St Catherine of Sweden was born in the early 1330s. She was one of eight children of St Bridget. Catherine was married, at her father’s insistence, in her early teens. The groom, a German nobleman called Lord Eggert van Kyren, was like Catherine: a youth fervently devoted to Christ. The newlyweds took a vow of perpetual virginity. After Catherine’s father died, her mother Bridget founded an order now known as the Brigittines. Eggert also gave permission for Catherine to follow her mother on her travels. Bridget needed to go to Rome to gain official status for the Brigittines (or as they were originally known, the Order of St Saviour); the pair also went on pilgrimages, including to the Holy Land. While Bridget and Catherine were in Rome, Eggert died young. The Catholic Encyclopedia records that “the distinguished and beautiful young widow was surrounded by suitors”, but she turned down every proposal. Mother and daughter became close collaborators. Both lived ascetically, devoted to the moral and spiritual renewal of their time. After Bridget died, Catherine continued her legacy, steering the Brigittines through their early years of development. Catherine also went to Rome to work for her mother’s canonisation; while there she got to know St Catherine of Siena. Both supported Pope Urban VI through the Western Schism, when a violent debate broke out over whether Urban or a rival claimant was the true pope. In 1381 Catherine died. Ten years later, one of her life’s great tasks reached its accomplishment when Bridget was canonised by Boniface IX. In 1494 Innocent VIII gave permission for Catherine herself to be venerated as a saint.