St. Bridget, Our Lady Co-redemptrix, and the Fifteen Revealed Prayers

"Birgitta looked to Mary as her model and support in the various moments of her life. She spoke energetically about the divine privilege of Mary's Immaculate Conception. She contemplated her astonishing mission as Mother of the Savior. She invoked her as the Immaculate Conception, Our Lady of Sorrows, and Coredemptrix, exalting Mary's singular role in the history of salvation and the life of the Christian people." (1)

Pope John Paul II used the occasion of the sixth centenary of the canonization of St. Bridget of Sweden (October 6, 1991) to highlight this great fourteenth century mystic's intimate union with Our Lady, and to refer to her particular contribution to the development of the Co-redemptrix doctrine, both through her use of this sublime Marian title, and through the direct revelations she received from Our Lord and Our Mother who specifically reveal her unparalleled coredemptive role with Jesus.

Our Lord Jesus tells Bridget: "My Mother and I saved man as with one Heart only, I by suffering in My Heart and My Flesh, she by the sorrow and love of her Heart." (2) Our Mother confirms in another revelation: "My son and I redeemed the world as with one heart." (3)

These direct messages from Jesus and Mary to the great Swedish mystic bear supernatural testimony to the fact that the Father and the Son chose and predestined the Mother to cooperate as the Co-redemptrix, like no other creature, in the historic accomplishment of human redemption. Note also the "oneness of heart" spoken of by the Redeemer and the Co-redemptrix: one mission, one sacrifice, achieved by two persons acting with one heart.

The further revealed prayers from Our Lord to St. Bridget, which have become traditionally known as the "Fifteen Prayers of St. Bridget" merit a renewed appreciation in our own day, when oftentimes the "Crucified Jesus" has been replaced solely by the "Resurrected Jesus," in what is sometimes contemporary humanity's effort to flee from the reality of the Cross in our own daily lives.

St. Bridget repeatedly pleaded with Our Lord to reveal to her the number of blows He received during the Passion. After considerable time had passed, Our Lord appeared to St. Bridget and revealed to her: "I received 5480 blows on my body. If you wish to honor them in some way, say fifteen Our Fathers and fifteen Hail Marys with the following prayers for a whole year. When the year is up, you will have honored each of my wounds."

The Prayers of St. Bridget have received repeated papal approval. (4) Due to the supernatural origin of these prayers and meditations, there should no question as to the extraordinary graces and blessings that will come to those of generous heart who offer this year-long daily bouquet of love and thanksgiving for our Divine Redeemer and Incarnate Lover who spared no human suffering in order to redeem us and lead us to our eternal home with God, the Father of all mankind. As St. Bridget exclaims: "What is there that You could have done for us that You have not done!" (Twelfth Prayer).

The Fifteen Prayers

Say one Our Father, then one Hail Mary

O Jesus Christ! Eternal Sweetness to those who love You, joy surpassing all joy and all desire, Salvation and Hope of all sinners, Who have proved that You have no greater desire than to be among men, even assuming human nature at the fullness of time for the love of men, recall all the sufferings You have endured from the instant of Your conception, and especially during Your Passion, as it was decreed and ordained from all eternity in the Divine plan.

Remember, O Lord, that during the Last Supper with Your disciples, having washed their feet, You gave them Your Most Precious Body and Blood, and while at the same time You sweetly consoled them, You foretold to them Your coming Passion.

Remember the sadness and bitterness which You experienced in Your soul as You Yourself bore witness saying: "My soul is sorrowful even unto death."

Remember all the fear, anguish and pain that You suffered in Your delicate body before the torment of the Crucifixion, when, after having prayed three times, bathed in a sweat of blood, You were betrayed by Judas, Your disciple, arrested by the people of a nation You had chosen and elevated, accused by false witnesses, unjustly judged by three judges during the flower of Your youth and during the solemn Paschal season.

Remember that You were despoiled of Your garments and clothed in those of derision; that Your face and eyes were veiled, that You were buffeted, crowned with thorns, a reed placed in Your hands, that You were crushed with blows and overwhelmed with affronts and outrages.

In memory of these pains and sufferings which You endured before Your Passion on the Cross, grant me before my death true contrition, a sincere and entire confession, worthy satisfaction and the remission of all my sins.

Second Prayer

Our Father, then Hail Mary

O Jesus! True liberty of angels, Paradise of delights, remember the horror and sadness which You endured when Your enemies, like furious lions, surrounded You, and by thousands of insults, spits, blows, lacerations and other unheard-of-cruelties, tormented You at will. In consideration of these torments and insulting words, I beseech You, O my Savior, to deliver me from all my enemies, visible and invisible, and to bring me, under Your protection, to the perfection of eternal salvation.

Our Father, then Hail Mary

O Jesus! Creator of Heaven and earth Whom nothing can encompass or limit, You Who enfold and hold all under Your loving power, remember the very bitter pain You suffered when the Jews nailed Your sacred hands and feet to the Cross by blow after blow with big blunt nails, and not finding You in a pitiable enough state to satisfy their rage, they enlarged Your wounds, and added pain to pain, and with indescribable cruelty stretched Your body on the Cross and pulled You from all sides, thus dislocating Your limbs.

I beg of You, O Jesus, by the memory of this most loving suffering of the Cross, to grant me the grace to fear You and to love You.

Fourth Prayer

Our Father, then Hail Mary

O Jesus! Heavenly Physician, raised aloft on the Cross to heal our wounds with Yours, remember the bruises which You suffered and the weakness of all Your members which were distended to such a degree that never was there pain like Yours. From the crown of Your head to the soles of Your feet there was not one spot of Your body that was not in torment, and yet, forgetting all Your sufferings, You did not cease to pray to Your Heavenly Father for Your enemies, saying: "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."

Through this great Mercy, and in memory of this suffering, grant that remembrance of Your Most Bitter Passion may effect in us a perfect contrition and the remission of all our sins.

Fifth Prayer

Our Father, then Hail Mary

O Jesus! Mirror of eternal splendor, remember the sadness which You experienced when, contemplating in the light of Your Divinity the predestination of those who would be saved by the merits of Your sacred Passion, You saw at the same time the great multitude of reprobates who would be damned for their sins, and You complained bitterly of those hopeless lost and unfortunate sinners.

Through this abyss of compassion and pity, and especially through the goodness which You displayed to the good thief when You said to him: "This day, you will be with Me in Paradise," I beg of You, O Sweet Jesus, that at the hour of my death, You will show me mercy.

Our Father, then Hail Mary

O Jesus! Beloved and most desirable King, remember the grief You suffered when, naked and like a common criminal, You were fastened and raised on the Cross, when all Your relatives and friends abandoned You, except Your Beloved Mother, who remained close to You during Your agony and whom You entrusted to Your faithful disciple when You said to Mary: "Woman, behold thy son!" and to St. John: "Son, behold thy Mother!"

I beg of You O my Savior, by the sword of sorrow which pierced the soul of Your holy Mother, to have compassion on me in all my affliction and tribulations, both corporal and spiritual, and to assist me in all my trials, and especially at the hour of my death.

Seventh Prayer

Our Father, then Hail Mary

O Jesus! Inexhaustible Fountain of compassion, Who by a profound gesture of Love said from the Cross: "I thirst!" suffered from the thirst for the salvation of the human race. I beg of You O my Savior, to inflame in our hearts the desire to tend toward perfection in all our acts and to extinguish in us the concupiscence of the flesh and the ardor of worldly desires.