Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiographies, she was an abbess who founded the important abbey of Kildare (Cill Dara), as well as several other convents of nuns. There are few documented historical facts about her, and her hagiographies are mainly anecdotes and miracle tales, some of which are rooted in pagan folklore. They say Brigid was the daughter of an Irish clan chief and an enslaved Christian woman, and was fostered in a druid's household before becoming a consecrated virgin. She is patroness of many things, including poetry, learning, healing, protection, blacksmithing, livestock and dairy production. In her honour, a perpetual fire was kept burning at Kildare for centuries.
Some historians suggest that Brigid is a Christianisation of the Celtic goddess Brigid. The saint's feast day is 1 February, and traditionally it involves weaving Brigid's crosses and many other folk customs. It was originally a pre-Christian festival called Imbolc, marking the beginning of spring. From 2023 it is a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland. This feast day is shared by Dar Lugdach, who tradition says was her student, close companion, and successor. The feast of St Brigid on the 1st of February is a celebration of the wonderful springing back of the earth from its winter sleep. It is the season when we celebrate new beginnings and new life on earth. The sod is turned. The day lengthens. Seeds are sown and sails are hoisted.
Many of the stories about Brigid tell of her milking the cows, churning the milk, making up the firkins of butter, shepherding her flocks of sheep, helping with the harvest and even brewing the ale! Brigid, in keeping with her Celtic traditions, was wonderfully attuned to the seasons and cycles of nature. She valued the elements of nature: earth, air, fire and water.
One of the biggest traps you can fall into in the spiritual life is thinking that holiness is about doing something extraordinary. But most of the time, holiness is just about doing the ordinary things of life with great love. And every time we do something with great love, that’s a Holy Moment.
Everything is an opportunity for a Holy Moment.
Saint Brigid of Ireland found opportunities in every circumstance of life to collaborate with God and create Holy Moments.
Brigid was the daughter of a pagan chieftain named Dubthach and his Christian slave woman, Broicsech (who was baptized by Saint Patrick). Brigid took her mother’s faith and put it into action from a young age. Even though she was her father’s slave, she would often take his valuables and give them to the poor. Dubthach became so infuriated that he tried to sell her to an Irish king. While Dubthach was speaking to the king, Brigid took her father’s jewelled sword and gave it to a beggar who sold it to feed his family.
That could easily have been the end for Saint Brigid, but the Irish king recognized her holiness and freed her from bondage.
Brigid’s holiness started in little ways. She found opportunities for a Holy Moment in every situation. The impact of these Holy Moments is symbolized in the legend of her cloak. The story goes that when she requested land from a local king to build her monastery and was refused, she asked for as much land as her cloak would cover. Upon laying her cloak on the ground, it miraculously expanded to cover acres for the monastery.
Small acts done with great love. They might not seem like much before you try them, but once you do, you’ll realize each Holy Moment has miraculous power.
Everything is an opportunity for a Holy Moment.
Light the Fire
Today, we are becoming more aware of the fragility of our planet. Lands are becoming barren, skies fouled, waters poisoned. Many individuals and groups concerned about the environment draw inspiration from the reverence and respect which Brigid had for the land. She is often referred to as the’ Saint of Agriculture.’ In a new hymn, composed by Fr Liam Lawton, Brigid is invoked ‘to heal our wounds and green our earth again.’
“A Life of Brigid” (Vita Brigitae), composed by Cogitosus about 650 AD, places great emphasis on Brigid’s faith, her healing powers, her hospitality, her generosity, her great skill with animals, and her compassion for the poor and the oppressed. Twenty three of the thirty two chapters tell of her extraordinary concern for the poor. One of the Brigidine legends illustrates this very effectively.
Woman of Compassion
One day when Brigid was on a long journey she stopped to rest by the wayside. A rich lady heard about this and brought her a beautiful basket of choice apples. No sooner had she received them than a group of very poor people came by and begged her for food. Without a moment’s hesitation, Brigid gave them the choice apples. The rich lady was utterly disgusted and she complained to Brigid, “I brought those apples for you, not for them.” Brigid’s reply was: “What is mine is theirs.” This Brigidine legend poses a challenge to all of us in terms of our world today, where forty-five thousand people die from hunger and hunger-related diseases every day and where twenty percent of the population own and consume about eighty percent of the earth’s resources. The poverty gap continues to widen both within and between countries, as the rich grow richer and the poor grow poorer. This legend challenges us to work for a more equitable distribution of the world’s resources.
Model of Equality
It is generally accepted that Brigid established her abbey and church in Kildare around 480 AD, on the site now occupied by St Brigid’s Cathedral. Brigid held a unique position in the Irish Church and society of her day. As Abbess, she presided over the local Church of Kildare and was leader of a double monastery for men and women.
Tradition suggests that she invited Conleth, a hermit from Old Connell near Newbridge, to assist her in Kildare. Cogitosus tells us that ‘they governed their Church by means of a mutually happy alliance.’
What emerges from many of these stories and legends about Brigid is the portrait of a strong and gentle woman, a powerful leader, a good organiser, a skillful healer and a wise spiritual guide. Brigid has become – for men as well as women – a potent symbol of Christian womanhood, showing us in so many different ways the feminine face of God.
Woman of Peace
There was no lack of domestic strife in the Ireland of Brigid’s day, where feuds between clans were commonplace. She is often depicted as a peacemaker who intervened in disputes between rival factions and brought healing and reconciliation. Folklorists tell us that in some parts of Ireland a St Brigid’s cross was often used as a token of goodwill between neighbours, indicating a desire for peace and friendship after a local quarrel.
One of the best-known stories associated with St Brigid is that of her giving away her father’s precious sword to a poor man so that he could barter it for food to feed his family. Thus, a sword, a weapon of war, was transformed into a life-giving instrument. This story offers an important lesson for our world today where every minute thirteen million pounds is being spent on weapons of war. One wonders what links Brigid would make today between the massive expenditure on arms and the welfare of the poor people of the world?
Woman of Contemplation
Brigid emerges as a woman of action in the stories, legends and poems about her. If one, however, were to seek the source from which she drew her strength and energy, one could probably find the answer in this story.
One day, Saint Brendan the Navigator stood on a cliff top and watched two whales engaging in fierce combat. Suddenly, the smaller whale, in a human voice, cried out for help not to Brendan but to Brigid, who was not even present. The cry was answered immediately, and the combat ceased. Brendan was puzzled as to why he had been ignored. ‘Do you always think about God?’ asked Brigid, when the two met. ‘Yes,’ replied Brendan, ‘except at times when my boat is caught in a storm at sea and I have to concentrate on keeping it afloat.’ ‘That’s the explanation,’ Brigid answered. ‘From the moment I first knew God I have never let him out of my mind, and I never shall.’
An old Irish poem, written in the seventh century, speaks of her contemplation of the Trinity:
Deeper than the seas,
Greater than words can express,
Three persons in one only God;
Overflowing with wonder.’
Woman of Inspiration
Even today, poets, writers and artists still find inspiration in the symbols, customs and folklore surrounding Brigid. One writer recently referred to her as ‘the woman who, above all others, embodies the spirit of pre-Christian and Christian Ireland’.
In a beautiful leadlight window in Kildare College Chapel, Holden Hill, South Australia, the artist depicts Brigid dancing the dance of the new life of creation, carrying the Spirit of Jesus into the twenty-first century.
Many of the values associated with Brigid are captured in this delightful poem:
Lady, from winters dark,
Star of Imbolc, rise!
Dance around our threshold,
Scattering warm laughter,
Seeds of hospitality,
Tolerance, forgiveness!
Return again to the folk;
You the spring we yearn for!
What a lovely image to carry with us into the future!
Saint Brigid helped many people in her lifetime, but on February 1 525, she passed away of natural causes. Her body was initially kept to the right of the high altar of Kildare Cathedral, with a tomb "adorned with gems and precious stones and crowns of gold and silver," but in 878, during the Scandinavian raids, her relics were moved to the tomb of Patrick and Columba.
In 1185, John de Courcy had her remains relocated in Down Cathedral. Today, Saint Brigid's skull can be found in the Church of St. John the Baptist in Lumiar, Portugal. The tomb in which it is kept bears the inscription, "Here in these three tombs lie the three Irish knights who brought the head of St. Brigid, Virgin, a native of Ireland, whose relic is preserved in this chapel. In memory of which, the officials of the Altar of the same Saint caused this to be done in January AD 1283."
A portion of the skull was relocated to St. Bridget's Church and another was sent to the Bishop of Lisbon in St. Brigid's church in Killester.
Saint Brigid's likeness is often depicted holding a reed cross, a crozier, or a lamp.
Saint Brigid Hearth Keeper Prayer
(Courtesy of SaintBrigids.org)
Brigid of the Mantle, encompass us,
Lady of the Lambs, protect us,
Keeper of the Hearth, kindle us.
Beneath your mantle, gather us,
And restore us to memory.
Mothers of our mother,
Foremothers strong.
Guide our hands in yours,
Remind us how to kindle the hearth.
To keep it bright, to preserve the flame.
Your hands upon ours,
Our hands within yours,
To kindle the light, Both day and night.
The Mantle of Brigid about us,
The Memory of Brigid within us,
The Protection of Brigid keeping us
From harm, from ignorance,
from heartlessness.
This day and night,
From dawn till dark,
From dark till dawn.
Sources
Comments