Elisabeth Hesselblad

Maria Elisabeth Hesselblad (born June 4, 1870 in Herrljunga -Fåglavik, Sweden ; † April 24, 1957 in Rome , Italy ) is a Roman Catholic saint from Sweden. The convert re- founded the Swedish branch of the Order of the Redeemer . She was beatified in 2000 and canonized on June 5, 2016 .

Life

Elisabeth Hesselblad was the fifth of 13 children of Augusto Roberto Hesselblad and his wife Cajsa Petersdotter Dag. The family was Protestant; Elisabeth was baptized in July 1870. During her childhood, the family moved frequently for economic reasons. In 1886 Elisabeth Hesselblad went to Karlsborg to look for work and emigrated to the USA two years later at the age of 18.

She trained as a nurse at the Roosevelt Hospital in New York. She had close contact with Catholics in her training and professional activity and decided to join the Roman Catholic Church. On August 15, 1902, she was accepted into the Roman Catholic Church in Washington by the Jesuit Giovanni Giorgio Hagen, who became her spiritual leader. She left the United States and returned to Europe. In Rome, where she visited the Church of St. Birgitta and the Casa di Santa Brigida in Piazza Farnese, she was confirmed . She went back to the USA one more time, but only for a short time. On March 25, 1904, she settled in Rome in the Casa di Santa Brigida , where the Carmelites lived at that time . In 1906 Pope Pius X allowed her to wear the habit of the Order of the Savior.

After she had made her profession , between 1908 and 1911 she visited the few remaining monasteries of the Order of the Redeemer in various European countries with the aim of re-establishing a monastery of the Birgittins in Rome. That happened on November 9, 1919 with initially three British postulants . In Sweden, the branch established itself in Djursholm in 1923 . Since 1931 the Casa di Santa Brigida in Rome has been the motherhouse of the so-called Swedish branch of the order. During the Second World War , the order sheltered Jews and politically persecuted people with their consent. The Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem honored her posthumously in 2005 as Righteous Among the Nations .

Elisabeth Hesselblad died on April 24, 1957 in Rome; the beatification process was initiated shortly afterwards. The beatification was performed by Pope John Paul II on April 9, 2000 in St. Peter's Square in the Vatican.

On December 15, 2015, Pope Francis confirmed a medically inexplicable healing attributed to her intercession as a miracle. This was the final prerequisite for the canonization , which took place in Rome on June 5, 2016.

Since 2002, the Birgittenkloster Bremen has been the only branch of the Swedish branch of the Order of the Redeemer in Germany. The Birgittinnen- Kloster Altomünster in Bavaria belongs to the old branch of the order.

Remembrance day

April 24th

literature

Agneta and Jochnick Östborn: För Sverige har jag skänkt Gud mitt liv! Elisabeth Hesselblads kallelse och birgittinska mission i Sverige . Artos, Skellefteå 1999.
Ekkart Sauser : Elisabeth Hesselblad. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 22, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-133-2 , Sp. 520-521.
Marguerite Tjäder: Mother Elisabeth - The new flower of the order of St. Birgitta . EOS-Verlag, Sankt Ottilien 2002, ISBN 3-8306-7116-4

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Pope canonize former Protestant and Jewish savior. In: press release. kath.net according to KNA, December 15, 2015, accessed on December 16, 2015 .
^ Promulgazione di Decreti della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , December 15, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015 (Italian).
^ Concistoro per il voto su alcune Cause di Canonizzazione, March 15, 2016. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , March 15, 2016, accessed March 15, 2016 (Italian).
↑ Cappella Papale per la Canonizzazione dei Beati Stanislao di Gesu e Maria Maria Papczyński Elisabetta Hesselblad. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office, June 5, 2016, accessed June 5, 2016 (Italian).

personal data
SURNAME	Hesselblad, Elisabeth
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Hesselblad, Maria Elisabeth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Swedish nun, Roman Catholic blessed
DATE OF BIRTH	June 4, 1870
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fåglavik , Sweden
DATE OF DEATH	April 24, 1957
Place of death	Rome , Italy

[1] Pope canonize former Protestant and Jewish savior. In: press release. kath.net according to KNA, December 15, 2015, accessed on December 16, 2015 .

[2] Promulgazione di Decreti della Congregazione delle Cause dei Santi. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , December 15, 2015, accessed December 15, 2015 (Italian).

[3] Concistoro per il voto su alcune Cause di Canonizzazione, March 15, 2016. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office , March 15, 2016, accessed March 15, 2016 (Italian).

[4] Cappella Papale per la Canonizzazione dei Beati Stanislao di Gesu e Maria Maria Papczyński Elisabetta Hesselblad. In: Daily Bulletin. Holy See Press Office, June 5, 2016, accessed June 5, 2016 (Italian).