On 1 February the church remembers Brigid, abbess, c. 525

But who was Saint Brigid?

Saint Brigid of Kildare or Saint Brigid of Ireland is the patroness Saint (or ‘mother saint’) of Ireland, one of three national Saints of Ireland along with Patrick and Columba.

Brigid is held to have founded the first female monastery in Ireland, at Cill-Dare: the Church of the Oak (Kildare) in 470. The monastery became a ‘double monastery’ for both men and women, and at Kildare this would have reflected the higher social standing of the nuns. Brigid became abbess of the monastery.

The monastery and town of Kildare became an important ecclesiastical centre and in an attempt to heighten religious standing and authority subsequent leaders of the region enhanced the life of Brigid to absurd levels.

Consequently, Brigid is a figure shrouded in mystery and legend, and impossible to trace with any certainty. Indeed some doubt her existence at all; others see her legend as a way of Christianizing the pagan goddess Brig.

Details of her life that can be gleaned with some certainty show that she was born into a peasant family in Dundalk, and became a nun at an early age. Legend states that her parents were baptized by Patrick.

Brigid was greatly honoured in Ireland, as a second Mary, from the sixth century onwards, and is second only to Patrick in terms of popularity and in the number of churches consecrated in her honour. Her cult spread rapidly throughout the Middle Ages, when many different versions of her ‘life’ were recorded, each including stories of miraculous events surrounding her and of her compassion.

Her legend is found throughout medieval Irish literature: It is she that helps everyone who is in danger, It is she that abateth the pestilences, It is she that quelleth the rage and storm of the sea. She is the Queen of the south: She is the Mary of the Gael. Book of Lismore, c.1200

A Prayer For Saint Brigid

Saint Brigid.
You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,
and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us.
Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen.

 

Revd Paul A. Carr and extract from Saints on Earth: A biographical companion to Common Worship by John H Darch and Stuart K Burns