Editing Bridget of Sweden (section)

==Fifteen 'Our Father and Hail Mary prayers'==
[[File:Saint Bridget's Reliquary (cropped).JPG|thumb|Saint Bridget's reliquary, holding a piece of her bone]]
Saint Bridget prayed for a long time to know how many blows Jesus Christ suffered during the Passion. Jesus was said to have responded to these prayers by appearing to her and stating that "I received 5480 blows upon My Body. If you wish to honor them in some way, recite fifteen Our Fathers and fifteen Hail Marys with the following Prayers, which I Myself shall teach you, for an entire year. When the year is finished, you will have honored each of My Wounds."{{cn|date=August 2024}} 

[[s:The Secret of Happiness|The prayers]] became known as the "Fifteen O's" because in the original Latin, each prayer began with the words ''O Jesu'', ''O Rex'', or ''O Domine Jesu Christe''.<ref>O Jesus; O King; O Lord Jesus Christ.</ref> Some have questioned whether Saint Bridget is in fact their author; [[Eamon Duffy]] reports that the prayers probably originated in England, in the devotional circles that surrounded [[Richard Rolle]] or the English Brigittines.<ref>Duffy, p. 249.</ref>

Whatever their origin, the prayers were widely circulated in the late Middle Ages, and they became regular features in [[Book of hours|Books of Hours]] and other devotional literature. They were translated into various languages; an early English language version of them was printed in a primer by [[William Caxton]]. The prayers themselves reflect the late medieval tradition of meditation on the passion of Christ, and are structured around the [[Sayings of Jesus on the cross|seven last words of Christ]]. They borrow from [[Church Fathers|patristic]] and [[Bible|Scriptural]] sources as well as the tradition of devotion to the wounds of Christ.<ref>Duffy, pp. 249–252.</ref>

During the Middle Ages, the prayers were circulated with various promises of [[indulgence]] and other assurances of 21 supernatural graces supposed to attend the daily recitation of the 15 orations at least for a year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dailycatholic.org/oct8sos.htm|title=Prayers of St. Bridget of Sweden|archive-url=https://archive.today/20110825222233/http://www.dailycatholic.org/oct8sos.htm|archive-date=25 August 2011|url-status=live|access-date=23 July 2013}}</ref> These indulgences were repeated in the manuscript tradition of the [[Book of hours|Books of Hours]], and may constitute one major source of the prayers' popularity in the late Middle Ages. They promise, among other things, the release from [[Purgatory]] of fifteen of the devotee's family members, and that they would keep fifteen living family members in a state of [[divine grace|grace]].<ref name="Duffy, p. 255">Duffy, p. 255.</ref><ref>''The Secret of Happiness: The Fifteen Prayers Revealed By Our Lord to Saint Bridget in the Church of Saint Paul in Rome'' (Pamphlet), Suzanne Foinard, Editions Sainte-Rita (1940). {{OCLC|25228073}}.</ref>

The extravagance of the promises which were made in these rubrics—one widely circulated version promised that the devotee would receive "his heart's desire, if it be for the salvation of his soul"<ref name="Duffy, p. 255" />—attracted critics early and late. In 1538, [[William Marshall (translator)|William Marshall]] enjoined his readers to "henseforth ... forget suche prayers as seynt Brigittes & other lyke, whyche greate promyses and perdons haue falsly auaunced."<ref>Quoted in Summit, Jennifer (2000). ''Lost Property: The Woman Writer and English Literary History, 1380–1589''. University of Chicago. {{ISBN|978-0-226-78013-9}}.</ref>
{{Christian mysticism}}
[[Martin Luther]] strongly rejected the Roman Catholic belief in the 21 promises{{citation needed|date=November 2024}} and nicknamed St Bridget ''Die tolle Brigit'' (The foolish Bridget).<ref>{{cite news | first = Matthew | last = Milliner | url = https://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/06/not-so-secular-sweden | title = Not so secular Sweden | journal = [[First Things]] | date = 1 June 2014 | access-date = 8 October 2020 | archive-url = https://archive.today/20140518064834/https://www.firstthings.com/article/2014/06/not-so-secular-sweden | archive-date = 18 May 2014 | url-status = live }} Quote: Martin Luther may have called her die tolle Brigit, “crazy Birgitta,” but there was her body—enclosed in a red casket, now tastefully tended by Lutherans.</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.gp.se/kultur/ulla-britta-ramklint-hon-kom-att-kallas-den-heliga-1.98990 |title= Ulla Britta Ramklint: Hon kom att kallas Den heliga |quote= Martin Luther kallade henne 'die Tolle Brigit' |journal= [[Göteborgs-Posten]] |date= 3 June 2015 |author= [[Lisbeth Larsson]] |access-date= 8 October 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url= https://www.svd.se/helgon-genom-historien |title= Birgitta bland tidernas mest kända helgon |date= 17 December 2015 |orig-date= 26 April 2014 |author= Gunilla von Hall |newspaper= Svenska Dagbladet |archive-url= https://archive.today/20151222173855/https://www.svd.se/helgon-genom-historien |archive-date= 22 December 2015 |url-status= live |access-date= 8 October 2020 }}</ref>
In the following decades, Protestantism sought to eradicate the devotion to similar angelic and spiritual entities claiming they were a 'popish' and 'pagan' legacy.<ref>{{cite book | url = https://academic.oup.com/past/article/208/1/77/1455534?searchresult=1 |chapter = Invisible Helpers: Angelic Intervention in Post-Reformation England |title= Past & Present | volume = 208 | issue = 1 | date = August 2010 | pages = 77–130 | doi = 10.1093/pastj/gtq002 | publisher = [[Oxford University Press]] | issn = 0031-2746 | oclc =  4639922714| last1 = Walsham | first1 = A. }} Citing: Marshall, "Protestants and Fairies in Early-Modern England"; Margo Todd, "Fairies, Egyptians and Elders: Multiple Cosmologies in Post-Reformation Scotland", in Bridget Heal and Ole Peter Grell (eds.), The Impact of the European Reformation: Princes, Clergy and People (Aldershot, 2008).</ref> Lutheranism and Calvinism were characterized by a lower degree of Marian devotion than that pertaining to the Roman Catholic Church, particularly with reference to the Marian title of [[Titles of Mary#Devotional titles|Queen of Angels]].

The Vatican and the Lutheran Church jointly conceived a modern devotion to St Bridget which had remained a relevant factor of disagreement between the two churches till then.<ref name=ricerca.repubblica.it /> 
In 1954, the [[Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office]] ruled that the alleged promises (though not the prayers themselves) are unreliable, and it directed local [[ordinary (church officer)|ordinaries]] not to permit the circulation of pamphlets which contain the promises.<ref>Marius Crovini (Notary of the Supreme Holy Congregation of the Holy Office), ''WARNING CONCERNING THE "PROMISES OF ST. BRIDGET"'', 28 January 1954, published in [[Acta Apostolicae Sedis]], [https://www.vatican.va/archive/aas/documents/AAS-46-1954-ocr.pdf annus XXXXVI, series II, vol. XXI], p. 64 [access 14 April 2019]. English Translation by [[Eternal Word Television Network]]: [https://www.ewtn.com/library/CURIA/CDFBRID.HTM]</ref><ref name=Puskorius>{{Cite web | url=http://www.dailycatholic.org/oct8sos.htm#caveatemptor | title=Magnificent Prayers, Yes – Magnificent Promises, No |first=Casimir M. | last=Puskorius | work=dailycatholic.org | access-date=23 July 2013}}</ref>

The ecumenical process of reconciliation culminated on 8 October 1991 during the sexcentennial of St Bridget's canonization, when Pope John Paul II and two Lutheran bishops met and prayed in front of the burial place of St Peter Apostle, in Rome. It was the first time in which a joint prayer was said by members of the two communities.<ref name="ricerca.repubblica.it">{{cite news | first = Orazio | last = La Rocca | url = https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1991/10/06/cattolici-luterani-fanno-pace.html | title = Cattolici e luterani fanno pace | trans-title = Catholics and Lutherans agree again | date = 8 October 1991 | access-date = 8 October 2020 | language = it | journal = {{Lang|it|[[la Repubblica]]}} | archive-url = https://archive.today/20190219015738/https://ricerca.repubblica.it/repubblica/archivio/repubblica/1991/10/06/cattolici-luterani-fanno-pace.html | archive-date = 19 February 2019 | url-status = live }}</ref>