This Europe: Scientists check DNA to find Sweden's only saint

Scientists in Sweden have opened a shrine believed to contain the remains of St Birgitta, the country's only saint, to settle the debate over where she is buried.

They have removed bone samples and are to conduct DNA tests which will yield results in six months.

The shrine was placed at Vadstena Abbey Church, 125 miles south-west of the capital, Stockholm, in 1374.

St Birgitta, the founder of the Birgittine order, became famous in Europe for her visions of Christ and the Virgin Mary. She died in Rome and was canonised in 1391.

Pope John Paul II made her one of three female patron saints of Europe in 1999. Since then, remains of 10 to 15 people, including St Birgitta's daughter, Katarina, have been added and some remains have been removed.

A monastery in Uden, the Netherlands, claims it received St Birgitta's skull after it was taken from Vadstena in the 17th century. But Marie Allen, the lead researcher, said initial assessments indicated that the two skulls inside the Vadstena shrine matched the ages of St Birgitta and Katarina. Similar tests were started earlier this year on skeletal remains in a grave believed to contain the founder of Stockholm, Birger Jarl.