During the XX century, another Swedish lady, mother Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad
(1870 – 1957) played a remarkable role to promote the survival and expansion
of the order.
Elizabeth Hesselblad was born in Sweden and being still a
teenager emigrated to New York to seek work in order to get financial support
for her family back in homeland. She studied nursing at Manhattan's
Roosevelt Hospital
where she worked as a nurse and did home care for the sick and aged. Her work
took her into the large Catholic population of New York; her interest in the
Church grew, and she came to see it as the place closest to Christ. Before
returning back to Europe and leaving New York in 1902 she converted to
Catholicism.
In March 1904 she settled at the Carmelite House of Saint Bridget
of Sweden and in 1906 got permission from Pope Pius X to take the habit of the
Bridgettine order (Order of the Most Holy Saviour of St. Bridget).
She
worked hard to restore the order in Sweden and Italy, especially in Rome where
in 1931 she finally managed to get the back the control of Bridgettine house
and church. In addition to Europe she established Bridgettine convents also in
India.
Lutheran convert, Mary Elizabeth Hesselblad was born in Sweden June 4, 1870,
the first of thirteen children. She restored the order in Rome in 1911, and in
Sweden in 1923, with a special concern for Christian unity that she had
evidence throughout her life. Although in poor health herself, she carried out
a very active service to the poor, and was particularly welcoming towards the
persecuted Jews during World War II. She died in Rome on April 24,1957 at the
age of 87.
Mother Mary Elisabeth Hesselblad revived the old Bridgettine charisma adapting
it to the new times. She strongly felt that this was her mission in life.
In April 2000 she was
beatified by Pope John Paul II during a Mass celebrated at St. Peter's Square.
