The Convert Queen Christina of Sweden

Queen Christina of Sweden is certainly one of the most interesting converts in the history of the Catholic Church. Almost her entire life was spent in controversey of one form or another. She was intelligent, curious, opinionated, forceful and pretty much everything that a young woman of her time was not supposed to be. Her refusal to live in the traditional female mold was a constant cause of gossip and slander against her. However, the one thing which was most controversial about her life was not her immense intellectual curiosity, but rather what it led her to: the Queen of a staunchly Lutheran country becoming a Roman Catholic.            Born in 1626, Christina was not just the daughter of any Protestant king, but the daughter of King Gustavus Adolphus, the famous "Lion of the North" who was a Protestant champion and a renowned military genius who revolutionized warfare. However, when Christina was only six years old, her father was killed in battle during the 30 Years War against the Catholic Emperor in Germany. She ascended the Swedish throne in 1632 and came to be known as an exceptional monarch, as well as an unorthodox one. She was extremely intelligent and did a great deal to encourage education. Her court became a center for the most

advanced minds in Europe, of every variety of thought and background, from conservative Churchmen to the famous French philosopher and mathemitician Rene Descartes. She was curious about everything and interested in a variety of subjects, including religion.           Ultimately, she came to find her Lutheran church lacking, she studied her beliefs with a critical mind and found them lacking. She began to search for a religious doctrine which could stand up to her fiery intellect. She began talking with Jesuit priests and at last found in Catholicism a religion she could sink her teeth into. She may be one of the few people in the world to make a religious conversion based on the head rather than the heart. Secretly, she began to take instruction and came to an intense belief in the Church, which is all the more amazing considering that her father had died fighting the Catholic Church; but this only serves as further proof that she was fair and won over purely through the perfection of the Catholic doctrines. It seemed to her to be the only form of Christianity that made any sense.

Naturally, she understood this would mean the loss of her crown, as in Sweden it was against the law to be Catholic. In a display of great patience, intelligence and love of her people, she started a secret process to remove herself with the least of difficulty. She had great foresight, over seven years putting plans into effect that, in a very subtle way, prepared the kingdom for her abdication, continuing to take Catholic instruction in secret all the time. Finally, she converted and abdicated the throne, leaving Sweden in the hands of her cousin, King Charles X Gustavus in 1654, the same year the Swedes invaded Poland, a failed venture.           Queen Christina travelled in disguise across northern Europe, first to the Spanish Netherlands, then to Innsbruck where she officially came into the Church and then finally to Rome where she received a very warm welcome from Pope Alexander VII, who let her stay in the Vatican until she was established with her own household in Rome. She had given up her crown, wealth and power for the sake of the Church, and though there was (I believe) a restoration attempt, she was never to see her home again. However, she became quite a beloved figure in her exile. She reestablished her own court with all of the intellectual pursuits she had enjoyed at home. She was certainly the most famous convert of the time, and a favorite of the Pope. Upon her death she was given the honor of being buried in St Peter's Basilica in the Vatican.