Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad

The great work of Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad was the restoration of the Order of the Most Holy Savior—commonly known as the Bridgettines—founded in the 14th century by Saint Bridget of Sweden, patroness of Europe. Settled in Rome in the very house where Saint Bridget had lived and died in 1373, she worked to rebuild this order, which was then in decline. On November 9, 1911—fixed as the official founding date of the new active branch—she welcomed three English women as the first postulants, thus laying the foundations of an apostolic congregation oriented toward contemplation, adoration, and reparation. In 1923, she established a community in Djursholm, Sweden, symbolically reconnecting with the native land of the medieval foundress. In 1935, she founded a convent in Vadstena, the city where Saint Bridget had established her original monastery in the 14th century, thus achieving a spiritual and geographical restoration of the order in its historical Swedish cradle. The English branch received its canonical approval in 1931, and a foundation in India was established in 1937. The order in its new form received the definitive canonical approval of the Holy See on July 7, 1940. At the same time, Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad obtained permanent use of the church and the Saint Bridget house in Rome (1931), which became the spiritual center of the congregation. Her charism is expressed in three inseparable axes: contemplative life, charitable service to the poor and the sick, and ecumenical dialogue between Catholics and Protestants—an ideal she summarized by the aspiration to "unite what is divided."

The holiness of Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad manifests itself on several levels. Her conversion to Catholicism, experienced as a sudden irruption of divine grace, constitutes the starting point of a life entirely oriented toward God and neighbor. A nurse trained in the school of human suffering, she showed particular attention to the most destitute from her years in America. Her religious life in Rome was marked by great ascetic rigor combined with tireless active charity. During the Second World War, her heroism reached its peak: having transformed the Saint Bridget house in Rome into a place of refuge, she hid and protected more than sixty Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime and by fascist racial laws, at the risk of her own life and the survival of her community. This act earned her the distinction of Righteous Among the Nations in 2004, awarded by the Yad Vashem Institute in Jerusalem; she is one of the few canonized saints to also be recognized as Righteous Among the Nations. Her spirituality was nourished by a deep devotion to the Eucharist, to the Virgin Mary, and to the legacy of Saint Bridget. Her ecumenical commitment, a precursor to the Second Vatican Council, earned her the nickname of "second Bridget." She maintained bonds of friendship and dialogue with the Chief Rabbi of Rome, Israel Zolli, who converted to Catholicism in 1945. On March 26, 1999, Pope John Paul II officially recognized her heroic virtues by proclaiming her Venerable.

The cause for the beatification of Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad opened officially after her death. On March 26, 1999, Pope John Paul II promulgated the decree recognizing her heroic virtues and proclaimed her a Venerable Servant of God. The miracle required for her beatification was investigated in 1996 and ratified in Rome on October 17, 1998; the Pope approved it at the beginning of the year 2000. The beatification took place on April 9, 2000, during the Great Jubilee, in St. Peter's Basilica, celebrated by Pope John Paul II. For the canonization, a second miracle was required: it concerned the unexplained healing of a Cuban child, Carlos Miguel Valdés Rodríguez, from Santa Clara, who had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. The diocesan investigation was conducted in Cuba in February 2014; the Roman validation occurred on June 20, 2014; the medical approval in the spring of 2015; and Pope Francis promulgated the decree recognizing the miracle on December 14, 2015. The date of the canonization was set during the ordinary consistory of cardinals on March 15, 2016. On June 5, 2016, during a solemn ceremony in St. Peter's Square in Rome, Pope Francis canonized Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad along with six other blesseds. Her liturgical feast is set for June 4, the anniversary of her birth in 1870, in accordance with the choice of the universal calendar of the Church.

The legacy of Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad is twofold and singular in the history of the contemporary Church. On one hand, the congregation she restored—the Sisters of the Most Holy Savior of Saint Bridget, an active branch of the Bridgettines—continues to exist and work in Europe, India, and other regions of the world, perpetuating the Bridgettine charism that combines contemplation, service, and dialogue. The Saint Bridget House in Rome, for which she obtained permanent use in 1931, remains a center of pilgrimage and spirituality. On the other hand, her canonization in 2016 highlighted a unique title in hagiographic history: she is among the very few saints to be both canonized by the Catholic Church and honored by the State of Israel as Righteous Among the Nations—an honor awarded by Yad Vashem in 2004 for having saved dozens of Jews during the Shoah in Rome. This aspect of her holiness, which unites Christian charity and civic courage, was particularly emphasized by Pope Francis during her canonization. Her life illustrates that holiness can be born from conversion, flourish in daily fidelity, and manifest heroically in the worst trials of history.