St. Brigid: Mary of the Gaels
There is much speculation over the life of Ireland's second patron saint, so-called Brigid of Kildare. Brigid is the name of both a saint and a great Celtic goddess. The ancient Celtic Brigid was the daughter of the Dagda and the patroness of poetry and seership. Brigid was especially revered by the filidh as their special goddess. Brigid was one of the triple goddesses, with two sister aspects, also called Brigid, goddesses of healing and of the forge. Additionally, the legendary Brigid was guardian over livestock, and her feast day was celebrated on the first of February, which marked the first day of spring and the lactation of the ewes.
Whether or not the Christian St. Brigid existed is a mystery lost to time. It is, however, indisputable that the saint took on many of the attributes of the Brigid who had gone before, and many of the legends of the goddess became legends of the saint.
Life of Brigid
According to Irish tradition, Brigid was born in Faughart, in Northern Ireland. She was the daughter of a powerful druid, Dubthach, a king of Leinster, and his Pictish slave, Brocca, reputedly one of St. Patrick's converts. The young Brigid was reportedly entranced by the preaching of St. Patrick, and she opted to enter religious life as a nun over much opposition from her father. She became a nun and quickly progressed to a position of leadership, eventually founding a combination monastery/convent at Cill Dara (Kildare), over which she presided as abbess. Brigid wielded considerable power in the Irish Church, and her abbey became renowned throughout Europe.
One of the curious legends of St. Brigid concerns her consecration as abbess, which was carried out by another well-known Irish saint, St. Mel. The story tells that Mel inadvertently read the rite to ordain a bishop, an irrevocable act that is meant to explain the great authority held by the abbess, who was said to have had the power to appoint bishops in Ireland.
Alongside the abbey, Brigid was said to have founded a thriving community of artisans. Most notable of these were the scriptorium, which produced illuminated manuscripts, including the beautifully decorated Book of Kildare, and a legendary forge, which specialized in fine metalwork.
Miracles of Plenty
A great many of Brigid's miracles have to do with milk and the fertility of cows, an echo of the great goddess for whom she is named. Among the miracles attributed to Brigid are turning water into milk or beer. She is also credited with many miracles of increase — creating large quantities of beer with a little malt, or causing a single cow to produce the milk of ten. On one occasion, she touched an altar post at communion and caused it to burst into flower. Another legend of Brigid concerns her acting as midwife to the Virgin Mary to deliver the infant Jesus, an impossible act that earns her the moniker “Mary of the Gaels.”
The name Brigid is derived from the Gaelic breo-saigit, or “fire-arrow.”Both the goddess and the saint are heavily associated with fire and the forge. On Brigid's death, an eternal flame was kindled in her honor, which burned continuously for hundreds of years. It is widely believed that this flame may have been a pre-existing sanctuary of the goddess Brighid.
Brigid reportedly died in 525 at the age of seventy and was entombed near the altar of her church. She inspired widespread devotion, and her feast day was not so coincidentally fixed at February 1, the feast day of the goddess. Her emblem as a saint is the flame, and she is often depicted in the act of milking. Brigid is the patron saint of brewers, blacksmiths, poets, midwives, and newborn.
Today, there are dozens of churches dedicated to Brigid throughout Europe, and hundreds of place names in Ireland reflect her influence. Variations on the name Brigid (Bridget, Bride, Bree) remain some of the most popular for Irish girls. Brigid's sacred flame was extinguished during the Reformation, but it was rekindled at Kildare in 1993 and is tended there by the sisters of Solas Bhríde.
