The church of Santa Brigida is located in the Piazza Farnese in Rome. It is the Swedish national church in the city and is part of the a bigger complex, which also contains the house where the saint used to live with her daughter, Santa Catarina. The interior is graced by works of art by Biagio Puccini and others.
A brief history of the church of Santa Brigida in Rome
The church is dedicated to Saint Brigida of Sweden (1303-1373), born Brigitta Birgersdotter and founder of the Bridgettines, or, more formally, the Order of the Most Holy Saviour. Although the men and women of this order formed one community, they lived in separate cloisters, thus forming a so-called double monastery. She had come to Rome in 1350, to request the Pope’s authorization for founding the order. Since the Pope resided in Avignon at the time, she had to wait 20 years for his return and ended up never seeing Sweden again. Her mortal remains, initially buried in the church of San Lorenzo in Panisperna, were later moved to her home country.
After her death in 1373, the house where she used to live, including a small chapel and a hospital for Swedish pilgrims, was given to the monastery of Vadstena she had founded in Sweden. Sweden became Lutheran in the 16th century, after which the ties to the monastery of Vadstena loosened. From then on, until 1931, when the church was finally given to the Bridgettines, it was run by a succession of different religious orders.
A first restoration took place in the first half of the 17th century, but the biggest change was the enlargement under Pietro Giacomo Patriarca in the early 18th century.
What to see in the church of Santa Brigida
The statues of saints Brigida and Catarina adorning the facade were sculpted by Andrea Fucigna.
The wooden choir on the inside of the facade dates back to 1705.
The interior decorations were the work of Biagio Puccini, an orginally Tuscan painter who did most of his work in central Italy. He frescoed the vault with a “Glory of Santa Brigida”, between 1709 and 1711 (photo at the top of the page). Puccini was also responsible for the six paintings depicting events from the life of Santa Brigida on the side walls.
The church consiststs of a single nave, with an alcove containing a altar on both sides. The right altar contains a late 17th century copy of a “Madonna and Child” by Annibale Caracci, the original of which hasa disappeared.
The funeral monument of Nils Bielke was made by Tommaso Righi after a design by Pietro Camporese the Elder.
The diptych depicting the two saints adorning the altar on the opposite side was the work of Eugenio Cisterna. Like the medallion containing a “St. Joseph and Child” surmounting it, it dates from 1894, despite the medieval style.
The campanile was also added in 1894.