House of Bjälbo (Folkungaätten)

Regula Sancti Salvatoris

The Regula Sancti Salvatoris is the monastic rule that Birgitta claimed was revealed to her by Christ for the Order of the Most Holy Saviour. King Magnus Eriksson of the Folkunga dynasty granted the royal manor of Vadstena for the convent in 1346, directly enabling the Rule's institutional home. Approved by Pope Urban VI in 1378 as constitutions for the order, it was appended to the Augustinian Rule. A 15th-century parchment manuscript of the Regula is held at Yale University Library (catalog no. 2014432), and a bilingual Swedish-Latin edition is preserved at the Königliche Bibliothek Berlin (Germ. fol. 726).

Cantus Sororum (Birgittine Office of Our Lady)

Ordo Cantus Sororum Ordinis Sancti Salvatoris

The Cantus Sororum is the distinctive divine office of the Birgittine sisters, constructed by Birgitta and Petrus of Skänninge as a weekly Marian office cycle based on lessons from Birgitta's Sermo Angelicus. It is the only known medieval liturgical repertory composed specifically for performance by women. The mother-house at Vadstena Abbey — founded and endowed by the Folkunga King Magnus Eriksson in 1346 — was the original home of this office, and approximately 22 notated manuscripts survive from Vadstena and daughter-houses. The Birgittine Database (birgittine.org) catalogs 3,600 entries from these manuscripts covering c.1500–1881.

Sermo Angelicus

The Sermo Angelicus consists of 21 lessons — three for each day of the week — said by Birgitta to have been dictated by an angel and addressed to the Virgin Mary's role in salvation history. These lessons formed the lections for the Matins of the Birgittine sisters' distinctive office at Vadstena and all daughter-houses. The text was composed in Rome c.1353–1354 and became the theological heart of the Birgittine liturgy endowed by the Folkunga royal house. The Museum of the Bible holds an illuminated Birgittine manuscript containing the Sermo Angelicus as part of the sisters' office book.

Revelationes Caelestes (Liber Caelestis)

Revelationes Caelestes

The collected celestial visions of St. Birgitta of Sweden, recorded between 1344 and her death in 1373, comprising some 700 revelations in seven books covering penance, Marian devotion, political admonition to King Magnus Eriksson (the Folkunga king who endowed Vadstena in 1346), and meditations on the Passion. King Magnus Eriksson of the Folkunga dynasty gave the royal demesne of Vadstena to Birgitta's new order in 1346, making him direct patron of the text's monastic home. The Revelationes circulated in Old Swedish at Vadstena Abbey from the 1380s and were central to the devotional life of all who supported the Birgittine order. The first printed edition appeared in Lübeck in 1492, consolidating the text's pan-European spread.

Liber Caelestis Imperatoris ad Reges (Revelaciones, Book VIII)

Liber celestis imperatoris ad reges

Book VIII of the Revelationes, titled Liber Caelestis Imperatoris ad Reges ('The Book of the Celestial Emperor for Kings'), was arranged by Alfonso Pecha as an explicit Mirror for Princes drawn from 58 of Birgitta's revelations addressing the duties and failings of rulers. The political critique of King Magnus Eriksson of Sweden is at its sharpest here, framing divine justice and mercy as twin poles of legitimate kingship. Scholars have confirmed its function as royal formation literature within the Birgittine milieu that Magnus himself founded. The critical edition was published by Hans Aili in 2002.

Revelationes Extravagantes

The Revelationes Extravagantes consists of 116 supplementary chapters of Birgitta's revelations compiled at Vadstena after her death and canonization in 1391, including four major prayers, the Angel's Discourse, and detailed practical instructions for monastic life. Old Swedish fragments of the Extravagantes from the Danish National Archives confirm their circulation in the Scandinavian region. The text was central to the daily devotional life of the Vadstena community, patronized across its history by members of the Folkunga and subsequent Swedish royal families.