"If you then, though you are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit
to those who ask him!" Luke 11:13
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Content Book 7
A revelation which Lady Birgitta had in Rome
after the year of jubilee and in which the Virgin Mary
foretells to her that she will go to Jerusalem and Bethlehem
when it pleases God; and Mary promises her that she
will then show her the manner in which she
gave birth to her blessed Son.
In Rome Lady Birgitta had this revelation
which speaks about the glorious sword of sorrow
that pierced the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary
and which the just man Simeon
foretold to her in the temple.
A revelation which blessed Francis
showed to Lady Birgitta wherein he invited her
to his chamber to eat and to drink and explained to her
spiritually that his chamber was obedience
and that his food was to convert souls to God
and that his drink was to see his converts loving God
with all their strength and fervently absorbed
in prayer and in the other virtues.
Lady Birgitta had this revelation
in the city of Ortona, in the kingdom of Naples.
Christ speaks to her and assures her
that there are relics of the body of Saint Thomas the Apostle
on the altar there and that he takes a most sweet delight
in these relics and in those of his other saints,
counting such relics as his precious treasure on earth
and promising great merit and reward to those
who honor them with due devotion.
Lady Birgitta had this revelation in Naples
at the request of Lord Elzear,
son of the countess of Ariano and, at that time,
a young scholar of good disposition. He had then asked Lady Birgitta
to pray to God for him. While she was at prayer,
the Virgin Mary appeared to her and gave to her this revelation,
by means of which she informs him about the measures
to be maintained in his life and very beautifully says
that reason must be the doorkeeper and guardian of the soul,
to expel all temptations and resist them manfully
lest they enter one's inner house.
In the year of our Lord, 1371, in the month of May,
on the day of blessed Urban, pope and martyr,
when Lady Birgitta had been living in Rome for many years,
after she had returned from pilgrimages
in the kingdom of Naples, while she was at prayer
on the day and in the month given above,
Christ appeared to her and said that she should
prepare herself to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem
in order to visit the Holy Sepulchre.
In Rome before Lady Birgitta went overseas
a certain devout Friar Minor consulted
the said lady concerning some doubts in his conscience.
As this lady prayed, the Virgin Mary appeared to her
and gave her complete answers to those doubts and, moreover,
said that no matter how sinful the pope or the priests might be
- provided that they are not heretics -
the pope has the keys of the Church and the true power
of binding and loosing and that at the altar
the priests fully confect and handle the Blessed Sacrament
of the Body of Christ even though
they are unworthy of heavenly glory.
After the abovesaid friar had received
from Lady Birgitta the last revelation above,
he asked her to pray to God concerning the matter
of Christ's private property, and also concerning
the authority of the supreme pontiff and of the celebrating priests.
As the lady was praying, the Virgin Mary appeared to her
and answered all these points as follows.
How Christ, speaking to Lady Birgitta during prayer,
instructs her to go now to Jerusalem
and promises to her bodily strength
and the necessary expenses.
The Virgin Mary, speaking to Lady Birgitta,
says that in no way is it God's will that clerics
should have wives or be contaminated by carnal vice
- prohibiting any pope from allowing this marriage
of clerics to cake place or be established
in God's Church.
This is the beginning of a revelation
that Lady Birgitta had in Naples
for the lady queen of the same city.
But other things contained therein are not set down here
because they are secrets that pertain to the status
and person of the said lady queen.
This revelation was given by God to Lady Birgitta
in Naples at the request of Lord Bernard, the Neapolitan archbishop.
He asked her to pray to God concerning some doubts
he had in his conscience. When she was at prayer,
Christ appeared to her, answered all the archbishop's doubts,
and gave him instruction and the measures he should maintain
in governing his own house and in governing
his subjects in his diocese.
This revelation, made to Lady Birgitta,
began in Naples immediately after the death
of her son Lord Charles, a knight. The vision continued,
with certain breaks, during her Jerusalem voyage
until she arrived at Jerusalem; and there it ended
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre of the Lord.
It contains in itself allegations made by the Virgin Mary
and by an angel on behalf of the said knight's soul
at the divine judgment in the presence of Christ the Judge
and allegations made on the devil's part against
that very soul and Christ the Judge's
verdict for its liberation.
Lady Birgitta had this revelation in the holy city of Jerusalem,
the first time that she was in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
In it, Christ declares the pardon and grace
that good pilgrims have in the said church
when they come there with a right intention
and a holy purpose.
This vision Lady Birgitta saw in Jerusalem
in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the chapel
of Mount Calvary, on the Friday after the octave
of the Ascension of the Lord, when, caught up in spirit,
she saw the whole passion of the Lord in painstaking detail,
as it is here contained at greater length.
Christ complains to the bride about
all the earth's princes and prelates because
they will not keep in their memory and recall in their heart
these his sorrows and his passion and because they will not
consider those sacred places of the Holy Land;
and he threatens them if they do not amend themselves.
When Lady Birgitta was in Jerusalem,
she was doubtful as to whether it were better for her
to lodge in the monastery of the Friars Minor
on Mount Zion or in the pilgrims' hostel in Jerusalem;
and then the Virgin Mary appeared to her
at prayer and told her that she should lodge
in the hostel as a good example to others.
In the kingdom of Cyprus, Lady Birgitta was asked
by Lady Eleanor, the queen of the said kingdom,
to pray to God for her son the king and for that kingdom.
Lady Birgitta then crossed over to Jerusalem;
and there one day, while she was at prayer,
Christ appeared to her and spoke to her these counsels,
which she was to write to the said king
and to his paternal uncle, the prince of Antioch.
And he instructed her to write those things to them
as if from herself and not from the part of Christ.
A revelation made to Lady Birgitta
in the holy city of Jerusalem concerning the kingdom of Cyprus
and its reformation, which she her self transmitted
to the lord king and to the prince of Antioch
that they might publish it to the whole kingdom.
And because the aforesaid prince did not put
complete faith in that revelation, therefore the said lady,
on her return trip from Jerusalem, published it in the city of Famagusta
on the eighth day of October, in the presence of the said lord king
and the queen and the said prince
and all the royal council.
In the kingdom of Cyprus, a certain Friar Minor
asked the said lady to advise him as to what he
ought to do about some doubts in his conscience,
especially concerning the observance of the Rule of his order.
When indeed the lady was praying for the abovesaid friar
one day in the holy city of Jerusalem, Christ appeared to her
and spoke to her, saying many things about
the Order of Friars Minor. And at the end he threatens
all property-owning religious with everlasting death.
A vision that Lady Birgitta had in Bethlehem,
where the Virgin Mary showed to her
the whole manner of her childbearing and how she
gave birth to her glorious Son just as the Virgin herself
had promised the same Lady Birgitta in Rome
fifteen years before she went to Bethlehem as can be seen
in the first chapter of this book.
A revelation in Bethlehem at the manger of the Lord,
on the same matter as above.
It was at the manger of the Lord
that this revelation was made to the same lady in Bethlehem:
how the shepherds came to the manger
to adore the newborn Christ.
This revelation she had in Bethlehem,
in the chapel where Christ was born.
In it, Mary tells her how the three magi kings
adored Christ, her Son.
The Mother of God, speaking to Lady Birgitta,
tells her some things about her own humility
and that of her Son; and she says that just as she
and her Son were humble while they were in the world,
so too are they humble now although they are in heaven.
When Lady Birgitta now wished to return
from Jerusalem to Rome, she went on the birthday
of the Virgin Mary to visit her sepulchre
and the other shrines that are there near the city of Jerusalem.
As she prayed at the said sepulchre, that same Virgin
appeared to her, assuring her about the time of her death
and assumption and testifying that this was
literally her sepulchre.
When Lady Birgitta, in returning from Jerusalem,
passed through the city of Naples,
at the request of the lady queen and of the archbishop
of the said city she prayed to God
for that same city's inhabitants. And Christ, speaking to her,
reproved the aforesaid inhabitants for their too many sins,
showing to them the means by which sinners
might reconcile themselves to him, promising them mercy
if they would be reconciled and would amend their lives.
He also threatens them with the severity of justice
if they will not correct themselves but rather persevere in sin.
Lady Birgitta published this revelation herself
in the presence of the said Lord Bernard the archbishop
and three masters of theology and two doctors of canon
and civil law and some knights and citizens of the said city.
A revelation of the Virgin Mary which Lady Birgitta
had in the city of Naples. And she directs it to
Lord Bernard, the Neapolitan archbishop.
The revelation reproaches those who do not instruct
their servants or infidel slaves, newly converted to the faith,
in that same Catholic faith and Christian law.
The Virgin Mary also reproves those masters
who maltreat these said servants of theirs
and exasperate them beyond measure.
She also threatens with great punishment fortune-tellers
and enchanters and diviners and also those who
support them and put faith in them.
A certain bishop, who was the ruler
of the March of Ancona on behalf of the holy Roman Church,
asked Lady Birgitta about the fact that he was pricked
in conscience on the grounds that he was absent
and too remote from his diocese because of his aforesaid office
in the marquisate where he resided, and thus could not attend
to the sheep entrusted to him in his diocese.
And he wondered, therefore, whether it would be more pleasing
to God that he reside in his office in the marquisate
or that he return to rule the sheep entrusted to him in his diocese.
And when at this request the abovesaid lady prayed
for the aforementioned bishop, then Christ appeared to her
and said to her the words that are contained below.
The Judge complains to the bride
about the universal number of sinners
of all states and conditions, narrating the good deeds
that he did for them and their ingratitude.
He also threatens them with the terrible sentence of his wrath.
Nevertheless, he admonishes them to be converted to him;
and he will receive them with mercy, like a father.
In Rome Christ speaks to his bride, blessed Birgitta,
foretelling to her the day and manner of her death
and ordering what should be done
with the books of revelations. He also says that when he so pleases,
there will be many in the world who will receive them
with devotion and who will obtain his grace.
The Lord also makes arrangements concerning the body
of his bride and where it ought to be buried.