Revelations of St. Bridget/Preface
Preface
To many of his saints, who meditated so
devoutly and so affectionately on his life and
passion, our Blessed Lord has been pleased to
exhibit them more clearly. Where supported
by the recognized sanctity of the individual,
and the absence of delusion, the Church has
permitted their circulation as useful and edifying, and many have in all ages had a certain
weight with the faithful. It is not easy to explain what that weight is, except by saying that
the use and influence of these revelations is
purely devotional.
Among the revelations of canonized saints and other holy personages, none have exercised a wider influence, or been more frequently cited, than those of St. Bridget; and to make accessible to the English reader, writings of which he has heard from childhood, we have selected from the old Latin folio such as bear on the Life and Passion of our Lord, and the Life of his Blessed Mother, in the hope that it may increase the reader's love for both.
"Nothing is more famous in the life of St. Bridget," says the learned Alban Butler, "than the many revelations with which she was favored by God, chiefly concerning the sufferings of our Blessed Saviour, and revolutions which were to happen in certain kingdoms. It is certain that God, who communicates himself to his servants in many ways, with infinite condescension, and distributes his gifts with infinite wisdom, treated this great saint and certain others with special marks of his goodness, conversing frequently with them in a most familiar manner, as the devout Blosius observes. Sometimes he spoke to them in visions, at other times he discovered to them hidden things by supernatural illustrations of their understanding, or by representations raised in their imaginations so clearly, that they could not be mistaken in them; but to distinguish the operations of the Holy Ghost, and the illusions of the enemy, requires great prudence, and attention to the just criteria or rules for the discernment of spirits. Nor can any private revelations ever be of the same weight and certainty with those that are public, which were made to the prophets, to be by them promulgated to the Church, and confirmed to men by the sanction of miracles and the authority of the Church.
The learned divine, John de Torrecremata, afterwards cardinal, by the order of the council of Basil examined the book of St. Bridget’s revelations, and approved it as profitable for the instruction of the faithful; which approbation was admitted by the council as competent and sufficient. It, however, amounts to no more than a declaration that the doctrine contained in that book is conformable to the orthodox faith, and the revelations piously credible upon an historical probability. The learned Cardinal Lambertini, afterwards Pope Benedict XIV., writes upon this subject as follows: “The approbation of such revelations is no more than a permission, that, after a mature examination, they may be published for the profit of the faithful. Though an assent of Catholic faith be not due to them, they deserve a human assent according to the rules of prudence, by which they are probable and piously credible, as the revelations of Blessed Hildegardis, St. Bridget, and St. Catharine of Sienna.”
The revelations of St. Bridget, as taken down by her confessors, were printed as early as 1492, and many subsequent editions have appeared. The following translations are made from the Antwerp edition of 1611, and are probably the first in English of any part of her revelations, although the Angelical Discourse, or Office of our Lady, was printed at London, by Caxton, the first English printer.