Saint Brigid
 St Brigid - Mary of the Gael - is second only to St Patrick
in the esteem of the Irish people. She is, of course, specially
associated with Kildare and the whole area of Magh Life (The
Liffey Plain).
It would appear that the veneration of St Brigid incorporates
elements of a much older tradition. When the Celts came to
Ireland, maybe around 500 B.C., they brought with them their
Druidic religion. They had many gods, who interacted with
the people, sometimes for good, and sometimes for evil. Many
of the gods and goddesses were associated with cult sites
at particular places. The pagan religious framework of the
Celts is not well documented, and what details we have, are
mainly of the religious practices of the continental Celts
as described by Roman writers, who most likely never visited
Ireland. So their accounts would not relate directly to the
practices in Ireland, though there must have been broad similarities.
The pagan religious practices of the Irish Celts were not
encouraged by the Christians, and when they did record them,
they would not have wished to present a balanced picture,
even if they fully understood the rituals. So we actually
have very little knowledge of the religious practices and
rituals of the Druidic religion. On the other hand, the early
Christian Church in Ireland did not seem to associate the
Druidic religion with cruel and barbarous practices, which
would have to be eliminated entirely. The names, and many
of the attributes, of the Celtic Irish gods were preserved
in an oral tradition though the Gods themselves were reduced
to the ranks of fairies; they were not gods, but they were
greater than human, they were the Sidh or the Tuath de Danann.
The Christian traditions treated the Tuath de Danann with
a certain sympathy and they are frequently shown as coming
forth from their pagan world, being embraced in the Christian
fold, and entering into heavenly bliss e.g. the stories of
the Children of Lir, Oisin, and the tale of Eithne. It was
not so easy to get the ordinary people to completely forget
the pagan Celtic gods and elements of paganism survived for
hundreds of years after Christianity became firmly established.
Indeed there is evidence to suggest that some of the more
popular deities were absorbed into the Christian tradition
as local saints, and the rituals associated with their worship
survived as folk customs right up to very recent times. This
would appear to have happened, at least to some extent, in
the case of St Brigid.
The head God of the Irish Celts was The Dagda. The Dagda Mor
was the father and chief of the people of Dana (the Tuath
de Danann). He was a master of music, as well as other magical
endowments, and owned a harp that came flying through the
air at his call.
Dana was the greatest of the de Danann goddesses; she was
the mother of the Irish gods. Daughter of the Dagda, and like
him associated with the ideas of fertility and blessing, Dana
was also known as Brid "the poetess". Brid is identified with
the goddess Brigantia, territorial deity of the Brigantes,
a powerful Celtic tribe of North Britain. Brigantia was associated
with water and gives her name to rivers; the Brighid in Ireland;
the Braint in Wales; and the Brent in England. Place name
evidence would also suggest that the goddess Brid was known
in Celtic Europe. The name Brid was originally an epithet
meaning "the exalted one". She is sometimes mentioned as a
triple goddess i.e. three sister goddesses named Brid; one
goddess associated with poetry and traditional learning in
general; one associated with the smith's art; and the third
associated with healing. However over time the separate attributes
of the three goddesses became merged in the one figure. The
Irish goddess Brid was specially concerned with the arts and
with poetry. As such she was venerated by the filidh who were
poets and prophets, and who had perhaps a rather academic
interest in her. The Christian approach to the filidh seems
to have been to allow them to maintain their literary, historical
and legal responsibilities while suppressing their ritualistic
role. However, it is mainly as a goddess of the ordinary people,
concerned with healing, with flocks and stock and the yield
of the earth, that she has survived to become a Christian
saint.
So what of the Christian St Brigid? Brigid's father was Dubtach
descendant of Con of the Hundred Battles, her mother Brotseach
of the house of O'Connor. Her mother was said to have been
a slave of Dubtach and she was sold, shortly before Brigid
was born, to a Druid who lived at Faughart, a few miles from
Dundalk. The date of Brigid's birth is disputed, but may be
between 451 and 458; commonly it is taken as 453. Memories
of the saint still linger around her birthplace. Her father's
family were natives of the Province of Leinster and Fr. Swayne,
late Parish Priest of Kildare, claims that they were from
Umaras, between Monasterevin and Rathangan in Co. Kildare.
Another explanation of how she came to be born in Faughart
was that her mother was visiting some relatives at the time.
In any case she was baptised in the Christian faith, receiving
the name Brid or Brigid. It is said that she was reared on
the milk of a white red-eared cow, the colour of the beasts
of the Tuath de Danann.
From earliest childhood the stories of her kindness and miracles
associated with her are told. While still a child she was
put in charge of the dairy by her mother. One day she had
given away so much milk and butter to poor people that none
remained for the family. She feared her mother's displeasure
and so resorted to prayer. When her mother visited the dairy
she found such an abundance of milk and butter that she praised
the dairy maids for their industry. Brigid was also renowned
for her love of animals and many stories were told of her
kindness to stray and starving dogs.
The Tripartite Life of St Patrick mentions her meeting
with St Patrick. We are told that while still a child she
was brought to hear him preach, and that as she listened to
him she fell into an ecstasy.
When Brigid came to marriageable age she decided to enter
the religious life. Accompanied, it is said, by seven other
young girls she left her home and travelled to Co. Meath where
St Maccaille was Bishop. At first St Maccaille hesitated to
take them into the religious life as they were very young,
and he rather doubted their motives. However there was a great
congregation in the church when Brigid and her companions
entered to pray. They were all astonished when they saw a
column of fire that reached to the roof of the church resting
on Brigid's head. When the Saint heard of this miracle he
hesitated no longer but gave the veil to the eight young girls.
St Maccaille's church was on Croghan Hill, in Co. Westmeath
and it is here that St Brigid founded the first convent in
Ireland. A large number of noble ladies entered the convent
as postulants and here Brigid and her companions completed
their novitiate. At the end of the novitiate Brigid and her
original seven companions, journeyed to Ardagh where they
made their final vows to St Mel, bishop of Ardagh and nephew
of St Patrick. Here in Ardagh she founded another convent
and remained for twelve years, during which time the convent
flourished. At the request of many bishops she sent sisters
to various parts of Ireland to establish new foundations.
St Brigid now went on a journey around Ireland. On her way
she visited St Patrick who was preaching at Taillte or Telltown
in Co. Meath. Having obtained St Patrick's blessing she continued
on her journey. Many stories are told of miracles and the
foundation of convents in various parts of the country during
that journey.
The Leinstermen were always conscious that Brigid was from
their province, and they constantly asked her to return and
make her home amongst them. She was offered any site in the
province. She decided to make her foundation on Druim Criadh
(the ridge of clay) near the Liffey, in what is now the town
of Kildare. On the ridge grew a large oak tree and Brigid
decided to build her oratory beneath its branches.
The new foundation prospered and developed rapidly. Soon,
it is said, Drum Criadh was covered with the cells of the
community. From all parts of Ireland and even from abroad
girls came to join the community. Bishops and priests went
to Cill Dara (the Church of the Oak), as it was now named,
seeking Brigid's advice and guidance. The poor, the sorrowful,
and the afflicted flocked there in search of help and consolation,
which was never refused. Kings showered gifts on the convent,
and the privilege of sanctuary was conferred on the foundation,
so that any who had offended against the law were safe within
the precincts.
A most unusual community developed with both monks and nuns
on the one site. It became necessary to have a bishop appointed
to the foundation, as only a bishop could ordain priests.
However the story is also told that St Mel was old, and a
bit doddery, when he professed Brigid, and instead of professing
her as a nun he consecrated her as a Bishop. St Brigid for
that reason had all the privileges of a bishop. In any case,
St Brigid chose Conleth, a saintly hermit who lived at Old
Connell (Connell of the Kings) near Newbridge. St Conleth
visited St Brigid in Kildare where they first met. He stayed
some days preaching to the congregation and made a good impression.
When the time came for him to return to Old Connell he mounted
his chariot and asked Brigid for her blessing. He journeyed
home across the Curragh plains, and it was only when he got
home that he discovered that the wheel of his chariot had
been loose throughout his journey, and it was a miracle brought
about by Brigid that it had not fallen off and killed him.
About the year 490 St Conleth was consecrated the first Bishop
of Kildare. He may also have been Abbot of the community of
monks in the foundation. Brigid and Conleth seemed to have
worked well together though they had a somewhat complex relationship.
A story is told of Brigid having given away the vestments
which Conleth used for saying Mass, when she had nothing else
to give the poor. These were vestments he had got from Italy.
It appears that he was none too pleased. Brigid prayed to
God with "great fervour". Vestments exactly resembling those
given away immediately appeared, and Conleth was appeased.
Despite her anxiety about Conleth's vestments, it appears
however that St Brigid continued to hold the reins firmly
in her own hands and ruled over both communities, monks and
nuns. Her authority is well illustrated by the story of how
St Conleth met his end. He decided to go on a pilgrimage to
Rome without obtaining Brigid's permission. He did not get
very far as he was attacked and killed by a wolf near Dunlavin
in Co. Wicklow in 519 a.d..
There is no exact date for St Brigid's death. It is said that
she died at the age of seventy, which would make the date
of her death somewhere between 521 and 528.
After her death the monastery flourished. The first Life of
St Brigid was written not much later than 650, and perhaps
even within a hundred years of her death. The author was a
monk of the foundation in Kildare named Cogitosus. The "Life"
was not really a biography as we would understand it, but
rather a compilation of stories of St Brigid. It gives us
a fascinating glimpse of life in Kildare some 1400 years ago.
He describes the great church of Kildare where the bodies
of Sts Brigid and Conleth were:
"laid on the right and left
of the ornate altar and rest in tombs adorned with a refined
profusion of gold, silver, gems and precious stones, with
gold and silver chandeliers hanging from above and different
images presenting a variety of carvings and colours"
The Annals record that in the year 836 a Danish fleet of 30
ships arrived in the Liffey and another in the Boyne. They
plundered every church and abbey within the territories of
Magh Liffe and Magh Breagh. They destroyed the town of Kildare
with fire and sword, and carried off the shrines of St Brigid
and St Conleth.
It is said that in fact in the previous year, 835, the remains
of St. Brigid were removed for safe keeping to Down. However
Down suffered too from the "Danes". Accordingly her body was
removed from Down and buried in a place known only to a few
priests so that eventually all knowledge of her burial place
was lost. In 1185 St. Malachy was bishop of Down, and wanting
to discover the burial place of St. Brigid who was supposed
to have been buried with St Patrick and St Columba, prayed
hard to the Lord to reveal the burial place. A beam of light
settled over a spot on the floor of the church and sure enough
when St. Malachy dug at this spot he found the graves of Saints
Patrick, Brigid and Columcille. Malachy petitioned Pope Urban
111 for permission to move the bodies to Down Cathedral. The
move took place on 9 Jun 1186, the Feast of St. Columcille.
At the dissolution in the reign of Henry VIII, the sacred
shrine was despoiled and the relics of the Saints were scattered.
Luckily some were saved from destruction. The head of St.
Brigid now rests in Portugal, in a chapel devoted to her in
the Church of St. John the Baptist in Lumiar, near Lisbon,
where her feast is celebrated yearly. The farmers in the locality
are said to regard St Brigid as their special patroness.
Let's take a look at the similarities between the pagan Celtic
Goddess Brid and the Christian Saint Brigid:
- St Brigid's Day.
Celebrated on 1st February, the pagan feast of Imbolg,
the festival of Spring, the coming of fertility to the
land. Even today it is still the occasion of popular and
patently un-Christian rituals such as the Bridoge and
the Biddy doll.
- St Brigid's Fire.
Described by Giraldus Cambrensis in the 12th century,
as having been tended by twenty "servants of the Lord",
at the time of St Brigid; Brigid herself being the twentieth.
When Brigid died the number stayed at nineteen. Each of
the nineteen nuns took their turns at night and on the
twentieth night the nineteenth nun puts the logs on the
fire and St Brigid miraculously tends the fire, which
never goes out. Although the fire had been burning for
some 600 years, by the time of Giraldus, the ashes had
never had to be cleaned out and had never increased. He
goes on to describe the fire being surrounded by a hedge
which no man may cross. One archer who was with Strongbow
is said by Giraldus to have crossed the hedge, and he
went mad. Another had put his leg over the hedge when
he was restrained by his companions. However the leg he
put across was maimed and he was crippled for the rest
of his life. There is another legend associating Brigid
with fire. When she was a child, her mother had gone out
one day leaving the child asleep. The neighbours saw the
house on fire but when they went to rescue the child there
was no fire. The cult of fire is very ancient indeed,
going back into pre-history. The fire continued to be
tended for at least 1,000 years, with one interruption
in the 1200s when Henry of London, Norman arch-bishop
of Dublin, ordered it to be extinguished as he considered
the tending of the fire to be a pagan practice. It was
soon re-lit, by the locals, but was finally extinguished
at the Reformation.
- The Oak Tree
As with many other peoples, certain trees and groves
of trees were sacred to the Celts and treated with veneration.
The Druids appear to have been specially concerned with
the oak tree, and they are described by a Roman writer
as being dressed in white while climbing the oak with
golden sickles to cut mistletoe. They then sacrificed
a white bull and held a feast. We may assume that a special
tree was associated with many of the cult sites. The place-names
and literature of the Celtic world contain much evidence
about the use of single sacred trees and sacred groves
as the focal points for ritual and tribal assembly. One
such tree would appear to have been sacred on the hill
of Kildare, and it was under this tree that Brigid built
her cell. The stump of this tree is said to have still
been there in the 10th century and it was held in great
veneration as many miracles were wrought through it. No
one dare cut it, but might break off a bit with the fingers.
- St Brigid's Crosses
These might actually be symbols of sun worship representing
the sun in the centre with rays of light coming from it
in the shape of the arms of the cross. A story of St Brigid
miraculously hanging her wet clothes on a sunbeam to dry
may also be associated with an older tradition of sun
worship.
- St Brigid's Wells
We have numerous wells associated with the Saint, not
alone in Ireland but in Britain also. Wells were also
often the sites of veneration in the Druidic religion.
Sometimes the wells had an associated sacred tree, and
this is still to be seen in the association of particular
trees with holy wells around the country. Votive offerings
(still seen nowadays as the custom of hanging rags on
trees at holy wells) have been recovered from some of
these sacred Celtic wells which seemed to have a healing
function, as they still have. St Brigid is associated
with healing, her girdle being capable of curing all disease
and illness. Many of the miracles attributed to her are
to do with healing - the blind man seeing, the dumb girl
speaking etc.
- Widespread Veneration
Finally it is worth noting that while St Brigid was not
a missionary saint, nor widely travelled, yet in Ireland
she is second only to St Patrick in popular favour, and
dedications to her are found throughout Britain as well
as Ireland. As far away as the Hebrides, she was popular
in Catholic areas until recent times and was invoked as
patron of childbirth by the women, and revered as the
midwife of the Virgin Mary. It would appear that the cult
of Brid was established in Celtic Britain before the coming
of Christianity and to have made the transition from pagan
goddess to Christian saint in the areas associated with
her.
So, was the Christian Saint Brigid a real historical person,
or the mythical Celtic pagan goddess in another form? The
truth is that we don't know. Somebody established a Christian
foundation on the hill of Kildare. That foundation prospered
and became the great and unique Celtic Christian monastery
of monks and nuns. There is, on the other hand, no doubt
that the legends of the Christian saint contain elements
of a far older tradition. Does it really matter? Perhaps
what does matter is that the site of Kildare Cathedral has
been the site of unbroken worship for over 1,500 years in
the Christian faith and may very well have been a sacred
site for many hundreds of years more. It is one of the oldest,
if not the oldest, sites of continuous worship in Ireland.
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