THE Order established by St. Bridget about the year 1344 has taken the name of the "Saviour," because it is believed that he himself prescribed the rules and constitutions, and dictated them to St. Bridget, which were to be observed by the religious of both sexes. This princess, who sprang from one of the noblest houses in the kingdom of Sweden, was born about the year 1302; her parents were eminently pious; and before she was born her mother was overtaken by a storm at sea. Several of her companions were drowned, and it was revealed to her in a vision on the following night that her own escape was miraculous, and owing to the child she should bear, who would become an ornament and a blessing. Her mother did not long survive her birth; and when she reached the age of thirteen, though she wished to remain single, she obeyed her father, and married Wiphon, Prince of Nericie, then eighteen. By mutual consent they lived a year apart, and both being in the third order of St. Francis lived in their own house with the regularity of cloistered life. Wiphon opposed not his wife's practices of mortification; she lay on a board, spent the greater part of the night in meditation and prayer, wore sackcloth, and visited hospitals, where she attended on the sick. Her husband was frequently called to court, and was consulted by the king on all matters of moment. Yet he felt his life useless as compared with that of his wife. He retired from court, and made with his whole family a voyage to St. James's in Gallicia. On his way homeward he was taken dangerously ill at Arras; his wife used all possible means for his recovery,

and earnestly besought it of God. St. Denis appeared to her, foretold her many things, and gave her the instantaneous recovery of her husband as the token that they would surely happen. On his reaching home he was so inflamed with the love of God, that he wished to surrender himself altogether; and with consent of his wife he entered the monastery of Citeaux, where he died within the year of his novitiate. His wife redoubled her austerities; she parted with all her goods to her children; she used to eat with the poor, and beg with them; she wore no linen, and girt herself with a knotted cord. On Fridays she frequently dropped melted wax on different parts of her body to freshen her sense of our Lord's sufferings, and on that day she lived on bread and water. Her watchings were no less austere; in this manner she lived nearly thirty years after her husband.

It is supposed to have been about the year 1344, and prior to her giving away all her wealth, that she built the monastery of Wastein in Sweden. In this monastery originated the Order since called the "Holy Saviour," or "St. Bridget," and which seems to be framed for

religious who are to honor the Virgin in a very special way.

There are to be sixty religious in each monastery, thirteen priests, four deacons,-who represent the four doctors of the Church, SS. Ambrose, Augustine, Gregory, and Jerome, with eight lay members; the whole forming the number of the thirteen Apostles, and the seventy-two disciples of our Lord.

Women are not to be received under the age of eighteen, nor men before twenty-five. On the expiration of the novitiate the bishop, or

some one deputed by him, goes to the door of the church and there puts questions to the postulant, after which he causes her to enter the church; a red banner is carried before her, which has a cross on one side, and a picture of the Virgin on the other, that by looking on the cross she may learn poverty and patience, and on the Virgin humility and chastity; two lighted flambeaux are carried, one on each side of the banner, and these remain lighted during Mass.

Before beginning Mass the bishop puts a ring on the postulant, which he had consecrated while she was still standing in the porch. At the offertory she makes her offering, and returns to her place, where she remains until the clothes are blessed. When she again presents herself it is with bare feet and divested of all her dress with the exception of a tunic. The bishop then clothes her in religion, and having put on the veil he continues the Mass. When he comes to the part at which the nuptial benediction is given at the marriage ceremony, he turns towards the people, desires the postulant to be called, and after certain prayers places upon her head the crown worn by religious of the Order; while fastening on the crown he repeats other prayers. Mass being ended, he has the postulant again called. She prostrates herself flat on the ground, and the Litanies are read over her, after which she receives Communion. Four religious then open the door of the monastery, through which she is to enter, advance to her, and placing her on a bier carry her in. The bishop follows to deliver her up to the abbess, and for eight days she is not bound to any regular observances. The same ceremonial is used at the reception of a man, only that there is imposition of hands instead of the ring, veil, and crown; and after the Mass the bishop introduces the new religious

into his brethren's house, which he is never to quit except to go to church. The church is in common to the sisters and the brothers. It must have thirteen altars, in honor of the thirteen Apostles; fourteen chalices, two of which are reserved for the high altar. Each altar is to have two sets of vestments-one for daily use, another for festivals. The female choir is above, the male below. The former only recite the office of the Virgin with three lessons; and whatever festival may come, they sing the High Mass of the Virgin, and after it the Salve Regina. The religious men recite the offices used in the diocese in which their monastery may be. Before Vespers, and after saying an Ave, each choir asks pardon of the other by bending low and saying, "For the love of God, and of his blessed Mother, forgive us if we have offended you by sign, by word, or by deed; and we for our parts most sincerely pardon anything in which you may have failed towards us."

As to clothing, the sisters must have two chemises of white bureau, a gray tunic of the same, a cowl, and a mantle fastened with a wooden pin, which in winter will be furred with lambskin. Their head-dress is a guimpe covering the forehead, and closely over this guimpe a black lawn veil, and over the veil a white linen crown, on which will be five little bits of scarlet to resemble drops of blood. The men are to have two chemises of white bureau, a tunic of gray, a cowl of the same, to which will be fastened a mantle with a hood. On the mantle the priests wear on the left side a red cross, and in the middle of the cross white cloth in form of the Host. The deacons wear a white circle to represent the wisdom bestowed on the doctors of the Church, and on the circle, four pieces of red in the form of tongues of fire. The reverse side of the

cross is white, a symbol of innocence; and on the white five red marks, to represent the five wounds

of our Lord.

Before opening any new monastery there must be a sufficient number of sisters and of priests to sing the offices. Afterwards those that offer themselves are to be received until the stated number be made up. Each member must bring sufficient dower for his or her support, and the sums thus brought together are to form a revenue for the monastery. All who come in afterwards enter gratis, and the monastery may not receive rents or bequests. The abbess must provide the sisters and brothers with all necessaries, and keep the buildings in repair with the alms collected in the monastery. When any member of the community die, their clothes are given to the poor, and their pittance is given away daily until their places are filled up. Anything voluntarily given upon entering is distributed amongst the poor or bestowed upon necessitous churches. Should the monastery be in such circumstances as to render the acceptance of a gift expedient, the mode by which the donor acquired it is to be investigated and proved by five witnesses, and if his legitimate right seem in the least questionable, the gift must be rejected. Each year on the eve of All Saints a calculation is to be made as to the probable expenses of the following year, and everything over and above, whether in money or in provisions, is to be given to the poor the day after All Saints, so that the monastery may not retain anything superfluous. On Thursdays a chapter is held by the abbess, when the sisters who have fallen into any faults have penances. Any one whose fault is proved by three witnesses, while she refuses to confess it, eats her usual meal on the ground this first day of the chapter. The second

day, Friday, she has but bread and water, and for these two days she may not quit the church. At the offices she prostrates herself before each sister, and all pass out without speaking to her. After Vespers, the abbess, accompanied by all our religious, goes to seek the penitent, raises her from the ground, conducts her to the altar, where, receiving absolution, she retakes her proper place. Should any one die unconfessed, she is taken to the church door, and, in presence of the sisters, the abbess says, "This person, through the suggestion of the devil, has sinned grievously against God and against religion. Let us pray that God may pardon her, for he is merciful." After an Ave Maria or absolution, the deceased is borne to the choir of the sisters, and thence, after the usual prayers for the departed, to the place of sepulture.

The bishop of the diocese should be the father and visitor of the monastery; the kings or chiefs of the state its defenders and advocates; and the Pope its protector. Without the consent of the Pope no monastery of the Order was to be built. The fasts were strict; silence was always kept from early morning till after High Mass, which was celebrated in honor of the Blessed Virgin; always at meals; from Vespers until grace after supper; and from the close of the evening recreation until the next day. There ought to be an open fosse, into which the abbess with her religious should descend daily after tierce, and after praying there, cast in some earth. At the entrance to the church is to be a bier and coffin. The order being intended to give particular honor to the Blessed Virgin, the abbess is obeyed by the brothers as well as by the sisters; and she chooses from amongst the priests one to be general confessor.

This is an abridgment of the constitutions supposed to be given