Catherine of Vadstena

Infobox Saint
name=Saint Catherine of Sweden
birth_date=1331 or 1332 [Nordisk familjebok (1910), [http://runeberg.org/nfbm/0673.html link] ]
death_date=death date|1381|3|24|df=y
feast_day=22 March
venerated_in=Roman Catholic Church


imagesize=
caption=
birth_place=
death_place=
titles=
beatified_date=
beatified_place=
beatified_by=
canonized_date=
canonized_place=
canonized_by=
attributes=Generally represented with a hind at her side
patronage=patron saint of protection against abortion and miscarriage
major_shrine=
suppressed_date=
issues=
prayer=
prayer_attrib=

Saint Catherine of Sweden, "Catherine Vastanensis" or "Catherine of Vadstena" (c. 1332 – 24 March, 1381) has been called the patron saint of protection against abortion and miscarriage. Her father was Ulf Gudmarsson, Lord of Ulvåsa, and her mother was the better known Saint Birgitta (in their lifetime known as Birgitta Birgersdotter of Finsta).

At the age of about thirteen she married lord Eggert van Kyren, a young half-Swedish, half-Westphalian nobleman, with whom she took a vow of chastity. Catherine accompanied her mother to Rome in 1349, and soon upon arrival heard news of her husband's death. Catherine is said to have written a devotional work entitled "Consolation of the Soul" (in medieval Swedish "Siælinna tröst", or "Själens tröst" in modern Swedish), a dated copy from 1407 is still in existence.

Before her death, Catherine became head of the Brigittine convent at Vadstena Abbey, which was founded by her mother. [ [http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/03448a.htm St. Catherine of Sweden] - Catholic Encyclopedia article] In 1484, Pope Innocent VIII gave permission for Catherine's veneration as a saint and her feast was assigned to 22 March in the Roman martyrology. St Catherine is generally represented with a hind at her side, which is said to have come to her aid when unchaste youths tried to steal her virginity.

In 1488 pope Innocent VIII gave permission to the translation of her relics in Vadstena. The beatification and canonization process was never completed because of the protestant reformation. [Nordisk familjebok (1910), [http://runeberg.org/nfbm/0673.html link] ] [ [http://www.ne.se/jsp/search/article.jsp?i_art_id=222934 Nationalencyklopedin] September 1, 2008]

ee also

*Patron saint

References