Elisabeth Hesselblad

Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad, OSsS (4 June 1870 – 24 April 1957), was a Swedish Catholic religious sister who founded a new, active, branch of the Bridgettines known as the Bridgettine Sisters. Hesselblad is recognised as a Righteous Among the Nations due to her efforts in World War II saving the lives of Jews during the genocide of the Holocaust.

Pope John Paul II beatified her on 9 April 2000 and Pope Francis canonised her 5 June 2016 at Saint Peter's Square.

Life

Early life and conversion Maria Elizabeth Hesselblad born on 4 June 1870 as the fifth of thirteen children born to August Robert Hesselblad and Cajsa Petersdotter Dag – Lutheran parents from Fåglavik in Västra Götaland County. She was baptized the following month and received into the Lutheran Church of Sweden in her parish of Hudene.

By 1886, she had to work to help them make ends meet. At first, she looked for work in Sweden, but eventually immigrated to the United States in 1888, where she studied nursing at Roosevelt Hospital in New York City. While there, she did home nursing, which brought her into contact with the Catholic faith of many of the poor for whom she cared. In 1896, Elizabeth decided to leave hospital work for private duty nursing. She became a nurse and companion to two teenage daughters of wealthy Catholics, the Cisneros family. Hagen also became her spiritual director. It was in that same year that her brother, Thur, also converted to Catholicism.

Religious experiences Hesselblad then made a pilgrimage to Rome, where she received the sacrament of Confirmation. She also visited the house of Bridget of Sweden there, where Bridget had spent the last half of her life, which made a deep impression on her. At that point, Hasselblad felt called to dedicate her life to the work of Christian unity. She returned to New York City briefly, only to go back to Rome, where, on 25 March 1904, she was welcomed as a guest by the nuns of the Carmelite monastery housed there; the prioress welcomed her after hesitating to accept her due to her weak health. However, she allowed Hasselblad on the condition of a period of probation. She professed into the hands of Hagen on 22 June 1906, the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

Hesselblad attempted to revive interest in the order and its founder in both Sweden and Rome. Her proposal to establish a monastery of the order on the site where Bridget had lived received no volunteers from the few monasteries of the order still in existence. Giving up on the intention of following the established way of life in the order, she proposed one which included the care of the sick. To this end she was joined by three young women from England, whom she received on 9 November 1911, with which the new congregation was established. Their particular mission was to pray and work, especially for the conversion of the Scandinavian people to the Catholic Church. That same year, Hesselblad obtained the House of Saint Bridget in Rome for her new congregation. A foundation was made in India in 1937 which drew many new members.

Death Hesselblad's health declined when officials prepared the canonical visit of her order. On 23 April 1957 she gave her blessing to the sisters and held her raised hands in a solemn gesture in which she murmured: "Go to Heaven with hands full of love and virtues". She received the sacraments thereafter and died in Rome on 24 April 1957 (Easter Wednesday) in the first hours of the morning.

The miracle was investigated in the diocese of its origin in Cuba in February 2014 – the miracle in question occurred in the late 2000s – and was validated in Rome on 20 June 2014. A medical board approved the miracle in April 2015.

Distinctions Righteous Among the Nations by Yad Vashem (2004), due to her work in assisting Jews during World War II Order pro merito Melitensi