About Our Patron Saint, St. Brigid
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St. Brigid is the patron saint for babies;
blacksmiths; boatmen; cattle; chicken
farmers; children whose parents are not
married; dairymaids; dairy workers;
fugitives; infants; Ireland; Leinster, Ireland;
mariners; midwives; milk maids; poultry
raisers; printing presses; sailors; scholars;
travellers; watermen; Creativity, Scholars,
Poets.
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February 1 is the feast of St. Brigid of Ireland, often called Mary of the Gael. Her feast day is one
of the official holy days of the Ladies Ancient Order of Hibernians, Inc. Hibernians throughout the
country gather annually for celebrations in her honor. St. Brigid’s life was a remarkable one, next to
St. Patrick she is the most revered saint in all of Ireland.
Gaelic Order and the Druidic religion. St Patrick had already reached Ireland and was in the process
of changing all that, but though his message had reached the court of Dubhtach, the powerful
Leinster Chieftain held firm to the old religion. In his religion, one of the most powerful goddesses was
'Brid or Brigid,' the goddess of fire whose knowledge. Her feast day was the first festival of the year
and was held on February 1. It was the beginning of Spring; the working season for farmers and
fishermen and a time of husbanding of animals and the Celts called on 'Brid' to bless their work and
bonfires were lit in her honor.
Patrick did not condemn the Celts as idolatrous pagans, but explained their druidic customs in
Christian terms and gradually, Bible heroes and Christian saints began to replace the Celtic gods
and goddesses on the Irish calendar. However, the personalities of some of the Celtic deities were
so strong that they could not be replaced and one of these was 'Brid' and the rites associated with
her continued to be practiced each February 1 right into Christian times. But this was soon to change.
At about 453 AD, a child was born between Dubhtach and one of his Christian slaves named
Brocessa. The slave girl was sent to a cabin at the foot of the Cooley Mountains near Dundalk, Co
Louth, to have the child. The baby was a healthy girl. The mother was sold to a Chieftain in
Connaught and the child was given to a Druid to be raised and educated. The child was named
Brigid; perhaps to seek the blessing of the goddess for from the very beginning, there were
indications that she was special. It was reported that she was born at sunrise and that the cottage in
which she was born burst into flames when she left it.
Brigid grew into beauty and her love for all of God's creatures knew no bounds. After her fosterage,
she returned to her father's house as a slave, although she enjoyed the privileges of family. She was
given to solitude and loved to wander the woods befriending the animals. She was renowned for her
generosity, giving much of her father's wealth away to the poor. Many are the stories attributed to this
remarkable lady, including her journey on foot from Leinster to Connaught to find her mother whom
she freed from bondage and returned to the house of Dubhtach.
In keeping with he life planed for her, she became a vestal virgin in service to the goddess 'Brid' and
eventually high priestess at the Kil Dara (the temple of the oak), a pagan sanctuary built from the
wood of a tree sacred to the Druids. There she and her companions kept a perpetual ritual fire in
honor of 'Brid.'
The exact circumstances of her conversion to Christianity are unknown, though it is certain that her
Christian mother was a guiding influence. Some claim that she personally met St. Patrick which is
possible since she was 10 years old before he died. Whatever the circumstances, Brigid and her
companions in service to 'Brid,' all accepted the Christian faith and formed Ireland's first Christian
religious community of women. Legend tells that upon her acceptance of her vows, fire appeared
above her head.
Brigid changed the pagan sanctuary of Kil Dara into a Christian shrine, which gave its flame
dedicated to Christ, which was thereafter maintained by her followers until it was doused by the
forces of Henry VIII. Brigid's wisdom and generosity became legend and people traveled from all over
the country to share her wisdom. Her monastery at Kildare became one of the greatest centers of
learning in Europe.
She continued her holy and charitable work until her death in 526 AD, when she was laid to rest in a
jeweled casket at Kil Dara. In 835, her remains were moved to protect them from Norse invaders and
interred in the same grave that holds the remains of St. Patrick and St. Columcille at Downpatrick.
So strong was the respect and reverence for this holy lady that she became the patroness of
parishes, towns and counties, not only in Ireland, but also across Europe.
During the Age of Chivalry, Brigid was so revered as a model of women of every age, that gentlemen,
knights and nobles began the custom of calling their sweethearts their "Brides" - a custom that has
come down to this very day. In Ireland, the people likened her to 'Brid,' the ancient goddess of fire
and wisdom - for wasn't Brigid's life touched with fire and as for her wisdom, that was undisputed.
As the shamrock became associated with St. Patrick, a tiny cross-made of rushes was aligned with St.
Brigid. Supposedly woven by her to explain the passion of Christ to a dying pagan, similar crosses
are fashioned to this day as a defense against harm and placed in the rafters of a cottage on the
feast day of St. Brigid.
So, it was that reverence for this holy child of Ireland grew so strong that she not only eclipsed 'Brid'
for whom she was named, but was given her Feast Day. Second only to St. Patrick as a Patron of
Ireland, Saint Brigid (St. Bride) holds a cross woven from rushes (St. Brigid's cross), which was her
custom to make when she was instructing the pagans and which are hung anew in Irish homes each
year on her feast day. In her other hand, she holds a bowl of "St. Brigid's fire," a miraculous fire that
burned at her convent for centuries.
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