Feast Day: June 4
Founder of the Bridgettine Sisters of the Most Holy Savior (Renewed Order)
Patroness of Christian Unity and Converts
Early Life and Conversion
Born in Fåglavik, Sweden, on June 4, 1870, into a devout Lutheran family, Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad grew up with a strong desire for holiness. In her early adulthood, she emigrated to the United States to support her family by working as a nurse, settling in New York City. During these years, she was deeply moved by the lives of the saints and the spiritual richness of Catholic doctrine.
Through study, prayer, and inner prompting of grace, she was drawn to the Catholic Church. In the year 1902, after much prayer and spiritual searching, she was received into the Church on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15, and confirmed shortly after.
Religious Vocation and the Bridgettine Revival
Mary Elizabeth felt a powerful call to religious life and, in particular, to revive the Order of the Most Holy Savior of Saint Bridget of Sweden—the ancient Bridgettine Order founded in the 14th century by Saint Bridget of Sweden, also a convert and mystic.
After obtaining a special indult from Pope Pius X, she took religious vows in 1911 in Rome, assuming the name Mary Elizabeth of the Sacred Heart. She then re-established the Bridgettine Order as a community devoted to prayer, unity among Christians, and hospitality, particularly in service of the sick and the poor. Her renewal of the Order was marked by a return to the traditional Rule of Saint Bridget, emphasizing both the contemplative and active dimensions of religious life.
Her spiritual life was deeply Eucharistic, Marian, and penitential, combining the rigors of traditional Catholic spirituality with profound charity.
Heroism During the War
During World War II, Mother Mary Elizabeth risked her life by harboring Jews and others persecuted by the Nazi regime. Her convent in Rome became a place of refuge and mercy. For her courage and charity, she was later recognized as Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem.
Death and Canonization
She died on April 24, 1957, in Rome, leaving behind a legacy of prayer, reconciliation, and fidelity to the Church. Her remains rest in the House of Saint Bridget in Rome, the same dwelling where Saint Bridget herself lived and died.
Mary Elizabeth was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2000 and canonized by Pope Francis on June 5, 2016.
Spiritual Legacy and Message
Saint Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad stands as a shining light of conversion, unity, and sacrificial love. Her life proclaims that the Catholic Faith is not only the fullness of Christian truth but also a calling to heroic charity and contemplative holiness.
Her devotion to the Sacred Heart, the Passion of Christ, and Our Lady shaped her spirituality, and she urged all her spiritual daughters to seek holiness through fidelity to the Holy Rule, silence, prayer, and self-giving.
Prayer for Her Intercession
O God, who raised up Saint Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad to renew the Order of Saint Bridget and to labor for the unity of Thy Church, grant through her intercession that we, ever faithful to Thy will, may strive to bring all souls to the knowledge and love of the Truth, who is Christ Our Lord. Amen.