SOURCE: "Gender and Prophetic Authority in Birgitta of Sweden's Revelations," in Gender and Text in The Later Middle Ages, edited by Jane Chance, University Press of Florida, 1996, pp. 69-95.

[In the following essay, Sahlin explores Birgitta's attempts to overcome the medieval bias against women by appealing to a prophetic authority sanctioned by God]

During her pilgrimage to the Holy Land and subsequent return to Rome in 1372, Birgitta of Sweden traveled through Cyprus, where she summoned rulers and nobility to hear God's words concerning the fate of the island. Birgitta, who was advanced in age and growing physically weak, claimed to speak to the Cypriots on behalf of God. She boldly announced on several occasions that God would soon destroy the kingdom, unless its leaders and people began to love Christ and carry out his will. In the city of Famagusta, Christ proclaimed his words of judgment through her: "This city is Gomorrah, burning with the fire of lust and of superfluity and of ambition. Therefore its structures shall fall, and it shall be desolated and diminished, and its inhabitants shall depart, and they shall groan in sorrow and tribulation, and they shall die out, and their shame shall be mentioned in many lands, because I am angered at them" (Rev. 7.16:5-6).¹

These demands for reform received wide-ranging responses in Cyprus and became the occasion for both praise and ridicule of her activities as God's emissary, according to witnesses who testified in favor of her canonization.² Some members of her audience were simply astonished, apparently because of her claims to have received messages directly from God; others greatly revered her and asked her to pray for them. Still others disbelieved Birgitta altogether, and derided her. Simon, a Dominican theologian and astronomer, asserted that it would be foolish to believe her proclamations, since she obviously was demented (una mente capta) (A et Ρ, 430). Several religious men, perhaps including Brother Simon, also discredited her by saying that it was "nearly impossible that God would speak with an ignorant little woman [ignara muliercula]" (A et P, 390). Presumably they could not believe that God would use a lowly woman, lacking theological training and expertise, as an instrument of revelation.³

Birgitta's mixed reception in Cyprus, extending from high accolades to disbelief and disparagement, typifies the reception she experienced throughout her thirty-year career as a visionary reformer. In Sweden, Italy, and throughout her travels to the Holy Land, Birgitta Birgersdotter (1302/3-1373) attracted numerous disciples and gathered a considerable entourage; she also was ridiculed, slandered, and threatened with physical harm. Many accepted and defended her assertions that God had revealed messages directly to her, but others questioned her motives, behavior, and sanity. Her sex made her especially vulnerable to criticism and rejection, as the episode in Cyprus illustrates. Repeatedly reminded that it was difficult for a woman to gain acceptance as a prophet, Birgitta and her followers were required to justify and authenticate her claims to be a channel of God's word.

All who claim to speak on behalf of God and pronounce judgment on the unrepentant face opposition,⁴ but when the messenger is a woman, her gender amplifies the difficulties necessarily faced in gaining acceptance as a legitimate intermediary between God and humanity. In later medieval Europe such women encountered great resistance, even though influential theologians, who could not deny the presence of female prophets in the Bible, admitted the possibility of female prophecy. Prophecy, like visions and mystical experiences, was prominent in the lives of later medieval female saints, who gained a public hearing and assumed religious leadership by claiming to have been divinely inspired. Yet women who claimed this gift were often received with hostility, since they tended to violate gender conventions by interpreting scripture and advising political and ecclesiastical leaders. Widespread scientific and theological assumptions about women's intellectual weakness, spiritual instability, and vulnerability to delusion brought great suspicion upon female prophets.⁵

This essay examines some ways in which gender and prophetic authority are negotiated in Birgitta of Sweden's Revelations, an impressive record of divine communications that circulated widely throughout Europe in Latin and vernacular languages from the end of the fourteenth century until well into the sixteenth century. After providing a brief introduction to the Revelations themselves, I describe the nature of the authority claimed for Birgitta in this body of texts. Then, by discussing passages that reflect questions and tensions concerning her authority and gender, I identify methods by which the Revelations endeavor to defend, justify, and confirm her vocation. The Revelations counteract obstacles faced by Birgitta as a woman claiming to speak on behalf of God and simultaneously construct a picture of Birgitta as a holy woman endowed with the spirit of prophecy.

An Introduction to Birgitta's Revelations

Birgitta's Revelations comprise an enormous collection of over seven hundred visions and auditions of varying lengths from Christ, Mary, and numerous saints. Although she was reported to have received some revelations at a young age, the overwhelming majority of them were received after Birgitta was widowed—between 1346, when she received her prophetic call in Sweden, and 1373, when she died in Rome. Many motifs and themes in the Revelations reflect her life as the aristocratic mother of eight children and her activities in the Swedish court. Characterized both by memorable images and by obscure detail, the surviving record of her visions and auditions also discusses diverse topics of interest to later medieval Christians throughout

western Europe, such as the lives of Jesus and his mother, the Real Presence in the Eucharist, and the ages of the world. Her most famous revelations are a vivid description of the nativity (Rev. 7.21-22), exhortations to Avignonese popes to return to Rome (Rev. 4.136-44), and advice concerning a peaceful solution to the Hundred Years War (Rev. 4.103-5). In general, the Revelations attempt to effect the moral reform of the Church and society by proclaiming the will of God to the world.⁶

According to various passages in the Revelations and documents related to her process of canonization, Birgitta's confessors acted as amanuenses, translators, and editors of her visions. Birgitta recorded the revelations in her native language, Old Swedish, sometimes writing and rewriting until she adequately expressed the messages and visions that God had given her. She then handed her writings over to her confessors, Prior Petrus of Alvastra (d. 1390) and, to a lesser extent, Master Mathias of Linköping (d. 1350?) and Master Petrus of Skänninge (d. 1378), who translated them into Latin and read the translations aloud for her approval. In most cases her original writings appear to have been lost or discarded. Birgitta also dictated her revelations when she was feeling too weak to write. On those occasions the confessor immediately translated the words into Latin, and a scribe recorded them. Near the end of her life, Birgitta asked Alfonso (d. 1389), a Spanish hermit who was a former bishop of Jaén, to examine the orthodoxy of her revelations, polish their Latin, and prepare them for widespread circulation.⁷ As a result of an extremely lengthy and complex process of editing by Alfonso, Prior Petrus, and members of the Birgittine monastery in Vadstena, Sweden, the Revelations were divided into eight books. These books were supplemented by the Sermo angelicus (lessons to be read at matins), Quattuor oraciones (Birgitta's prayers to Christ and the Virgin Mary), and the so-called Reuelaciones extrauagantes (a separate book of additional revelations), when they were published in Latin for the first time in 1492 by Bartholomaeus Ghotan of Lübeck.⁸ Philologists in Sweden have been preparing modern critical editions of the Latin Revelations for the past forty years and have recently made great strides toward the completion of this project.⁹

Although most readers would agree that the extant Revelations embody Birgitta's strong voice and willful personality, the complicated history of the Revelations precludes accepting these texts as her exact words. The words that flowed directly from Birgitta's mouth or pen are refracted through several layers of translation and uneven editing. Her confessors polished, revised, and supplemented her descriptions of divine auditions and visions, sometimes apparently in consultation with her but also after her death. By comparing Latin revelations with the two remaining Old Swedish autographs and other Old Swedish versions, scholars have been able to demonstrate that some of these changes to the texts were made in the process of translation. (In most cases, the Old Swedish Revelations are retranslations from the Latin; portions of some Old Swedish texts, however, have been shown to be closer to Birgitta's own words than the Latin.) It is also well-known that Alfonso, who wished to advance the cause of Birgitta's canonization, added, excluded, corrected, and arranged various elements of the revelations, presumably in accordance with Birgitta's wishes (see Extrav. 49). To a lesser extent, Prior Petrus also arranged, revised, and added revelations, which were incorporated into Alfonso's version. Thus, as Bridget Morris states, "there may be glimpses¹⁰ of Birgitta's original utterance in the extant corpus of texts, but in the end, … the visions cannot be separated from the recording of them by the confessors."¹¹ Because of the confessors' role in the production of the Revelations, I would like to point out that I am examining textual representations of issues concerning gender and authority in the Latin editions of the Revelations and not necessarily Birgitta's actual words.

Birgitta as Prophet in the Revelations

The Revelations claim for Birgitta a level of authority that few women of the late Middle Ages were able to match. She directs messages reportedly received from God to people of all social levels throughout much of western Europe—high-ranking clerics, kings, and judges, as well as aristocratic ladies and lowly female servants.¹² Birgitta gives detailed instructions to bishops and other clerics concerning their service to God and answers the religious doubts of a Franciscan friar and the archbishop of Naples.¹³ She advises not only the king of Sweden and the queens of Naples and Cyprus, but also addresses Popes Innocent VI, Urban V, and Gregory XI.¹⁴ Her authority to teach, direct, and rebuke these members of her society was based on her claims to be a prophet sent from God.¹⁵

In the Revelations Birgitta never explicitly applies the word prophet to herself, nor do her heavenly interlocutors ever call her a prophet directly. Perhaps Birgitta or her confessors thought it was too presumptuous for her to be called a prophet in her own Revelations. The title may also have been associated too closely with the Old Testament writers who predicted events in salvation history.¹⁶ Nevertheless, this body of writings plainly portrays Birgitta as a divinely inspired prophet in both a very general and a more specific sense of the term.

First of all, Birgitta conforms to a broad definition of "prophet" adopted by Thomas Aquinas and other medieval theologians. In the Revelations she is a prophet in the sense that she is an individual who proclaims knowledge revealed from God concerning matters hidden from human knowledge.¹⁷ Aquinas considered the prediction of a future event to be the highest form of prophecy since it is the furthest removed from human knowledge. However, like Gregory the Great and others, he believed that prophecy also consisted of knowledge about past and present realities.¹⁸ He wrote: "All that comes under prophecy coincides in not being knowable by human beings except through divine revelation."¹⁹ In this sense the entire collection of revelations can be (and was) understood as a record of Birgitta's prophecies. That is, the Revelations communicate the privileged knowledge concerning the past, present, and future that was given to Birgitta directly by God and other divine beings, in order that she might impart that knowledge for the edification of others. In the Revelations her knowledge of the past includes, for example, previously unknown details concerning biblical authorship, the life of Jesus, and Mary's pre-existence before the creation of the world. Her knowledge of the present includes insights into the spiritual condition of numerous priests, kings, and common lay people. Moreover, her knowledge of the future includes her predictions concerning the imminent fate of individuals and political kingdoms. On the basis of Birgitta's claims to have received such hidden knowledge through divine revelations, her fourteenth-century disciples maintained that she was endowed with the spirit of prophecy. According to the Vita processus written by her confessors Prior Petrus of Alvastra and Master Petrus of Skänninge, "she had from God the true spirit of prophecy and … intellectual vision had been divinely given to her…. Indeed, after this lady had been called into the Spirit of God, she prophesied not only about the future—as did the prophets—but also about the present and the past" (A et P, 86).²⁰

Secondly, the Revelations present Birgitta as a prophet in a more specific, but obviously related, sense of the term. Like the Hebrew prophets, she uses her privileged knowledge of past, present, and future affairs to pronounce judgment on moral depravity and urge God's people to repent. Like Moses, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and other biblical prophets, Birgitta receives a divine call to proclaim publicly God's grave displeasure with the spiritual condition of the people and to point out the way of salvation. This call to prophesy is described in the wellknown passage from the Extrauagantes, which has been shown to exhibit stylistic similarities to biblical call narratives.²¹ Birgitta hears God's terrifying voice speaking to her from a shining cloud, saying: "I am your God and I wish to speak with you…. Do not be afraid. For I am the creator of all and am not a deceiver. You should know that I do not speak to you for your sake alone, but for the sake of the salvation of all Christians…. You shall be my bride and my channel [canale], and you shall hear and see spiritual things and heavenly secrets, and my Spirit shall remain with you even to your death" (Extrav. 47:1-3). After receiving this commission, Birgitta speaks on behalf of God for the rest of her life and transmits the revelations she receives, so that those who have turned away from God will turn back. The Revelations are presented as the very words of God, like the words recorded in prophetic books of the Bible. Christ and the others who reveal messages speak in the grammatical first person in the Revelations, while Birgitta rarely speaks in the first person. Usually, the heavenly voices address her or the texts refer to her in the third person as Christ's spouse.²² The Revelations, again like passages from the prophetic books of the Bible, use rather dramatic images and metaphors to describe God's wrath and incite others to convert. Startling analogies and harsh language, such as Birgitta's comparison of the city of Famagusta with Gomorrah, and terrifying messages akin to her predictions of imminent disaster on that city are not at all unusual in the Revelations. For these reasons, Birgitta can be seen as a prophet in the tradition of the Hebrew prophets. A social critic and religious reformer, she is called and compelled to announce to the world God's messages of judgment and repentance. "There are few," according to Johannes Lindblom, a scholar of biblical prophecy, "who have so great an affinity with the prophets of the Old Testament as Birgitta of Sweden."²³

According to the Revelations, Birgitta, as a mediator of the word of God, fulfills a momentous role in the history of salvation that is analogous to the roles played by figures no less important than Noah, Abraham, Moses, and other significant individuals of the Bible. One passage (Rev. 2.17) represents the history of the world from the time of Adam to Birgitta as a struggle between God and the devil for human allegiance. When the devil assails human beings with various evils, God sends "remedies" through selected individuals, like the patriarchs and prophets of the Old Testament. Abraham and prophets of Christ's redemption brought hope where there was despair; Moses increased faith in the truth of God's words and activities where there was faithlessness. God now sends Birgitta to remind others of his mercy and justice, since people scorn Christ's words and forget his work of redemption (Rev. 2.17:44-46). Although some of her disciples claimed that she was similar to Deborah, Huldah, and the long row of female prophets from the Bible,²⁴ the Revelations associate her only with the male prophets of the Bible.²⁵ Of all the biblical prophets, the Revelations compare her most frequently to Moses, whom many, including Aquinas, considered to be the greatest of all prophets.²⁶ Christ identifies himself to Birgitta in several revelations as the voice that spoke to Moses from the burning bush. He says that he speaks in Birgitta's soul for the sake of his people, just as he spoke from the bush for the sake of the Israelites (see Rev. 1.60; 2.10; Regula 30).

Claims for Legitimacy and Signs of Authenticity in the Revelations

Birgitta's authority to speak out against moral laxity and to urge others to be mindful of divine retribution is based on her direct experiences with God, which both authorized her to speak and gave her a message to proclaim. The foundational sources of all prophetic authority, including Birgitta's, are divine revelatory experiences. However, as social theorists who are indebted to the writings of Max Weber have argued, a prophet's claims to have received messages directly from God are not sufficient for exercising authority. Prophetic authority, like all forms of authority, is established in and through social interactions. "Authority" refers to a social relationship in which subordinates attribute legitimacy to a superordinate's exercise of power. For a prophet to exercise authority, members of the prophet's audience must willingly accept the prophet as a legitimate channel of divine communication. There are two essential features of a prophet's authority, according to Thomas Overholt, who relies on sociological discussions of authority: "On the one hand, the prophet makes the claim that the deity has authorized the proclamation of a certain message. The basis of this claim is usually a religious experience that is private and therefore essentially intangible and unverifiable by the members of the audience…. Direct contact with a deity seems to be regarded as an absolutely crucial element in the constitution of a given occurrence of prophecy not only in ancient Israel but also in other cultures. On the other hand, prophets cannot be effective and cannot function as intermediaries unless the people acknowledge their claim to authority."²⁷

Given this understanding of the social dimensions of prophetic authority, I shall turn now to the following questions: How do Birgitta's Revelations attempt to urge willing acceptance of her legitimacy? More specifically, what justification and evidence do the Revelations offer to encourage support for her authority as a female prophet? As has been observed already, Birgitta's gender increased her difficulties in gaining acceptance as an authentic prophet. The biblical injunction that women are not to teach or have authority over men (I Tim. 2:12) invited intense scrutiny of Birgitta and other visionary women who claimed divine sanction for speaking and writing.²⁸ Her lack of formal theological education and her unconventional behavior reportedly inspired some people to doubt her divine inspiration and urge her to terminate her prophetic activities. A statement by St. Agnes to Birgitta refers to one of these men: "He said to you abusively that he does not know by which spirit you were speaking, and that it would be more useful for you to spin in the manner of women than to examine scripture" (Rev. 4.124:2). Another person, a religious man "of great authority," reportedly did not find it credible or in agreement with scripture that God would show his secrets to "great women" (magnificis feminis) (Rev. 6.90:1-2). How, then, do the Revelations attempt to negotiate tensions between Birgitta's gender and her claims to prophetic authority, so that Birgitta will be received as a legitimate prophet?

The Revelations offer two commonplace verbal warrants for her prophetic vocation. They cite God's preference for using weak members of society to confound the strong, and they also elaborate images for Birgitta's role that stress her passivity and obedience to God. A chapter from the Extrauagantes, which recounts Christ's words to Petrus of Alvastra, employs the theological justification that recalls the words of St. Paul. When Petrus had difficulty accepting Christ's commission to record Birgitta's words in Latin and suspected that her revelations were demonic illusions, he heard Christ explain his choice of a female channel of prophecy: "You should know with great certainty that I want to do such a work through my words, which you write from the mouth of that woman, whence the powerful will be humbled and the wise silenced" (Extrav. 48:12). This paradox, used by Hildegard of Bingen (d. 1179) two centuries earlier to justify her own prophesying, recollects the apostle Paul's words to the Corinthians: "God chose those who are foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God chose the weak in the world to shame the strong, and God chose those who are low and despised in the world, even those who are nothing, to bring to nothing those who are something" (I Cor. 1:27-28). As Barbara Newman points out in her discussion of Hildegard's use of the paradox of the weak shaming the strong, it is "doubly paradoxical" to claim that a privileged person born into a noble family is weak.²⁹ Although Birgitta came from one of the most powerful families of fourteenth-century Sweden, the passage from Extrav. 48 nevertheless applies St. Paul's words to Birgitta, recognizing that her status as a woman identifies her with the weak, low, and foolish of the world.³⁰ In another passage Birgitta herself questions why God would choose to bestow her with revelations: "O my Lord and son of the Virgin, why did you deem so worthless a widow worthy to be visited? For I am poor in all good works and have little understanding in knowledge" (Rev. 2.18:9). Christ responds to her with these words: " … I am able to make the poor rich, and the foolish one of little understanding sufficient [in understanding] and knowing" (Rev. 2.18:10). These words are a variation on the theme of God's preference for using the weak to shame the strong. When they are taken together with Christ's statement in Extrav. 48, the justification for Birgitta's prophetic vocation is clear: God desires to use a lowly, uneducated woman to bring the great men of the world to repentance, and he will supply her with the necessary strength and the wisdom to carry out the task.

The second prominent form of verbal justification for Birgitta's legitimacy as a female prophet is the Revelations' almost incessant use of images that accentuate her passivity and obedience. Many of these images are highly conventional, while others appear to be original. As a medium of God's word, Birgitta is not only a channel of the Holy Spirit (Extrav. 47:3; Rev. 3.30:8-9),³¹ but also a musical instrument (Rev. 4.100; 7.31:5), a vessel of wine (Rev. 2.16), a servant carrying precious gold for the master (Rev. 2.14), and a daughter-in-law who carries out the wishes of her husband's aging parents (Rev. 6.88:6-7). Birgitta's Revelations delight in these images, sometimes embellishing them with extended descriptions. For example, in a revelation to the archbishop of Naples, Birgitta describes herself as a furnace (catninus): "My Lord, it sometimes happens that, from a black furnace, there goes forth a beautiful flame that is useful and quite necessary for fashioning works of beauty. But that does not mean that the furnace must then be praised for its black color. The praise and honor and thanks are owed to the artist and master of those works. It is a similar situation with me, who is unworthy, if you find something useful in my advice: for then you ought continually to show infinite thanks and willing service, not to me, but to God himself, who made and makes all things" (Rev. 7.12:7-9).³² Implicitly, this striking image and many other images for Birgitta's role reinforce her claims to be speaking for God. They emphasize God's use of Birgitta as an instrument of revelation by stressing that she does not act on her own behalf and does not claim the messages that she promulgates as her own. She is passive before God and is also steadfastly obedient, always ready and willing to be used as God desires. Birgitta did not take the initiative in becoming a messenger of God's words; rather, she was chosen because it was pleasing to God.

Supernatural signs of her authenticity, described in passages from the Revelations that recount moments of contested authority, are even more obvious, but equally important, justifications for Birgitta's authority. Dispersed rather haphazardly throughout the Revelations are several vignettes in which Birgitta's authority is challenged by doubters and detractors, only to be confirmed through supernatural verifications of her prophetic vocation. In these accounts one or more of Birgitta's contemporaries, usually religious men or political magnates, question or directly attack her. A jealous knight, for example, incites another man to denounce her revelations publicly as ridiculous illusions (Rev. 4.113:15-18). In another passage a member of the Swedish nobility, who was unhappy that the king listened to Birgitta's advice, pours water onto her from a high window while she is walking down a narrow Stockholm street (Rev. 4.122:7-10). Sometimes Birgitta responds in these stories with such extraordinary patience or humility that her opponent is converted into a follower. This is what happens in the account of the jealous knight. In other cases she displays supernatural knowledge or abilities that verify her visionary abilities. Knowledge from God enables her, for example, to predict accurately the imminent death of the nobleman who dumped water on her. In several anecdotes, the issue of Birgitta's gender is especially prominent and is resolved through supernatural confirmations of her authenticity. A close examination of some of these stories further illuminates how the Revelations negotiate the problem of gender and prophetic authority by constructing an image of Birgitta as a holy woman who was chosen by God to prophesy.

One passage, placed in the middle of the declaracio section of Rev. 6.30 in the editio princeps published by Ghotan, describes a prior who doubted that Birgitta's words came from God. No reason is provided in the text to explain why this friar—identified in the canonization process as Prior Kethilmundus of St. Olof's Dominican monastery in Skänninge³³—distrusted her revelations. However, this passage reports that he became an ardent advocate of her revelations after receiving a supernatural confirmation of her divine inspiration:

When the same brother had difficulty believing the grace given to the lady Birgitta, he saw in ecstasy the lady and a fire from heaven descending onto her. And when he, having been awakened, was astonished and was considering [it to be] an illusion, he fell asleep again and heard a voice clearly saying twice: 'No one can prevent that fire from going forth. For I, power itself, will send out that fire to the east and the west, to the north and the south, and it will inflame many.' After this the same brother became trustful of the revelations and a defender of them. (Rev. 6.30: declaracio 36-38)

This vision recollects the day of Pentecost described in Acts 2 when tongues resembling fire descended from heaven onto Christ's disciples. According to Acts, these tongues represented the arrival of the Holy Spirit and gave the early Christians the power to preach throughout the world.³⁴ Although the text does not state that Kethilmundus had difficulty believing that God would have inspired a woman to carry messages to the world, it is not insignificant that his vision recalls the day on which the apostle Peter preached from the words of the prophet Joel predicting that women as well as men would prophesy: "And in the last days it shall be, God says, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy … and indeed on my menservants and on my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy" (Acts 2:17-19).

By recollecting this biblical endorsement of women prophesying, Kethilmundus's vision justifies and promotes Birgitta's prophetic vocation. It reinforces her claims to be divinely inspired and lends support to her proclamation of her revelations. The Holy Spirit descends on Birgitta, like the women foreseen by Joel, and flows forth from her in prophecy.³⁵ This account of the prior's transformation from doubter to advocate of Birgitta's revelations is an obvious interpolation into the records of Birgitta's visions, presumably inserted by Prior Petrus. Prior Petrus seems to have used the original record of this vision during his testimony in Rome in support of Birgitta's canonization and later incorporated it into Alfonso's redaction of the Revelations after his return to Sweden in 1380.³⁶ This section from the Revelations is not one of Birgitta's texts at all, but functions to give independent warrant to Birgitta's role as God's spokeswoman.³⁷

Similarly, a chapter from the Extrauagantes that describes revelations to a virtuous Cistercian lay brother, Gerekinus of Alvastra, offers justification for Birgitta's behavior that violated gender norms (Extrav. 55). This chapter, as it appears in the Ghotan edition, consists of two revelations concerning Birgitta: a celestial voice explaining her unusual presence at the male Cistercian monastery in Alvastra (Extrav. 55:1-2) and Gerekinus's vision of Birgitta elevated from the ground with water flowing from her mouth (Extrav. 55:4-5). The passages between and following the revelations describe signs of the monk's sanctity (Extrav. 55:3, 6-7).^3S Like the account of Kethilmundus's vision, this portion of the Revelations was not composed by Birgitta and does not recount any visions or auditions to her. Lennart Hollman believes that editors, who revised and assembled the revelations that came to form the Extravagantes, probably used records of Prior Petrus's deposition from the canonization process as their source for Extrav. 55:1-5. The editors of the Ghotan edition from 1492 gave Extrav. 55 its final form and inserted it among Birgitta's revelations.³⁹

The passage discloses that Gerekinus, who was prompted by his zeal for the monastic rule, questioned the appropriateness of Birgitta's residence in buildings adjacent to the Alvastra monastery.⁴⁰ According to the passage, when she began living there, this virtuous man was deeply astonished and asked in his heart: "Why does that lady reside here in a monastery of monks against our rule, introducing a new custom?" (Extrav. 55:1). It is not surprising that monks of Alvastra would have objected to her physical presence among them, since Cistercian statutes explicitly prohibited women from entering the monastic enclosure and denied abbots the ability to grant special permission for their entrance. Although by Birgitta's time women were allowed to live on lands belonging to Cistercian monasteries (earlier statutes forbade this), women were still prohibited from entering the enclosure and their residence in close proximity to the monastery was highly irregular.⁴¹ In spite of these statutes, Birgitta routinely listened to the singing of the offices and prayed in the church during the day and night. She also had close contacts with several brothers.⁴²

While Gerekinus was experiencing doubts about Birgitta's close association with the monastery, he reportedly entered into a state of ecstasy and heard a voice telling him that "this woman is a friend of God and for this she came to the monastery, so that she may collect flowers under this mountain [Omberg, the mountain that overshadows Alvastra] from which all people, even beyond the sea and the ends of the world, will receive medicine" (Extrav. 55:2). This message identifies Birgitta as an ally of God and invokes her religious vocation as the rationale for her violation of monastic custom. The flowers that she collects at Alvastra apparently symbolize her divine revelations, which are to be dispersed throughout the world. Elsewhere in the Revelations, flowers explicitly represent the heavenly words given to Birgitta, which her confessors are to protect from harm: "Tell him [Alfonso] that he ought to be like one who carries the best flowers. These [flowers] are my [Mary's] words" (Rev. 7.16:19). The reference to medicine in the revelation to Gerekinus, moreover, recalls Christ's characterization of himself as a physician (Mark 2:17) as well as passages from the Revelations that represent Christ as a physical and spiritual healer and the words that he proclaims through Birgitta as medicine. For example, Christ states in Extrav. 48:10 that he is a physician ("ego sum medicus"), and Rev. 6.90:4-5 equates rejecting Birgitta's revelations with rejecting Christ, who himself is the medicine of the sick (medicina infirmorum). By making such allusions, the voice speaking to Gerekinus thus indicates that it is Birgitta's task to be a world-wide distributor of God's words of health and salvation. It also discloses that this mission, for which she is preparing herself at Alvastra, endows her with a privileged status that places her beyond gender norms and ordinary social conventions. It should be noted here that no demands are made for changing regulations to allow other women to associate closely with the daily life of a male monastery. Birgitta's residence at Alvastra is an exception; her uncommon vocation merely allows her to transcend the rules.⁴³

The second revelation to Gerekinus in Extrav. 55 underscores Birgitta's special vocation by utilizing another image. Gerekinus saw her elevated from the earth with a stream of water flowing from her mouth. While praying, he heard a voice saying: "This is the woman who, coming from the ends of the earth, will give innumerable people wisdom to drink" (Extrav. 55:4).⁴⁴ This vision of water running out from Birgitta's mouth depicts her prophetic activity vividly. In biblical passages flowing water often symbolizes the Holy Spirit (e.g., John 7:38-39), and in other passages from the Revelations water represents the word of God. Christ, for example, tells Birgitta: "My words—which you hear from me frequently in spiritual vision—like the good drink, satisfy those who thirst for true charity" (Rev. 5.11:10;⁴⁵ see also Rev. 4.66:1; Rev. 8.47:1-4). By using the image of water, Gerekinus's vision portrays Birgitta as a vessel pouring forth the inspired word of God for the spiritual refreshment of others. By stressing the significance of her vocation in this manner, the passage reiterates the message of Gerekinus's previous revelation: Birgitta's divine commission places her beyond established rules prohibiting women's residence on the edge of a male monastery of the Cistercian Order.

Not only did men like Gerekinus and Kethilmundus quietly question her behavior or doubt the credibility of her visions, but some people openly derided and denounced her. The most extreme opposition to Birgitta's claims to prophecy was the threat of physical harm and even death. The Revelations (Extrav. 8) report that certain Romans, angered by Birgitta's sharp rebukes concerning the spiritual state of the Roman city and church (e.g., Rev. 3.27; 4.33), accused her of being a witch and threatened to burn her alive:

During those fifteen years, in which she stayed in Rome before the arrival of the pope [Urban V] and the emperor [Charles IV], she had many revelations about the condition of the city, in which our lord Jesus Christ denounced the trespasses and sins of the city's inhabitants with a grave threat of vengeance. When these revelations were brought to the notice of the Roman inhabitants, they directed a fomentation of deadly hatred against the blessed Birgitta. Whence, some of them threatened to burn her alive; others blasphemed her as being heretical and a pythoness [phitonissam]. (Extrav. 8:3-4)

By accusing her of being a "pythoness," a feminine title that corresponds roughly to "witch," "soothsayer," "sibyl," or "prophetess,"⁴⁶ the Romans were either suggesting that Birgitta was possessed by a spirit of divination that spoke through her or that she conjured such a spirit to foretell the future. The word phitonissa, derived from the Greek, is related to pythia, the name given to the priestesses of Apollo at Delphi who were renowned for inspired oracular speeches. In the Vulgate and medieval Christian writings the term is applied to the so-called witch of Endor, the medium who summoned the soul of Samuel to obtain oracular responses at the request of Saul (I Chron. 10:13; I Sam. 28:7-8). (See Rev. 5, interrogacio 13:13, where the Revelations follow the Vulgate and use this title for the woman whom Saul consulted.⁴⁷) Filastrius, bishop of Brescia in the fourth century, asserts that it is a heresy to consult pythonesses or believe what they say; pythonesses are false prophets who deceive many by means of their visions and words.⁴⁸

The Roman accusation that Birgitta's comminatory messages came from a deceptive spirit, instead of from God as she claimed, illustrates a phenomenon that scholars have observed across many cultures and traditions, including the Christian tradition. Women who challenge, subvert, or endeavor to assume legitimate power, that is, authority, are highly vulnerable to charges of witchcraft in patriarchal societies.⁴⁹ Not uncommonly in the history of Christianity, women who assumed spiritual power through prophecy were accused of being witches. As Rosemary Radford Ruether observes, "the line between seeing a woman as a prophet or as a witch was always fluid in Christianity."⁵⁰ Powerful behavior that was a reversal of ordinary, conventional behavior for women was perceived as illegitimate and labeled witchcraft.

Caroline Walker Bynum discusses manifestations of this phenomenon specifically in later medieval Europe.⁵¹ She points out that from the early fourteenth century onward, male hostility toward religious women increased and manifested itself in witchcraft accusations, precisely when women's visions and prophecies came to be seen as sources of authority in contrast to the institutional authority conferred on men by virtue of their clerical offices. Bynum also remarks that "suspicion of prophetic women reflected the general fourteenth-century suspicion of popular religious movements and of mysticism. The period was one of deep hostility to visionary and mystical males as well. But the ambivalence of Church and authorities and theologians about women mystics also reflected a virulent misogyny—a misogyny that issued both in the actual witch accusations and in the witch-hunting theology of the fifteenth century."⁵² In later medieval Christianity the line dividing female saints from witches was not drawn firmly. Not only Birgitta, but several other women who developed reputations for sanctity, including Catherine of Siena (d. 1380), Lidwina of Schiedam (d. 1433), and Columba of Rieta (d. 1501),⁵³ were accused of being witches or possessed by demons. Thus, the charges of witchcraft and threats of execution reported in Extrav. 8 exemplify the growing antipathy toward the authority of divine inspiration claimed by prophetic women of the late Middle Ages. Although they never materialized in formal proceedings against her, allegations that Birgitta was a pythoness were attempts to silence her harsh denunciations of Roman political and spiritual life by denying her claims to have received revelations from God.

In opposition to the accusations against her, Extrav. 8 offers evidence of Birgitta's uncommon patience, obedience to Christ, and divine protection as practical demonstrations of her legitimacy. This evidence is found in the chapter's brief comments concerning her biography and two revelations that promise immunity from harm. As Hollman argues, it is likely that the general confessor of the Vadstena Monastery, Ulpho Birgeri (d. 1433), was the redactor who constructed this chapter between 1427 and 1433 from revelations excluded by Alfonso's edition and from documents in support of her canonization.⁵⁴ Immediately following the statement concerning witchcraft accusations, the narrator describes Birgitta's patient endurance of abuse and her obedience to Christ's command to remain in the city:

Truly the blessed Birgitta patiently suffered their threats and abusive words. But she feared that the members of her household and her other friends and relatives, who were staying with her in Rome, would abandon her, having been scandalized by these tribulations and abusive words. She considered for a while withdrawing from the furor of the malicious people and did not presume to depart for anywhere without Christ's special order. Throughout the twenty-eight years, after she left her home, at no time did she depart for some cities or provinces or other holy places without the command of Christ.(Extrav. 8:5-6)

This passage—a hagiographical tribute to Birgitta's virtues—represents the Roman threats of execution and charges of witchcraft as unjust persecutions successfully endured by a holy woman. While divulging her anxieties concerning the possible abandonment of her companions and disclosing her temptation to flee the tribulations of Rome, the passage stresses her submission to suffering, patient endurance of unjust afflictions, and continual compliance with the divine will throughout her entire career as God's mouthpiece.⁵⁵ Implicitly, these extraordinary behaviors are visible signs of Birgitta's divine calling and proof of the legitimacy of her vocation. Birgitta's two visions that directly follow in the chapter can also be seen as confirmations of her authenticity. In the first vision Christ acknowledges her allegiance to him, compares her persecution with his own suffering, and pledges to restrain those who plot her death from ever being able to harm her: "When you have me, you ought to fear no one…. Although my enemies crucified my humanity through my permission, nevertheless they will not at all prevail in harming or killing you" (Extrav. 8:8). In the second vision Mary verifies that Christ defends Birgitta against every "evil effort" and reveals that she will be Birgitta's "protective shield" (scutum proteccionis) against all enemies (Extrav. 8:9). These visions argue against accusations that Birgitta was a pythoness by suggesting that her exemption from all physical harm was the result of divine intervention. The protection that she probably received from her connections with powerful Italian families is not mentioned at all in this chapter.⁵⁶

It is important here to note that Birgitta was also accused of being a witch while she was still living in Sweden. Although the Revelations make no mention of this, the testimony of Juliana Nilsdotter in favor of Birgitta's canonization reports that Swedish noblemen and their families, who were distressed that King Magnus was relying on Birgitta's counsel, charged that she was a witch (sortilegd) (A et P, 66). The deposition of her daughter Katarina also describes the opposition of Swedish nobility against her, but without specifically mentioning witchcraft accusations. Katarina says that these people did not believe that she spoke on behalf of God and would have killed her had they not feared the retribution of her relatives (A et P, 313). With this knowledge in mind, it is possible to read chapters of the Revelations in which she rebukes those who place trust in pythonesses, fortune-tellers, diviners, and enchantresses as passages that deflect witchcraft accusations against Birgitta by distancing her from and asserting her superiority over others who claimed to have preternatural knowledge (Rev. 6.82, which dates from Birgitta's Swedish period; 7.28:18-24, which she received in Naples).⁵⁷ Likewise, passages from the Revelations that describe her ability to exorcise demons (an ability she shares with most saints) lend support to claims that she was divinely inspired. She does not consult unclean spirits and is not controlled by them; rather, she has divine powers over them (e.g., Rev. 1.60; 6.76).

Summary

Birgitta of Sweden's Revelations, which bear the indelible imprint of her confessors and friars from her order in Vadstena, are a remarkable testimony to this woman's struggles to assume religious authority in later medieval Europe. In this body of texts, we see how Birgitta's gender increased the vulnerability to hostility, derision, and physical harm that is faced by nearly all people who claim to be divinely ordained prophets. Her assertions that God had called her to proclaim words of judgment and mercy evoked denials that God would speak to an ignorant woman, criticisms of her unconventional behavior, and accusations of witchcraft. By examining passages that reflect tensions between Birgitta's gender and her claims to be a prophet, it has been possible to identify some of the verbal warrants and supernatural signs offered by the book of Revelations in support of Birgitta's authority: biblical justifications, elaborate metaphors, revelations to other individuals, displays of divine protection, along with Birgitta's own virtuous behavior, and her abilities to predict the future, discern the moral states of others, and exorcise demons. Theological justifications and visible verifications bolstered her claims to be speaking on God's behalf. By offering such evidence, the Revelations represent Birgitta Birgersdotter as a legitimate prophet whose divine calling and inspiration no one should dare to doubt.

Notes

¹ Birgitta of Sweden, Birgitta of Sweden: Life and Selected Revelations, ed. Harris, 191 (hereafter referred to as Revelations, ed. Harris). See Birgitta of Sweden, Revelaciones, Book 7, ed. Bergh, for the modern critical Latin edition. Parenthetical references in the text are to book, chapter, and sometimes verse numbers of the Latin Revelaciones (hereafter abbreviated in text citations as Rev.). For an account of the political situation between 1369 and 1374 that informed Birgitta's revelations concerning Cyprus, see Jönsson, Alfonso of Jaén, 99-103.

² See Acta et processus canonizacionis beate Birgitte (hereafter abbreviated A et P), ed. Collijn, 100, 266, 269, 326, 334, 372-73, 383, 390, 429-30, 431-32, 525, 544, and 636.

³ Leclercq discusses the meanings of muliercula with reference to the writings of Bernard of Clairvaux, in Women and Saint Bernard, 169-71. As Leclercq points out, the diminutive muliercula was not necessarily used pejoratively by medieval Latin writers and could be used with overtones of affection. It was also used, however, to denote a weak woman, a feeble woman, or a lowborn woman. When religious men in Cyprus applied the term muliercula to Birgitta, it clearly assumed a pejorative sense. Its pairing with the adjective ignara accentuated Birgitta's low social status as a woman and lack of formal theological training. Dr. Beverly M. Kienzle kindly called my attention to Leclercq's discussion.

⁴ Wojcik and Frontain, eds., suggest that the resistance of a prophet's audience is essential to the concept of prophecy itself, in "Introduction: The Prophet in the Poem," in Poetic Prophecy, 16.

⁵ See Vauchez, "Jeanne d'Arc," 159-68; Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, esp. 20-23; Bullough, "Medieval Medical," 485-501; Maclean, Renaissance Notion of Woman, chaps. 2 and 3; and Allen, Concept of Woman, esp. chap. 4.

⁶ Helpful introductions to various aspects of Birgitta's life and Revelations in non-Scandinavian languages include the following: Nyberg, "Birgitta von Schweden," 275-89; Nyberg's introduction in Revelations, ed. Harris, 13-51; Atkinson, Oldest Vocation, 170-84; Obrist, "Swedish Visionary," 227-51; and Fogelqvist, Apostasy and Reform. Jørgensen, Saint Bridget of Sweden, 2 vols., is the most comprehensive account of Birgitta's life in English, but should be used only with extreme caution. It is a romantic biography containing many inaccuracies.

⁷ See especially the so-called Process Vita, A et P, 84; and Birgitta of Sweden, Reuelaciones extrauagantes, ed. Hollman, Extrav. 49. These two accounts of the process of composing and recording the revelations appear to be contradictory: the first portrays the Revelations as a literal record of God's very words to Birgitta, while the latter describes Birgitta's painful process of writing and rewriting and defends the editorial license of her confessors. Morris, in "Labyrinths of the Urtext," argues that these two accounts may be describing different stages in the production of the Revelations and may not be contradictory at all (23-33). Dr. Morris generously shared her essay with me prior to its publication.

⁸Revelationes S. Birgitte was printed in 1492 at the request of the Vadstena Monastery in honor of the centenary of Birgitta's canonization. It served as the basis for all Latin editions printed until 1680. For a comprehensive account of the history of the various redactions of the Revelaciones, see the general introduction to Birgitta of Sweden, Revelaciones, Book I, ed. Undhagen, 1-37.

⁹ In addition to the Reuelaciones extrauagantes, Revelaciones, Book I, and Revelaciones, Book 7, which were cited above, the following critical editions of Birgitta of Sweden's works have been published to date: Revelaciones, Book 4, ed. Aili; Revelaciones, Book 5, Liber questionum, and Revelaciones, Book 6, ed. Bergh; Opera minora, vols. I (Regula Saluatoris), 2 (Sermo angelicus), and 3 (Ouattuor oraciones), ed. Eklund. Ann-Mari Jönsson's edition of Revelaciones, Book 3 is expected to be published next.

¹⁰ For discussions of the confessors' role in the production of the Revelations, see Morris, "Labyrinths of the Urtext," 23-33; Revelaciones, Book 1, 4-37; Aili, "Att finna Birgitta i Birgitta," 14-39; Aili, "St. Birgitta and the Text," 75-91; and Kezel, "Translator's Foreword," in Revelations, ed. Harris, 59-66.

¹¹ Morris, "Labyrinths of the Urtext," 26.

¹² See Rev. 7.30:4-5, where Christ classifies his addresses into three groups: clerics, male political leaders, and women.

¹³ See, for example, Rev. 3.1-3; 4.80; 4.126; 7.7; 7.12.

¹⁴ See, for example, Rev. 8.2; 6.41; 7.11; 7.16: addicio 22-30; 4.136; 4.137-38; 4.139-44.

¹⁵ Piltz has explored Birgitta's "self-understanding" as prophet in two recent articles: "Uppenbarelserna och uppenbarelsen," 477-69; and "Inspiration, vision, profetia," 67-88. I am grateful to Dr. Piltz for sharing the latter essay with me prior to its publication.

¹⁶ See Piltz, "Vision, inspiration, profetia," 68.

¹⁷ See, for example, Aquinas, Summa theologiae, ed. Blackfriars, 2a 2ae, questions 171-78; and Life of Juliana of Mont Cornillon, trans. Newman, 52-65. Kieckhefer surveys examples of prophecy from fourteenth-century vitae in Unquiet Souls, 161-65.

¹⁸ See Gregory the Great, Homiliae in Hiezechihelem Prophetam, 1.1-3, ed. Adriaen, 5-7.

¹⁹ Aquinas, Summa theologiae, ed. Blackfriars, 2a 2ae, question 171, article 3.

²⁰Revelations, ed. Harris, 83.

²¹ Costello, "Women's Mysticism and Reform," 91-95. See also Klockars, Birgitta och bökerna, 62-66.

²² Birgitta of Sweden, Liber Celestis of St. Bridget, vol. I, ed. Ellis, xiv.

²³ Lindblom, Prophecy in Ancient Israel, 16. For further discussion of Birgitta's similarities to the Hebrew Bible prophets, see the articles by Piltz, "Vision, inspiration, profetia," "Uppenbarelserna och uppenbarelsen"; and Ellis, "Spirituality of St. Bridget," 157-66. I have also found Newman's discussion of Hildegard of Bingen's indebtedness to the biblical prophets to be stimulating for my own thinking about Birgitta. See her Sister of Wisdom, 25-34.

²⁴ See, for example, Alfonso of Jaén, Epistola solitarii, ed. Jönsson, chap. 1, paragraphs 23-26.

²⁵ This observation supports Bynum's belief that medieval religious women were not especially attracted to positive female images. See Bynum, '" … And Woman His Humanity,'" 257-88. Birgitta, however, was zealously devoted to the Virgin Mary and her Revelations display evidence of imitatio Mariae. For further discussion of the significance of Mary to Birgitta's spirituality, see Børresen, "Birgittas teologi," 21-72; Koch, "Lignelses-, symbolog billedsprog," 471-89; and Sahlin, '"His Heart Was My Heart,'" 213-27, and "Ά Marvelous and Great Exultation of the Heart,'" 108-28.

²⁶ Aquinas, Summa theologiae, ed. Blackfriars, 2a 2ae, question 174, article 4.

²⁷ Overholt, Channels of Prophecy, 70. Hopenwasser also finds Overholt's study of prophecy helpful for illuminating Birgitta's role as prophet. See her essay "Human Burden of the Prophet." For discussion of the social dimensions of prophetic authority, see also Long, "Prophetic Authority as Social Reality," 3-20. For a helpful discussion of the concept of authority, see Holmberg, Paul and Power, 124-61.

²⁸ See Newman, Sister of Wisdom, 34-41; and Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 22-23.

²⁹ Newman, "Divine Power," 103.

³⁰ See Newman, "Divine Power," 103-4; and Maclean, Renaissance Notion of Woman, 21-22.

³¹ See Piltz's discussion of Birgitta as canale, in "Uppenbarelserna och uppenbarelsen," 451-52.

³²Revelations, ed. Harris, 177-78.

³³ See A et P 503, 628, 667. I have found no reason to identify the prior of Rev. 6.30 with Ragnvald of Alvastra, as Tryggve Lundén and many others have done.

³⁴ Christ's revelation to Birgitta in Rev. 6.36 discusses the day of Pentecost directly and states that the Holy Spirit came upon his apostles and disciples as a torrent, a fire, and tongues. Elsewhere in the Revelations the words of the Holy Spirit that are given to Birgitta are described as fire: "Truly, that fire is my Spirit, which exists and speaks in you," Rev. 5, revelacio 12:7;Revelations, 153.

³⁵ Prior Petrus's testimony at the canonization process and the so-called Panisperna-vita provide an additional detail that reinforces Birgitta's prophetic vocation: Kethilmundus saw what appeared to be the divine fire leaving Birgitta's mouth and inflaming many people who were surrounding her (A et P, 503, 628).

³⁶ See Undhagen's introduction to Book I, 26-30, 114, for discussion of Prior Petrus's role in supplementing Alfonso's redaction with the declaraciones and addiciones. See also Bergh's introduction to Book 6, 11-12, 18-20, for an analysis of the supplementary material in Rev. 6.

³⁷ A striking fifteenth-century painting of Kethilmundus's vision (see frontispiece) is on the outside door of a reredos from the Appuna Church in the Swedish province of Östergötland. It is now in the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm. The most recent discussions of the Appuna reredos are the following: Lindgren, Bilden av Birgitta, 26-27, 112-16; and von Bonsdorff and Kempff, "Vadstena kloster," 262.

³⁸Extrav. 55:3 states that Gerekinus never went outside of the monastery for forty years, was absorbed in prayer both day and night, beheld nine choirs of angels when he was praying, and saw Christ in the form of a child when the eucharistic host was elevated. Extrav. 55:6-7 recounts how the Virgin Mary miraculously enabled Gerekinus to pray when he was supposed to be working in the monastery's bakery.

³⁹ See Birgitta of Sweden, Reuelaciones extrauagantes, 28-45, and 85-94, esp. 91, for discussion of the textual history of Extrav. 55, and analysis of the various editions of the supplementary material that forms the basis for Hollman's edition of the Extrauagantes. Parallels to Extrav. 55:1-3 are found in the Vita processus and the Panisperna-vita (A et P, 82, 619). However, on the basis of a passage in MS. C 631 in the Uppsala University Library, Hollman shows that Extrav. 55:1-3 was probably not taken from the vita, but was based instead on a copy of Prior Petrus's deposition that is not extant. See Reuelaciones extrauagantes, 91. Parallels to Extrav. 55:4-5 are found in the Vita processus, the Panisperna-vita, and the depositions of Magnus Petri and Prior Petrus (A et P, 82, 620, 275, 545).

⁴⁰ Prior Petrus's testimony states that she received a divine command to live in buildings contiguous to the monastery (in domibus contiguis monasterii sancte Marie de Aluastro monachorum ordinis Cisterciensis), A et P, 509. Ortved, Cistercieordenen og dens klostre i norden, vol. 2, 93, states that she lived in a small house outside the church's northeast corner. For a study of Birgitta's presence and reforming activity at Alvastra, see McGuire, "Spiritual Life and Material Life," 300-310.

⁴¹ Ortved, Cistercieordenen og dens klostre i norden, vol. 1, 60-61; vol. 2, 93-94. See Lucet, Les codifications cisterciennes, 321-22. McGuire, "Spiritual Life and Material Life," 301-4, provides a helpful discussion of Birgitta's residence at Alvastra. See also Klockars, Birgitta och bökerna, 191. Note that when Birgitta wanted to stay at a male Benedictine monastery at Farfa, the monks refused to allow it, saying that it was not their custom to cohabitate with women (Extrav. 97; A et P, 491).

⁴²A et P, 65, describes Birgitta's prayers, vigils, and manual labor while living at Alvastra.

⁴³ This is also the message of a passage from the Vita processus, which has no exact parallel in the Extrauagantes or other books of the Revelations. This passage reports that God commanded Birgitta to stay in Alvastra, thus removing all responsibility from Birgitta for violating the Cistercian rule. It also says that God spoke to Birgitta in a vision telling her that he does not intend to change the rule: "I, God of all, who am above all rules, permit you to reside at the present time near the monastery, not so that I may abolish the rule or introduce a new custom, but rather so that my wonderful work may be displayed in a holy place" (A et P, 82; also Panisperna-vita, A et P, 619). For discussion of biblical claims for the prophet Jeremiah's privileged social status, see Long, "Prophetic Authority as Social Reality," 6-13.

⁴⁴ This voice continues by informing Gerekinus that Birgitta will accurately predict his death, which will take place sometime before certain evils (probably the plague) fall on Alvastra (Extrav. 55:5).

⁴⁵Revelations, ed. Harris, 148.

⁴⁶ Birgitta of Sweden, Reuelaciones extrauagantes, ed. Hollman, 243; Revelaciones, Book 5, ed. Bergh, 178;Revelaciones, Book 6, ed. Bergh, 284. Russell cites "pythonissa" as one of the numerous names for a witch or a sorcerer in the Middle Ages and translates pythonissa as "prophetess," Witchcraft in the Middle Ages, 16.

⁴⁷ See Revelations, ed. Harris, 264-65, n. 310.

⁴⁸ Filastrius of Brescia, Diversarum hereseon liber, 26.1-7, 226-28.

⁴⁹ Brain, "Anthropological Perspective on the Witch-craze," 15-16; Rosaldo, "Women, Culture, and Soci-ety," 34. Rosaldo writes that "societies that define women as lacking legitimate authority have no way of acknowledging the reality of female power. This difference between rule and reality is reflected in our own society where we speak of powerful women as 'bitches'; elsewhere in the world, the powerful woman is often considered a witch." Interestingly, Piltz be-lieves that Birgitta is dismissed by Swedes today as a satkärring (bitch); see his article "Birgitta—profet och provokatör."

⁵⁰ Ruether, "Prophets and Humanists," 9. See also Mack, "Women as Prophets," 19-45, esp. 31-33, where the relationship between the categories of female prophet and witch in the seventeenth century is analyzed.

⁵¹ Bynum, Holy Feast and Holy Fast, 20-23.

⁵² Ibid., 23.

⁵³ Ibid., 316 n. 46.

⁵⁴ Birgitta of Sweden, Reuelaciones extrauagantes, ed. Hollman, 40-44, 90.

⁵⁵ Kieckhefer, in Unquiet Souls, observes that Birgitta's patience was mentioned more frequently in the canonization process than any other of her virtues, 51-52.

⁵⁶ The Orsini family in Rome probably helped protect Birgitta from harm. See Andersson, Saint Bridget of Sweden, 88.

⁵⁷ Wilson writes that "the witchcraft accusation… is a two-edged sword. It can be used by societies that want to repress difficult minority groups, but it can also be used in various ways by minority groups and individuals," Prophecy and Society in Ancient Israel, 75.