Filius Dei consulit cuidam domine, scilicet filie beate Birgitte Katerine, volenti redire ad patriam, quod cum ea remaneat. Nam maritus eius in breui erat moriturus. Illam vero Christus vult ducere et reducere, quomodo sibi placet.
The Father's Wise Provision
Christ explains through a parable why it is better for Catherine to remain in Rome rather than return home.
The Son of God says: "Advise her, my lady, to stay with you for a while, because it's more useful for her to stay than to return." I am going to do for her what a father does for a young woman who is loved and sought in marriage by two men—one poor and the other rich—when she loves them both. A wise father sees the affection of a young woman and, knowing she loves a poor man, gives gifts and clothing to the poor man, yet gives his daughter in marriage to the rich one. That is how I want to act. She loves me, and she loves her husband. Because I am richer and the Lord of all, I want to provide her with gifts that are more useful to her soul, for it pleases me to call him home soon.1 The weakness she struggles with is a sign that she is departing. It’s fitting that someone reaching toward the Almighty should keep their own reasoning in check and be free from worldly attachments.2 I intend to lead her and bring her back to her own, until she's ready for the work I've foreseen from eternity and am pleased to reveal to her.
The Call to Holy Widowhood
When Catherine struggles with the desire to return home, Christ comforts her mother and confirms her vocation as a widow.
Some time later, after Blessed Catherine had vowed to stay in Rome with her mother, she was shaken by the horror of a life so unfamiliar; remembering her past freedom and feeling deeply anxious, she asked her mother if she could return to Sweden. Christ appeared to her mother while she was praying and struggling with this temptation, saying, "Tell that virgin, your daughter, that she has become a widow." And I advise that she stay with you, because I want to provide for her myself."
Read the original Latin
Filius Dei loquitur: "Consule illi domine, quod stet tecum ad tempus, quia vtilius est ei stare quam redire.
Nam facturus sum ei, sicut pater facit puelle, que a duobus diligitur et petitur in coniugium, quorum alius est pauper et alter diues et ambo diliguntur a puella.
Pater itaque prudens videt affectum virginis et pauperem ab ea diligi dat pauperi dona et vestes, diuiti vero coniungit filiam suam. Sic ego volo facere.
Ista diligit me et maritum suum. Ideo, quia ego dicior sum et Dominus omnium, prouidere ei volo de donis meis vtilioribus sibi ad animam, quia placet michi cito vocare eum.
Et infirmitas, qua laborat, signum est exitus sui. Decet enim tendentem ad Potentissimum raciocinacionem suam habere in manibus et a carnalibus esse expeditum.
Illam vero volo ducere et reducere ad sua, donec apta fiat ad opus, quod ab eterno presciui et ostendere ei michi placet."
Aliquanto itaque tempore elapso, postquam beata Katerina vouisset cum matre sua Rome remanere, horrore inconsuete vite concussa memorque libertatis preterite multum anxia peciit a matre sua, vt ad Sueciam posset remeare.
Matri vero eius pro hac temptacione in oracione existenti apparuit Christus dicens: "Dic virgini illi filie tue, quod facta est vidua. Et consulo, vt tecum remaneat, quia ego ipse volo sibi prouidere."
Notes
- 1 ↩The phrase 'vocare eum' (to call him) is used here as a euphemism for death, consistent with the chapter title indicating the husband is soon to die.
- 2 ↩The phrase 'raciocinacionem suam habere in manibus' suggests keeping one's own judgment or reasoning under control/in check, rather than letting it run wild.
Revelationes (Heavenly Revelations) companion
Keep going — one revelation a day
The full 496-chapter Revelationes lives in the Chosen Portion app, served as free daily portions.
Birgitta's revelations arrived over three decades of daily attentiveness, and the Chosen Portion app lets readers receive them the same way — one portion per day.
- Finish the guided path in 8 weeks at roughly 15 minutes a day
- All 8 books, 496 chapters, in modern English — the complete transmitted text
- Daily delivery so a 30-year masterwork becomes a sustainable habit