Saint Brigid of Kildare

Born in about 451, Saint Brigid is second only to Saint Patrick in importance in Ireland. She dedicated her life solely to God at an early age and founded the monastery at Kildare. Stories abound about her kindness and generosity.
According to her biographers, Brigid’s father was Dubhthach, a pagan chieftain of Leinster who would have worshipped the pagan goddess, Brid. Her mother was Brocca, a Christian Pictish slave who is said to have been baptized by Saint Patrick. In many stories of Saint Brigid, she routinely angered her pagan father by giving away valuables to the needy.

Saint Brigid’s feast day is February 1; the same day as the feast day for the goddess Brid. Brid is the Druidic goddess responsible for knowledge and life, fire, wisdom, and the hearth. Brid’s feast day is called Imbolg, the first day of the pagan spring.

Brigid and Brid and Brigantia

Scholars suggest that there has been a kind of an assimilation between not only the godess Brid with Brigid, but also with the Viking goddess Brigantia. Brid’s cult was observed by female priestesses on the very spot where Brigid build her church at Kildare. Historians and theologians suspect that by assimilating the pagan deities lives with the Christian Saints, the conversion of the Pagan Irish was more readily achieved. No one can argue with the success of those efforts – Ireland was converted to Christianity without the bloodshed seen in such conversions.

Although the stories associated with Saint Brigid may be mixed with exaggeration and pagan myth, there is no doubt that Saint Brigid was a real person who was important to the early Irish Church. In fact she did establish her monastery at Kildare. Like their love for Saint Patrick, Irish people all over the world are also devoted to Saint Brigid. And like the stories about Saint Patrick, the lack of scholarly proof of much of what is said about Saint Brigid is of little concern to the Irish themselves. The Irish embrace their sacred traditions that have fueled a powerful spirituality and vibrancy.

There is a strong association between Saint Brigid and fire. According to the 12th Century churchman, scholar and traveler, Gerald of Wales, a fire was kept burning in the church at Kildare – the one established by Saint Brigid. Each of the 20 nuns in the monastery took a turn at a night’s vigil to tend to it. After Brigid’s death when the twentieth night came, the nineteenth nun would put in the logs beside the fire and says, “Brigid, guard your fire it is your night.” And in this way the fire would burn all night without going out.
Saint Brigid’s Cross, woven from rushes or reeds is a significant sacred article in many homes in Ireland and elsewhere. Some Irish traditionally hung the cross from the ceiling and by so doing, it provides protection from fire in their thatched cottages.

Brigid is revered not only in Ireland, but in Europe and in the United States. Saint Brigid holds special significance today for women and her feast day has recently been proclaimed a national holiday for women. Perhaps this is so because Brigid was known for her courage and strength of character. According to legend, the elderly bishop, St. Mel, the nephew to St. Patrick, as he was blessing Brigid as abbess, inadvertently read the rite of consecration of a bishop. Thus it is believed by many that Brigid was a Bishop. She died in 528 and was originally buried at a tomb in her abbey. Her remains were exhumed and transferred to Downpatrick to rest with the two other patron saints of Ireland, Patrick and Columba (Columcille). Her skull was extracted and brought to Lisbon, Portugal by two Irish noblemen, where it remains.

(References: Butler’s Lives of the Saints, New Concise Edition, Paul Burns, 2003, Liturgical Press, Collegeville, MN./ Wikpedia)
Copyright 2009 by Lawrence M. Norris (lmj.norris@gmail.com)