Anna Paulsdotter (died 9 October 1500), was a Swedish Bridgettine

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

. She was the

abbess An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey. Description In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Coptic ...

Vadstena Abbey The Abbey Pax Mariae ( la, Monasterium sanctarum Mariæ Virgìnis et Brigidæ in Vatzstena), more commonly referred to as Vadstena Abbey, situated on Lake Vättern in the Diocese of Linköping, Sweden, was the motherhouse of the Bridgettine Orde ...

from 1486 until 1496. Anna Paulsdotter was accepted to the order in 1456, became the prioress of the nun's part of the abbey in 1473 and the abbess of the whole double monastery in 1486. In June 1487, she sent an envoy to Rome to apply for the canonization of

Catherine of Vadstena Catherine of Sweden, Katarina av Vadstena, Catherine of Vadstena or Katarina Ulfsdotter (c. 1332 – 24 March 1381) was a Swedish noblewoman. She is venerated as a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Her father was Ulf Gudmarsson, Lord of U ...

. In September of that year, the city of Vadstena burned to the ground with the exception of the abbey, which was attributed to the assistance of the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

and Saint Bridget in subduing the flames dressed in white. In 1488, she received the two monks back from Rome, and celebrated the solemn

Translation (relic) In Christianity, the translation of relics is the removal of holy objects from one locality to another (usually a higher-status location); usually only the movement of the remains of the saint's body would be treated so formally, with secondary ...

of Catherine of Vadstena, assisted by the regent,

Sten Sture the Elder Sten Sture the Elder ( sv, Sten Sture den äldre; 1440 – 14 December 1503) was a Swedish statesman and regent of Sweden from 1470–1497 and 1501–1503. As the leader of the victorious Swedish separatist forces against the royal unionist for ...

. In 1491-93, she had the first complete description of the visions of Bridget printed in Latin in

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the stat ...

by Bartholomæus Gothan. In 1495, she had the first printing press in Sweden installed in the abbey. She retired for health reasons in 1496.

References

* Syster Patricia, OSsS 2003: ”Vadstena klosters abbedissor”. I: Beskow, Per & Annette Landen (red.) Birgitta av Vadstena. Pilgrim och profet 1303–1373.

Natur & Kultur Natur & Kultur is a Swedish publishing foundation with head office in Stockholm known for an extensive series of teaching materials. Its logotype is an apple tree. Overview The publishing house was founded in 1922 by Johan Hansson and his wif ...

, Stockholm. S. 297–314. * https://archive.org/stream/MN5063ucmf_4/MN5063ucmf_4_djvu.txt * Vadstena klosters minnesbok icroform : Diarium vazstenense (1918) {{s-end Bridgettine nuns Swedish Roman Catholic abbesses 15th-century Swedish nuns 1500 deaths