Pilgrim's Chapel St. Jakobi Stralsund

The Pilgrim Chapel in the Kulturkirche St. Jakobi in Stralsund is run by the Ecumenical Pilgrim Initiative of Western Pomerania. A new painting by the artist Sylvia Vandermeer depicts Princess Bridget of Sweden in the chapel.
St. Jakobi is the starting point of a pilgrimage in Stralsund and a stopover on the Birgitta Pilgrim Route. It was opened on July 25, 2021 in an ecumenical service with Bishop Tilman Jeremias (North Church) and Prelate Stefan Dybowski (Archdiocese of Berlin).

Herre, visa mig din väg och gör mig villig att vandra den.
Lord, show me your way and make me willing to go it.

 

Amen.

A traditional prayer of Bridget of Sweden

Prayer times

The regular prayer of the hours in the pilgrims' chapel will begin again in the early summer of 2025. In the meantime, we refer to the daily prayer of the hours in the morning in the Catholic Church Heilige Dreifaltigkeit.

Hl. Dreifaltigkeit Stralsund

Landing of Saint Bridget in Stralsund

The sail on the right shows Bridget of Sweden (1303-1373), who came from one of Sweden's most powerful families. In 1339, she left court and went on a pilgrimage with her husband and entourage.


On her way to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, she passed the Hanseatic city of Stralsund, which is depicted as a silhouette at the bottom of the picture. The center of the picture is dominated by a sailing ship, which carries the sign of the pilgrims with the scallop shell and the cross. To the left of the ship is a young man holding one of the three crosses that stand for the crucifixion of Christ on Mount Golgotha. The artist transforms lances, flagpoles and crosses at the upper left edge of the picture as if they were lines of a photo engraving, with an image of Christ appearing in between. The young woman to the right of the ship is leaning on a staff with the coat of arms of the city of Stralsund, which is also depicted again in the flags on the left. The same goes for the Swedish flag and the Birgittenweg pilgrimage sign.


Saint Bridget experienced a revelation on her pilgrimage and founded the Order of the Bridgettine Sisters of the Holy Redeemer. She is a Catholic saint and patron saint of the Catholic Church. The Protestant and Anglican Churches also regard her as an important witness of faith and mystic. In the picture, this is indicated in the lower left and right corners by a Protestant pastor holding a Bible and a Catholic priest holding an elevated chalice.

Sylvia Vandermeer, 2021