the abbey was looted by Danish soldiers. In 1568, the number of nuns was counted as 18. During the reign of King John III (1569–1592), the abbey was restored and enriched, and the abbess was on very good terms with the royal couple. In 1575, John III granted the abbey the right to receive novices without restriction again, and his Catholic Queen, Catherine Jagellon, made donations to it and forged contacts between the abbey and Rome. The Jesuit Antonio Possevino, as Papal Legate, reformed it in 1580. At this occasion, the abbess and the prioress were made to swear the Tridentine Oath of 1564 and the nuns were made to take their vows a second time. Possevino also left with a group of boys to be educated as Catholic priests. In 1587, the first Catholic Solemn Mass since the Reformation was held in the abbey during a visit by the King and the Crown Prince, and in 1592, a seminary to prepare Catholic priests was founded. The Catholic King Sigismund granted the Vadstena Abbey his protection at his coronation in 1594. The Papal Legate Germanico Malaspina visited the abbey and a young girl was accepted as a novice. Later in 1594, however, the Protestant Duke Charles, later Charles IX of Sweden, took power and ordered the dissolution of Vadstena Abbey. In 1595, the majority of the remaining 11 nuns left with their abbess and, after having spent the winter in Söderköping, sailed to the Bridgettine Abbey of Danzig, Marienbrunn Abbey, in the spring of 1596. Three remaining nuns were there for the visit of Bishop Abraham Angermannus in July 1596. Of these, one married an officer and courtier of Charles IX, another one became lady-in-waiting to Queen Christina, and the last one, Karin Johansdotter, was allowed to stay in the building of the former abbey employed as a caretaker to the abbey's gardens until 1605. When Magnus Vasa, Duke of Östergötland, died in 1595 he was buried in the abbey church. His sarcophagus can still be seen today. Post-dissolution After Karin Johansdotter left the former abbey in 1605, the buildings were left empty for almost 40 years. There were plans to found a university in them, but nothing came of this. In 1641, a Krigsmanshus (home for veterans) was founded for retired and invalid soldiers and their families, and was housed in the former nuns' wing for over 140 years.