Biography
Ingrid of Skänninge
About Ingrid of Skänninge
Ingrid Elovsdotter was a widowed Swedish woman whose religious life took shape in thirteenth-century Skänninge. The Swedish History Museum connects her with her sister Kristina and a circle of devout women around the Dominican Petrus de Dacia. Around 1270 the sisters adopted Dominican dress.
The women developed a convent at Skänninge, one of the earliest Dominican houses for women in Sweden. Ingrid’s name remained attached to the community and to the ruins that preserve its place in the town’s history. The record is stronger for that foundation than for detailed stories of her childhood or pilgrimages.
She died in 1282. Later devotion honoured her as a saint, though the sources should be read carefully before assigning a formal canonization. Her example is tied to a community of women who gave lasting institutional form to religious life in medieval Sweden.
Wondering how to weigh the stories and sources? Learn how to read a saint biography.