St Peter, Scarborough

Today, on the feast day of St Bridget of Sweden, I have been to mass at St Peter's for two reasons - to accompany my friend Dorothy celebrating her 90th birthday but also to persue the relationship between Cardinal Newman and the first priest Canon Walker.

St. Bridget of Sweden

The most celebrated saint of the Northern kingdoms, born about 1303; died 23 July, 1373.

Early life

She was the daughter of Birger Persson, governor and provincial judge (Lagman) of Uppland, and ofIngeborg Bengtsdotter. Her father was one of the wealthiest landholders of the country, and, like her mother, distinguished by deep piety. St. Ingrid, whose death had occurred about twenty years beforeBridget's birth, was a near relative of the family. Birger's daughter received a careful religious training, and from her seventh year showed signs of extraordinary religious impressions and illuminations. To hereducation, and particularly to the influence of an aunt who took the place of Bridget's mother after the latter's death (c. 1315), she owed that unswerving strength of will which later distinguished her.

Marriage

In 1316, at the age of thirteen, she was united in marriage to Ulf Gudmarsson, who was then eighteen. She acquired great influence over her noble and pious husband, and the happy marriage wasblessed with eight children, among them St. Catherine of Sweden. The saintly life and the greatcharity of Bridget soon made her name known far and wide. She was acquainted with several learned and pious theologians, among them Nicolaus Hermanni, later Bishop of Linköping, Matthias, canon ofLinköping, her confessor, Peter, Prior of Alvastrâ, and Peter Magister, her confessor after Matthias. She was later at the court of King Magnus Eriksson, over whom she gradually acquired great influence. Early in the forties (1341-43) in company with her husband she made a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostella. On the return journey her husband was stricken with an attack of illness, but recovered sufficiently to finish the journey. Shortly afterwards, however, he died (1344) in the Cistercianmonastery of Alvastrâ in East Gothland.

Widowhood

Bridget now devoted herself entirely to practices of religion and asceticism, and to religiousundertakings. The visions which she believed herself to have had from her early childhood now became more frequent and definite. She believed that Christ Himself appeared to her, and she wrote down therevelations she then received, which were in great repute during the Middle Ages. They were translated into Latin by Matthias Magister and Prior Peter.

St. Bridget now founded a new religious congregation, the Brigittines, or Order of St. Saviour, whose chief monastery, at Vadstena, was richly endowed by King Magnus and his queen (1346). To obtain confirmation for her institute, and at the same time to seek a larger sphere of activity for her mission, which was the moral uplifting of the period, she journeyed to Rome in 1349, and remained there until her death, except while absent on pilgrimages, among them one to the Holy Land in 1373. In August, 1370, Pope Urban V confirmed the Rule of her congregation. Bridget made earnest representations toPope Urban, urging the removal of the Holy See from Avignon back to Rome. She accomplished the greatest good in Rome, however, by her pious and charitable life, and her earnest admonitions to others to adopt a better life, following out the excellent precedents she had set in her native land. The year following her death her remains were conveyed to the monastery at Vadstena. She wascanonized, 7 October, 1391, by Boniface IX.

In 1835 Canon Walker was appointed to Scarborough, and for 40 years devoted himself to the work of the mission. He opened a school for the children of the congregation in his own house, and enlarged the chapel. Finding the accommodation still insufficient, he decided to erect a new church, and convert the old chapel into schools. The church was begun in 1856, and comprises a nave, apsidal chancel, and lateral aisles terminated by chapels. One of the most striking features of the interior is the chancel arch, the piers of which are square, moulded on the angles, and set back to the line of the arcade, so as to afford the best possible sight of the chancel, The chancel is lighted on the sides by windows of two lights each, filled with medallions. There are two side chapels. The one on the east is dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. The window is of stained glass, representing in the centre light the Blessed Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. On the right is represented an incident in the life of St. Edward, and on the left the legend of St. Elizabeth. The tracery is occupied by angels, and the armorial bearings of the donor of the window, E. Petre, Esq., on the right, and on the left, those of Lady G. Talbot, his wife. The chapel on the west side is dedicated to St. Michael. The nave is a bold arcade of five bays, circular columns and arches of two orders, with a clerestory pierced by two-light windows of pattern glass. The aisles are lighted by geometric windows of varied design. The church was opened in 1858, when the late Cardinal Wiseman preached. The church, though opened, was not completed in all its details for some years afterwards. First it was enriched by the gift of the present noble high altar, the gift of the late W. Potts Chatto, Esq. The altar is of Caen stone, and contains, in the centre, a medallion of the Crucifixion, with angels on each side. The tabernacle is surmounted by a richly carved Baldacchino and pinnacles rising to the height of about 25 feet, and has a handsome brass door, richly engraved, and inlaid with precious stones. There are several stained glass windows, and a very handsome pulpit, as well as a baptismal font, all in keeping with the rest of the furnishings of the church.