Marienbrunn Abbey also called ''Fons Mariae'' and ''Triumphus Marie'' was a double convent for women and men of the order of the

Bridgettines The Bridgettines, or Birgittines, formally known as the Order of the Most Holy Savior (; abbreviated OSsS), is a monastic religious order of the Catholic Church founded by Saint Birgitta or Bridget of Sweden in 1344, and approved by Pope Urban ...

, situated in

Gdańsk Gdańsk ( , also ; ; csb, Gduńsk;Stefan Ramułt, ''Słownik języka pomorskiego, czyli kaszubskiego'', Kraków 1893, Gdańsk 2003, ISBN 83-87408-64-6. , Johann Georg Theodor Grässe, ''Orbis latinus oder Verzeichniss der lateinischen Benen ...

between 1391 and 1833. It was the first convent of the order founded outside of Sweden, and the second convent of the order altogether.

History

In 1373, the relics of Saint Bridget was brought home to Sweden from Rome by way of Gdańsk, after which the mother convent

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 ...

was founded in Sweden. In 1391, there was a community of monks of the Bridgettine order in Gdańsk, and in 1397, the Marienbrunn Abbey was formally founded. It was the first founded after the mother convent in Sweden, and one of two in Poland (the other being active in Lublin in 1416 – 18th-century). The Marienbrunn Abbey was a double monastery with both monks and nuns. The monks were the original founders, and the female members were initially reformed prostitutes, who entered the convent in a wish to leave their old life, a fact which initially gave the convent a bad name. In 1429, when complaints were made that female prostitutes were allowed to visit the abbey as guests, the abbess founded a separate guest house specially for women prostitutes. In 1595, Vadstena Abbey was finally closed in Sweden, over half a century after the

Swedish Reformation The Reformation in Sweden is generally regarded as having begun in 1527 during the reign of King Gustav I of Sweden, but the process was slow and did not end definitively until the Uppsala Synod of 1593 and the following War against Sigismund, with ...

, and in the spring of 1596, the last nuns from the mother convent emigrated to Marienbrunn Abbey led by their abbess,

Katarina Olofsdotter Katarina may refer to: Geography * Katarina-Sofia borough, a borough in central Stockholm * Topol pri Medvodah, a settlement in the Municipality of Medvode, Slovenia, known as Katarina People * Katarina (given name) * Katarina (''Doctor Who''), a ...

. Katarina Olofsdotter died here in 1625, and the last of the Swedish nuns, Anna Larsdotter, died in 1638. Marienbrunn Abbey, as well as Gdańsk, became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia after the Partition of Poland in the 18th century. In 1833, the abbey was ordered closed down by the Prussian authorities.

References

Studier i Vadstena klosters och Birgittinordens historia intill midten af 1400-talet microform

Vadstena klosters minnesbok microform : Diarium vazstenense

Historiskt bibliotek utgifvet af Carl Silfverstolpe
* http://college.holycross.edu/projects/kempe/text/baltic.html

* Kilström, Bengt Ingmar: ''Hennes röst skall höras : birgittinska perspektiv.'' Stockholm Proprius 1991
Svenska folkets underbara öden / I. Forntiden och medeltiden intill 1521
{{Gdańsk Bridgettine monasteries 1391 establishments 1833 disestablishments Christian monasteries established in the 14th century History of Gdańsk Convents of the Catholic Church in Europe