Uniti, ma si ammalò dopo essere sbarcata. Una volta guarita,
per adempiere a un voto, si dedicò come infermiera all’assistenza dei malati
presso il Roosevelt Hospital di New York. Guidata dal gesuita padre Johann
Georg Hagen, approfondì la dottrina cattolica e ricevette il Battesimo il 15
agosto 1902. L’anno successivo giunse a Roma e, visitando la casa dove santa
Brigida di Svezia aveva vissuto, comprese di doverne proseguire l’opera. Fu
quindi accolta dalle Carmelitane che all’epoca custodivano il luogo e, col
permesso di papa Pio X, vestì l’abito brigidino. Spese il resto della sua vita
per ripristinare l’Ordine Brigidino in ogni parte del mondo. Si adoperò
inoltre, negli anni della seconda guerra mondiale, per dare rifugio agli ebrei
perseguitati. Morì a Roma il 24 aprile 1957. È stata beatificata in piazza San Pietro
a Roma il 9 aprile 2000 e canonizzata nello stesso luogo domenica 5 giugno
2016, insieme al Beato Stanislao di Gesù Maria (al secolo Jan Papczyński).
Martirologio
Romano: A Roma, beta Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad, vergine, che, originaria
della Svezia, dopo avere per lungo tempo prestato servizio in un ospedale,
riformò l’Ordine di Santa Brigida, dedicandosi in particolare alla
contemplazione, alla carità verso i bisognosi e all’unità dei cristiani.
Giovane emigrata negli Stati Uniti
Nacque in Svezia, il 4 giugno 1870, quinta di tredici figli. Di religione
luterana, a 18 anni emigrò in America per aiutare economicamente la sua
famiglia. Qui visse lunghi anni (1888-1904) solerte infermiera nel grande
ospedale Roosvelt di New York, dove a contatto con la sofferenza e la malattia
affinò la sua sensibilità umana e spirituale conformandola a quella della sua
compatriota Santa Brigida.
L’anelito all’ “unico Ovile”
Fin dall´adolescenza il suo anelito fu la ricerca dell´Unico Ovile. Così lei descrive questa sua ansia nelle “Memorie autobiografiche”:
“Da bambina, andando a scuola e vedendo che i miei compagni appartenevano a
molte chiese diverse, cominciai a domandarmi quale fosse il vero Ovile, perché
avevo letto nel Nuovo Testamento che ci sarebbe stato “un solo Ovile ed un solo
Pastore”. Pregai spesso per essere condotta a quell`Ovile e ricordo di averlo
fatto specialmente in un´occasione quando, camminando sotto i grandi pini del
mio paese natio, guardai in special modo verso il cielo e dissi: “Caro Padre,
che sei nei cieli, indicami dov´è l´unico Ovile nel quale Tu ci vuoi tutti
riuniti”. Mi sembrò che una pace meravigliosa entrasse nella mia anima e che
una voce mi rispondesse: “O, figlia mia, un giorno te lo indicherò. Questa
sicurezza mi accompagnò in tutti gli anni che precedettero la mia entrata nella
Chiesa”.
Nella Chiesa cattolica
Guidata da un dotto Gesuita studiò con passione la dottrina cattolica e, con meditata scelta, l´accettò, facendosi battezzare sotto condizione il giorno dell´Assunzione della Beata Vergine Maria del 1902 negli U.S.A. Descrivendo il tempo che precedette questo suo passo nella Chiesa cattolica scrive: “Passarono alcuni mesi durante i quali la mia anima fu immersa in un’agonia che credetti mi avrebbe tolta la vita. Ma la luce venne, e con essa la forza. Per tanto tempo avevo pregato: “O Dio, guidami Luce amabile!” ed effettivamente mi fu concessa una luce benevola e con essa una pace profonda ed una ferma decisione di fare immediatamente il passo decisivo ed entrare nell´unica vera Chiesa di Dio. Oh! bramavo di essere esteriormente quella che ero da tanto tempo nell´interno del mio cuore e scrissi subito alla mia amica al Convento della Visitazione a Washington: “Adesso vedo tutto chiaro, tutti i miei dubbi sono scomparsi, devo divenire immediatamente figlia della vera Chiesa e tu dovrai farmi da madrina...Prega per me e ringrazia Dio e la Beata Vergine”.
Nella primavera del 1903 Maria Elisabetta si trovava a casa in Svezia e prima
di partire per far ritorno in America scrisse alla nonna i seguenti versi:
“Ti adoro, grande prodigio del cielo,
Che mi dai cibo spirituale in abito terreno!
Tu mi consoli nei miei momenti bui.
Quando ogni altra speranza per me spenta!.
Al Cuore di Gesù presso la balaustra dell´altare
Eternamente in amore sarò legata”.
A Roma, nella casa di Santa Brigida
Nel 1904 si recò a Roma e, con uno speciale permesso del Papa S. Pio X, vestì
l´abito brigidino nella casa di Santa Brigida allora occupata dalle
Carmelitane. Prima della partenza mandò a sua sorella Eva un racconto della sua
vita sotto forma di preghiera: “Nella mia infanzia Ti vidi nei profondi boschi
del mio paese e udii la Tua voce nel sussurro del piano e dell´abete. Ti vidi
nella mia prima infanzia, quando il minerale si spezzava risonando dai monti del
Norrland...Tu guidasti la mia vita sui grandi oceani...Ti vidi nel mio nuovo
paese: nell´abbandono e nella solitudine del cuore. Mi eri vicino. Eri il mio
massimo bene! Tu accendesti nel mio animo il desiderio del bene, il desiderio
di alleviare la sofferenza, il dolore e la miseria...Camminasti con me nei
vicoli stretti e bui dove vivono i Tuoi più piccoli e più dimenticati...Ho
sognato il ritorno al mio paese natale, una “Casa della Pace” nella mia dolce
patria, ma la Tua voce mi ha chiamata all´eterna Roma - alla casa di S.
Brigida...La lotta è stata grande e difficile, ma la Tua voce così esortante.
Signore, prendi da me questo calice, che non è mio senza la Tua volontà. Le Tue
mani trapassate hai teso verso di me per esortarmi a seguirTi sul sentiero della
Croce fino alla fine della vita. Ecce ancilla Domini. “Signore, fai di me ciò
che vuoi. Mi basta la Tua Grazia”.
Rifondatrice dell’Ordine brigidino
Dietro ispirazione dello Spirito Santo ricostituì l´Ordine di Santa Brigida (1911), rispondendo alle istanze e ai segni dei tempi, e rimanendo fedele alla tradizione brigidina per l´indole contemplativa e la celebrazione solenne della liturgia. Il suo apostolato fu ispirato dal grande ideale “Ut omnes unum sint” e questo la spinse a dare la sua vita a Dio per unire la Svezia a Roma.
Così scriveva il 4 agosto 1912 in mezzo alle grandi prove degli inizi della sua
fondazione: “L´uragano del nemico è grande ma la mia speranza rimane tanto più
ferma che un giorno tutto andrà bene. Per la Croce alla luce! Quello che si
semina nelle lacrime si raccoglie nella gioia. E il nostro caro Signore ha
detto: “Dove due o tre sono riuniti nel Mio nome, io sono in mezzo a loro”.
Questo diciamo a Lui affinché Egli supplisca a quello che manca in noi e
attorno a noi per il compimento della vocazione alla quale ci ha, così indegne
come siamo, chiamate.
Una vita di sacrificio e di gioia
Con molto coraggio e lungimiranza nel 1923 riportò le figlie di Santa Brigida in Svezia. Le sofferenze fisiche l´accompagnarono per tutta la vita. La cronaca di questi anni riporta queste sue parole alle Figlie: “Vedete, il dottore non comprende che io ho una ragione per soffrire e donare le mie pene; desidero, se il Signore le accetta, offrire tutte le mie sofferenze e pene per questa attività e per la Svezia”.
Nel 1936 a una sua Figlia in difficoltà faceva pervenire queste parole: “...La
nostra vita è una vita di sacrificio nel servizio di Dio. Il sacrificio è
contro la nostra natura - le attrazioni del mondo con le sue soddisfazioni ci
attirano - ma come tu già sai, la nostra vita è una vita di sacrificio che ci
dona non solo quella pace interiore, ma quella gioia che possiamo trovare nel
Signore. Ma per arrivare a questo atto, la donazione di noi stesse a Dio deve
essere completa ed incrollabile. Non solo una parte della mia attività! Non
solo una parte dei miei desideri! Non solo una parte del mio amore! No,
Signore, anche un pensiero che non è per la Tua gloria sia lontano da me, e i
battiti del mio cuore siano espressioni del mio amore per Te; così anche il mio
desiderio sia di essere un sacrificio di me stessa, nel tuo servizio per la
salvezza degli uomini, come Tu vuoi, non come mi piace. Così pensa una sposa di
Gesù...”.
Carità durante la seconda guerra mondiale
Tutta la sua vita era stata contraddistinta da una continua carità operosa.
Durante la seconda guerra mondiale diede rifugio a molti ebrei perseguitati e
trasformò la sua casa in un luogo dove le sue figlie potevano distribuire
viveri e vestiario a quanti si trovavano in necessità. In una lettera a sua
sorella Eva aveva scritto: “...Quaggiù viviamo in condizioni assai difficili,
ma la Provvidenza di Dio ci assiste in molti modi meravigliosi. Abbiamo ancora
la casa piena di profughi, in quest´anno di afflizione 1944”.
La morte
Il 24 aprile 1957 dopo una lunga vita segnata dalla sofferenza e dalla malattia
morì nella casa di Santa Brigida a Roma, lasciando grande fama di santità tra
le sue Figlie Spirituali, nel clero e tra la gente povera e semplice, che la
venerò Madre dei poveri e Maestra dello spirito.
Il processo di beatificazione
Essendo madre Maria Elisabetta morta a Roma, la fase diocesana del suo processo
si è svolta nel Vicariato dell’Urbe dal 1987 al 1990, ricevendo il nulla osta
dalla Santa Sede il 4 febbraio 1988. La sua “positio super virtutibus” è stata
consegnata nel 1996 ed è stata discussa dai consultori teologi il 10 novembre
1988e dai cardinali e vescovi membri della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi
il 16 marzo 1999. Dieci giorni dopo, il 26 marzo, il Papa san Giovanni Paolo II
ha autorizzato la promulgazione del decreto che la dichiarava Venerabile.
Il primo miracolo e la beatificazione
Il primo miracolo accertato per intercessione di madre Maria Elisabetta è stata
la guarigione inspiegabile di una suora brigidina, indiana d’origine ma di
servizio in una casa del Messico, cui era stata diagnosticata una tubercolosi
ossea. La beatificazione si è quindi svolta a Roma il 9 aprile 2000, durante il
Grande Giubileo, celebrata da san Giovanni Paolo II.
Il secondo miracolo e la canonizzazione
Il prodigio che è invece valso la canonizzazione è quello occorso a un bambino, Carlos Miguel Valdés Rodriguez, nativo di Santa Clara a Cuba. Quando aveva due anni iniziò ad avere disturbi come vomito, cefalea e difficoltà motorie. Dagli esami cui fu sottoposto gli venne diagnosticato un tumore nel cervelletto (precisamente un medulloblastoma desmoplastico cerebrale), grosso circa tre centimetri. Nonostante le due operazioni subite, non migliorò, anzi, rimase paralizzato.
Dopo tre mesi di spostamenti da un ospedale all’altro, i genitori erano quasi senza speranze, quando una suora brigidina suggerì loro di ricorrere all’intercessione della sua fondatrice. Il 18 luglio 2005, quasi immediatamente dopo che al corpo del piccolo era stata accostata una reliquia della Beata, si notarono progressivi miglioramenti, finché non fu dichiarato guarito. La guarigione è stata riconosciuta come miracolosa col decreto promulgato da papa Francesco il 14 dicembre 2015.
Lo stesso Pontefice ha canonizzato madre Maria Elisabetta insieme al beato Stanislao di Gesù Maria (al secolo Jan Papczyński) domenica 5 giugno 2016: ancora una volta durante un Giubileo, l’Anno Santo della Misericordia.
Autore: Emilia Flocchini
SOURCE : https://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/90022
CAPPELLA PAPALE PER LA
BEATIFICAZIONE DI 5 SERVI DI DIO
OMELIA DEL SANTO PADRE
GIOVANNI PAOLO II
Domenica, 9 aprile 2000
1. "Vogliamo vedere
Gesù" (Gv 12, 24).
Questa è la richiesta
rivolta a Filippo da alcuni greci, saliti a Gerusalemme in occasione della
Pasqua. Il loro desiderio di incontrare Gesù e di ascoltarne la parola suscita
una sua risposta solenne: «E' giunta l'ora che sia glorificato il Figlio dell'uomo»
(Gv 12, 23). Qual è quest'«ora» a cui Gesù allude? Il contesto lo
chiarisce: è l'«ora» misteriosa e solenne della sua morte e della sua
risurrezione.
Vedere Gesù! Come quel
gruppo di greci, innumerevoli uomini e donne lungo i secoli hanno desiderato
conoscere il Signore. Lo hanno visto con gli occhi della fede. Lo hanno
riconosciuto come Messia, crocifisso e risuscitato. Si sono lasciati da lui
conquistare e sono divenuti suoi fedeli discepoli. Sono i santi ed i beati che
la Chiesa ci addita come modelli da imitare ed esempi da seguire.
Nel contesto delle
celebrazioni dell'Anno Santo, oggi ho la gioia di elevare alla gloria degli
altari alcuni nuovi beati. Sono cinque Confessori della fede che hanno
annunciato Cristo con la parola e l'hanno testimoniato con l'incessante
servizio ai fratelli. Si tratta di Mariano de Jesús Euse Hoyos, Sacerdote
diocesano e parroco; Francesco Saverio Seelos, Sacerdote professo della Congregazione
del Santissimo Redentore; Anna Rosa Gattorno, vedova, Fondatrice dell'Istituto
delle Figlie di Sant'Anna; Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad, Fondatrice dell'Ordine
delle Suore del Santissimo Salvatore; Mariam Thresia Chiramel Mankidiyan,
Fondatrice della Congregazione della Sacra Famiglia.
2. "El que quiera
servirme, que me siga, y donde esté yo, allí también estará mi servidor" (Jn 12,
26a), nos ha dicho Jesús en el Evangelio que hemos escuchado. Seguidor fiel de
Jesucristo, en el ejercicio abnegado del ministerio sacerdotal, fue el Padre
Mariano de Jesús Euse Hoyos, que hoy sube a la gloria de los altares. Desde su
íntima experiencia de encuentro con el Señor, el Padre Marianito, como es
conocido familiarmente en su patria, se comprometió incansablemente en la
evangelización de niños y adultos, especialmente de los campesinos. No ahorró
sacrificios ni penalidades, entregándose durante casi cincuenta años en una
modesta parroquia de Angostura, en Antioquia, a la gloria de Dios y al bien de
las almas que le fueron encomendadas.
Que su luminoso
testimonio de caridad, comprensión, servicio, solidaridad y perdón sean de
ejemplo en Colombia y también una valiosa ayuda para seguir trabajando por la
paz y la reconciliación total en ese amado País. Si el 9 de abril de hace
cincuenta y dos años marcó el inicio de violencias y conflictos, que por
desgracia duran aún, que este día del año del Gran Jubileo señale el comienzo
de una etapa en la que todos los colombianos construyan juntos la nueva
Colombia, fundamentada en la paz, la justicia social, el respeto de todos los
derechos humanos y el amor fraterno entre los hijos de una misma patria.
3. "Give me again
the joy of your help; with a spirit of fervour sustain me, that I may teach
transgressors your ways and sinners may return to you" (Ps 51:14-15).
Faithful to the spirit and charism of the Redemptorist Congregation to which he
belonged, Father Francis Xavier Seelos often meditated upon these words of the
Psalmist. Sustained by God's grace and an intense life of prayer, Father Seelos
left his native Bavaria and committed himself generously and joyfully to the
missionary apostolate among immigrant communities in the United States.
In the various places
where he worked, Father Francis Xavier brought his enthusiasm, spirit of
sacrifice and apostolic zeal. To the abandoned and the lost he preached the
message of Jesus Christ, "the source of eternal salvation" (Heb 5:9),
and in the hours spent in the confessional he convinced many to return to God.
Today, Blessed Francis Xavier Seelos invites the members of the Church to
deepen their union with Christ in the Sacraments of Penance and the Eucharist.
Through his intercession, may all who work in the vineyard for the salvation of
God's people be encouraged and strengthened in their task.
4. "Io, quando sarò
elevato da terra - ha promesso Gesù nel Vangelo - attirerò tutti a me" (Gv 12,
32). Sarà, infatti, dall'alto della Croce che Gesù rivelerà al mondo l'amore
sconfinato di Dio per l'umanità bisognosa di salvezza. Attratta irresistibilmente
da questo amore, Anna Rosa Gattorno trasformò la sua vita in una continua
immolazione per la conversione dei peccatori e la santificazione di tutti gli
uomini. Essere "portavoce di Gesù", per far giungere ovunque il
messaggio dell'amore che salva: ecco l'anelito più profondo del suo cuore!
Affidata totalmente alla
Provvidenza ed animata da un coraggioso slancio di carità, la beata Anna Rosa
Gattorno ebbe un unico intento, quello di servire Gesù nelle membra doloranti e
ferite del prossimo, con sensibilità ed attenzione materna verso ogni umana
miseria.
La singolare
testimonianza di carità, lasciata dalla nuova Beata, costituisce ancor oggi uno
stimolante incoraggiamento per quanti nella Chiesa sono impegnati a recare, in
modo più specifico, l'annuncio dell'amore di Dio che guarisce le ferite d'ogni
cuore e offre a tutti la pienezza della vita immortale.
5. "When I am lifted
up from the earth, I shall draw all men to myself" (Jn 12:32). The
promise of Jesus, is wonderfully fulfilled also in the life Mary Elisabeth
Hesselblad. Like her fellow countrywoman, Saint Bridget, she too acquired a
deep understanding of the wisdom of the Cross through prayer and in the events
of her own life. Her early experience of poverty, her contact with the sick who
impressed her by their serenity and trust in God's help, and her perseverance
despite many obstacles in founding the Order of the Most Holy Saviour of Saint
Bridget, taught her that the Cross is at the centre of human life and is the
ultimate revelation of our Heavenly Father’s love. By constantly meditating on
God's word, Sister Elisabeth was confirmed in her resolve to work and pray that
all Christians would be one (cf. Jn 17:21).
She was convinced that by
listening to the voice of the Crucified Christ they would come together into
one flock under one Shepherd (cf. Jn 10:16), and from the very
beginning her foundation, characterized by its Eucharistic and Marian
spirituality, committed itself to the cause of Christian unity by means of
prayer and evangelical witness. Through the intercession of Blessed Mary
Elisabeth Hesselblad, pioneer of ecumenism, may God bless and bring to fruition
the Church’s efforts to build ever deeper communion and foster ever more
effective cooperation among all Christ's followers.
6. "Unless a wheat
grain falls on the ground and dies, it remains only a single grain; but if it
dies it yields a rich harvest" (Jn 12:24). From childhood, Mariam
Thresia Mankidiyan knew instinctively that God's love for her demanded a deep
personal purification. Committing herself to a life of prayer and penance,
Sister Mariam Thresia’s willingness to embrace the Cross of Christ enabled her
to remain steadfast in the face of frequent misunderstandings and severe
spiritual trials. The patient discernment of her vocation eventually led to the
foundation of the Congregation of the Holy Family, which continues to draw
inspiration from her contemplative spirit and love of the poor.
Convinced that "God
will give eternal life to those who convert sinners and bring them to the right
path" (Letter 4 to her Spiritual Father), Sister Mariam devoted herself to
this task by her visits and advice, as well as by her prayers and penitential
practice. Through Blessed Mariam Thresia's intercession, may all consecrated
men and women be strengthened in their vocation to pray for sinners and draw
others to Christ by their words and example.
7. "Io sarò il loro
Dio ed essi il mio popolo" (Ger 31, 33). Dio è l'unico nostro Signore
e noi siamo il suo popolo. Questo inscindibile patto d'amore fra Dio e
l'umanità ha avuto la sua piena realizzazione nel sacrificio pasquale di
Cristo. E' in Lui che noi, pur appartenendo a terre e culture diverse,
diveniamo un unico popolo, una sola Chiesa, uno stesso edificio spirituale, di
cui i santi sono pietre luminose e salde.
Rendiamo grazie al
Signore per la splendida testimonianza di questi nuovi Beati. Guardiamo ad
essi, specialmente in questo tempo quaresimale, per trarne incitamento nella
preparazione alle prossime celebrazioni pasquali.
Maria, Regina dei
Confessori, ci aiuti a seguire il suo divin Figlio, come hanno fatto i nuovi
Beati. E voi, Mariano de Jesús Euse Hoyos, Francesco Saverio Seelos, Anna Rosa
Gattorno, Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad, Mariam Thresa Chiramel Mankidiyan,
intercedete per noi, perché, partecipando intimamente alla Passione redentrice
di Cristo, possiamo vivere la fecondità del seme che muore ed essere accolti
come sua messe nel Regno dei cieli. Amen!
© Copyright 2000 -
Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Lunedì, 9 febbraio 2004
Care Sorelle!
1. L’odierna vostra
visita è per me motivo di grande gioia, e ben volentieri vi accolgo mentre si
avvia a conclusione il IX Capitolo Generale del vostro Ordine del SS. Salvatore
di Santa Brigida. Insieme a voi sono idealmente qui raccolte, attorno al Successore
di Pietro, le vostre Consorelle che operano in diversi Paesi del mondo. A tutte
e a ciascuna invio il mio più cordiale saluto.
In modo speciale, saluto
con affetto l’Abbadessa Generale, Madre Tekla Famiglietti, che è stata
riconfermata per un ulteriore sessennio. Nel ringraziarla per i sentimenti
espressi nell’indirizzo rivoltomi, formulo a lei, come pure al nuovo Consiglio
Generale, voti di proficuo lavoro a servizio della benemerita Famiglia
“brigidina”, che in questi anni è andata crescendo e si è arricchita di nuove
opere ed attività. Di tale confortante sviluppo apostolico e della promettente
fioritura vocazionale rendo grazie a Dio insieme a voi.
2. “Ritornare alle
radici… per un rinnovamento della vita religiosa”: questo è il tema sul quale
avete voluto riflettere durante l’assemblea capitolare. In un clima di silenzio
e di preghiera, vi siete poste in ascolto dello Spirito Santo per discernere
quali siano le priorità del vostro Ordine in questa nostra epoca. Ogni
autentico rinnovamento richiede un saggio recupero dello spirito delle origini,
in modo da tradurre il carisma fondazionale in scelte apostoliche consone alle
esigenze dei tempi. Per questo, fedeli alla peculiare vocazione monastica che
contraddistingue la famiglia brigidina, vi siete preoccupate di ribadire il
primato assoluto che Dio deve occupare nell’esistenza di ciascuna di voi e
delle vostre comunità. Siete chiamate anzitutto ad essere “specialiste
dello spirito”, anime cioè infuocate di amore divino, contemplative e costantemente
dedite all’orazione.
3. Solamente se sarete
“specialiste dello spirito” come fu santa Brigida, potrete incarnare fedelmente
in questa nostra epoca il carisma di radicalità evangelica e di unità ,
ereditato dalla beata Elisabetta Hesselblad. Attraverso l’ospitalità e
l’accoglienza che offrite nelle vostre case, potrete testimoniare l’amore
misericordioso di Dio verso ogni uomo e l’anelito all’unità che Cristo ha
lasciato ai suoi discepoli.
Ho scritto nella Lettera
apostolica Novo
millennio ineunte che la grande sfida del terzo millennio è “fare
della Chiesa la casa e la scuola della comunione”, e che, a tal fine, occorre
“promuovere una spiritualità della comunione” (cfr n. 43). Chiedo a voi, care
Sorelle, di essere dappertutto costruttrici infaticabili del “grande ecumenismo
della santità”. La vostra azione ecumenica è particolarmente apprezzata, perché
interessa nazioni del Nord-Europa, dove minore è la presenza dei cattolici ed
importante è la promozione del dialogo con i fratelli di altre Confessioni
cristiane.
La Vergine Maria, Madre
di Cristo e della Chiesa, vegli sul vostro Ordine e intercedano per voi santa
Brigida e la beata Elisabetta Hesselblad. Io vi accompagno con un quotidiano
ricordo al Signore, mentre di cuore benedico voi e tutte le vostre comunità.
Copyright © Dicastero per
la Comunicazione - Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad (Moder
Elisabeth)
1870-06-04 — 1957-04-27
Ordensgrundare, helgon
Elisabeth Hesselblad
grundade den romerska grenen av birgittinorden, en numera världsvid
ordensgemenskap vars centrum sedan 1931 är Birgittahuset på Piazza Farnese i
Rom. Hon helgonförklarades 2016.
Elisabeth Hesselblad
växte upp i Fåglavik, Falun och Skövde med tolv syskon. Familjen var tidvis
fattig, och barnen fick tidigt bidra till försörjningen. Som 18-åring
utvandrade hon till USA. Hon slog sig ner i New York, där hon utbildade sig
till sjuksköterska. En del av sina inkomster skickade hon till familjen i
Sverige som var i behov av ekonomisk hjälp. Efter olika anställningar hamnade
hon slutligen som privatsköterska hos den kubanska katolska familjen Cisneros,
vilket förde henne i närmare kontakt både med katolska kyrkan och med
klosterlivet. En av familjens båda döttrar gick i kloster.
Efter undervisning hos
jesuitpatern Johann Georg Hagen upptogs Elisabeth Hesselblad i den katolska
kyrkan år 1902. Följande år fick hon följa med döttrarna Cisneros till Rom, där
hon besökte Birgittahuset, som då var ett karmelitkloster. Här upplevde hon vad
som snart kom att mogna till en birgittinsk kallelse; hon önskade tjäna Gud i
Birgittahuset och verka för de nordiska folkens konversion till den katolska
tron. Vid denna tid drabbades hon av blödande magsår, en åkomma som hon haft
besvär av alltsedan tonåren. Trots detta accepterade karmeliternas priorinna
moder Hedwig hennes anhållan om inträde i klostret, och 1904 antogs hon som
novis med namnet Maria Elisabeth av heliga Birgitta. Med hjälp av sin biktfader
Hagen, som just blivit förflyttad till Rom, fick hon påvligt tillstånd att
avlägga sina klosterlöften som birgittinsyster. Detta undantag motiverades med
att hon var döende.
Elisabeth Hesselblad
tillfriskande emellertid. För att lära känna den birgittinska andligheten
besökte hon åren 1906 till 1911 de birgittinska klostren i Europa. Bland dem
fanns Syon Abbey i England som hon kom att ha nära kontakter med framöver. Det
var som oblat i detta kloster som hon kunde kalla sig birgittin. År 1911
upprättade hon tillsammans med två unga engelska kvinnor en egen birgittinsk
kommunitet i den del av Birgittahuset som karmeliterna hyrde ut. Medan den
medeltida birgittinorden bestod av autonoma kloster, grundade Elisabeth
Hesselblad en så kallad kongregation med en central ledning och underlydande
kommuniteter. Löftesavläggelsen skedde vid altaret i heliga Birgittas rum.
Birgittakommuniteten under ledning av moder Elisabeth, som Maria Elisabeth
Hesselblad nu kom att kallas, flyttade till ett komplex på Via delle Isole, där
det än i dag finns en birgittinsk kommunitet. Fler postulanter infann sig,
verksamheten expanderade, och 1920 fick den nya Birgittagemenskapen
provisoriskt påvligt godkännande.
Med etableringen av en
Birgittakommunitet i Rom var ett av Elisabeth Hesselblads mål uppnått. Nästa
etappmål var att återupprätta orden i Sverige. Här erbjöd Birgittajubileet
1923, då Svenska kyrkan firade 550-årsminnet av den heliga Birgittas död, en
möjlighet. På initiativ av företrädare för det nygrundade högkyrkliga
Birgittasällskapet, särskilt då Mary von Rosen,
inbjöds Elisabeth Hesselblad att delta. Uppmuntrad av den nytillträdde
apostoliske vikarien i Sverige, biskop Johannes Müller, utnyttjade hon sin
vistelse i Sverige till att tillsammans med två medsystrar etablera en
birgittinsk kommunitet i Djursholm utanför Stockholm.
Eftersom det rådde
klosterförbud i Sverige var verksamheten formellt sett ett gästhem och
systrarna, vilkas antal växte efter hand, varvade böneliv med
pensionatsverksamhet. Detta var en modell som kom att användas i de flesta av
de kommuniteter Elisabeth Hesselblad grundade, exempelvis i Lugano i Schweiz, i
Iver Hearth utanför London samt i Vadstena, där Birgittasystrarna etablerade
sig 1935. I den kommunitet i Kerala i Indien som upprättades 1937 var det
kontemplativa inslaget dock mer framträdande.
Denna form av klosterliv
där det kontemplativa livet kompletteras med utåtriktad verksamhet kom att
användas också i Birgittahuset i Rom. Förvärvet av detta hus 1931 föregicks av
en lång kamp, där ärkebiskop Nathan Söderblom och svenska staten var en mäktig
motpart. Med hjälp av förmögna svenska katoliker, inte minst då markis Claes
Lagergren, och sina kontakter i den romerska kurian gick Elisabeth Hesselblad
segrande ur kampen. I sina brev lyfter hon fram de till heliga Birgitta knutna
minnesmärkenas och platsernas betydelse för att väcka nordbors intresse för den
katolska tron. I Vadstena fick Birgittasystrarna dock nöja sig med en fastighet
intill den klassiska klosterkyrkan.
Birgittasystrarnas
återkomst till Sverige gav eko i pressen. I samband med etableringen i
Djursholm publicerades flera positiva artiklar om Elisabeth Hesselblad, som
betecknades som en ”svensk märkeskvinna” och en förvaltare av svensk tradition.
Men det förekom också en hel del hätska utfall. Debatten visar att den från
reformationstiden nedärvda antikatolicismen fortfarande var en stark kraft i
det svenska samhället.
År 1942 fick den nya
grenen av Birgittinorden definitiv approbation och rätt att bära namnet Ordo
Sanctissimi Salvatoris. Elisabeth Hesselblads mål var egentligen inte att
grunda en ny birgittinorden utan att reformera och vitalisera den gamla orden
och att på sikt sammanföra de gamla klostren och de nya kommuniteterna till en
enda birgittinsk gemenskap. Hennes korrespondens visar att den mera aktiva
inriktning som den nya grenen av birgittinorden kom att få mer var en av
omständigheterna framtvingad anpassning än ett uttryck för ett medvetet program
och att hon tänkt sig att den nya orden även skulle ha en kontemplativ gren.
Under andra världskriget
fungerade Birgittahuset på Piazza Farnese som tillflykt för judar, och efter
kriget engagerade sig Elisabeth Hesselblad i hjälpverksamhet för flyktingar i
det krigshärjade Europa. För dessa insatser tilldelades hon en rad utmärkelser,
däribland Maltserordens förtjänstkors 1946.
I äldre biografier
framställs Elisabeth Hesselblad som en pionjär för den ekumeniska dialogen. Den
bilden går emellertid på tvärs mot de vittnesbörd som ges i det samtida
källmaterialet och som också kommit att lyftas fram i nyare forskning.
Elisabeth Hesselblad såg det som en av sina främsta uppgifter att be och verka
för de nordiska folkens konversion till den katolska kyrkan, vilket hon också
markerade i sina kontakter med den protestantiska högkyrkligheten.
Elisabeth Hesselblad var
inte ekumen i vår tids mening. Flera av de prelater och teologer som hon hade
kontakt med och som understödde hennes verksamhet tillhörde det konservativa
lägret inom kyrkan. Men de birgittinska kommuniteterna kom att fungera som
mötesplatser för katoliker och protestanter, inte minst för kvinnor. Detta var
särskilt tydligt i Sverige men också i Birgittahuset i Rom, som åter blev ett
centrum för nordiska pilgrimer i bred mening. Bland dessa fanns bland andra
skådespelerskan Ingrid
Bergman. Med Birgittaminnet som förenande länk blev den nya birgittinorden
en vägröjare för den katolsk-protestantiska ekumeniska dialog som inleddes med
Andra Vatikankonciliet på 1960-talet.
Elisabeth Hesselblad dog
i Birgittahuset i Rom den 24 april 1957. Där är hon också begravd. Den 5 juni
2016 helgonförklarades hon. Hon är det andra svenska helgonet efter heliga
Birgitta som kanoniserats av påven.
Publicerat 2018-03-08
Hänvisa gärna till denna
artikel, men uppge alltid författarnamnet enligt följande:
Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad,
www.skbl.se/sv/artikel/ElisabethHesselblad, Svenskt kvinnobiografiskt lexikon
(artikel av Yvonne Maria Werner), hämtad 2024-04-24.
Visa full information
Övriga namn
Alternativ namnform:
Moder Elisabeth
Familjeförhållanden
Civilstånd: Ogift
Mor: Catharina, kallad
Kajsa, Hesselblad, född Petersson
Far: August Robert
Hesselblad
Bror: Frans Gustaf
Hesselblad
fler ...
Utbildning
Folkskola, Falun
Folkskola, Skövde
Yrkesutbildning, New
York, USA: Sjuksköterskeutbildning, Roosevelt
Hospital School of Nursing
Verksamhet
Yrke: Sjuksköterska,
privatsjuksköterska
Ideellt arbete: Nunna,
karmelitnunna
Ideellt arbete: Nunna,
Birgittinsyster, priorinna, senare generalpriorinna (Superiora Generale)
Kontakter
Kollega: Moder Hedwig de
la Croce, född Hedwig Wielhorska
Mentor: Johann Georg
Hagen, jesuitpater
Mentor: Salvatore Brandi,
jesuitpater
fler ...
Organisationer
Birgittinorden, Den allra
heligaste Frälsarens orden (Ordo Sanctissimi Salvatoris)
Grundare
Bostadsorter
Födelseort: Fåglavik
Fåglavik
Falun
fler ...
Prizes/awards
Orden: Malteserordens
förtjänstkors av första klassen för humanitära insatser under andra
världskriget
Orden: Kungl.
Nordstjärneorden (NO)
Övrigt: Helgonförklarad
Källor
Katolska biskopsämbetets deposition, SE/RA/730135. Riksarkivet
(Hämtad 2017-04-04)
Litteratur
Beatificationis et
canonizationis servi dei Mariae Elisabeth Hesselblad (1870-1957) fundatricis
Ordinis SS. Salvatoris Sanctae Birgittae. Vol.II. Bibliographia documentata :
Positio super vita, virtutibus et fama sanctitatis, Roma, 1996
Göransson, Björn, Maria
Elisabeth Hesselblad: ett helgon från Sverige, Catholica, Ängelholm, 2016
Jochnick Östborn, Agneta
af, "För Sverige har jag skänkt Gud mitt liv!": Elisabeth
Hesselblads kallelse och birgittinska mission i Sverige 1902–1935, Artos,
Skellefteå, 1999
Masciarelli, Michele
Giulio, Elisabetta Hesselblad "la seconda Brigida": un'apostola
dell' ecumenismo e un modello di rinascita per l'Europa, Elle Di Ci, Torino,
1998
Werner, Yvonne Maria,
'Elisabeth Hesselblad och ekumeniken.', Signum., 2000(26):, s. 24–30, 2000
Vidare referenser
Litteratur
Maffeo, Sabino, ’Maria
Elisabeth Hesselblad e i gesuiti’, Civiltà Cattolica, 2013, 164
'Moder Elisabeth Hesselblad'. Birgittasystrarna (Hämtad
2017-04-04)
Valli, Aldo Maria, La
ragazza che cercava Dio: Santa Maria Elisabetta Hesselblad, Milano, 2012
Uppslagsverk
’Elisabeth
Hesselblad’, Wikipedia (Hämtad 2021-06-02)
SOURCE : https://skbl.se/sv/artikel/ElisabethHesselblad
Voir aussi : https://www.cath.ch/newsf/rome-cinq-nouveaux-bienheureux-a-rome-le-9-avril-987-depuis-le-debut-de-ce-pontificat/
