Saint Brigid of Kildaire: 1,500 Year Jubilee

Today is the 1,500th anniversary of the death of Saint Brigid of Kildaire. She founded the first monasteries in Ireland shortly after Saint Patrick’s mission. She was named after an ancient Celtic goddess, and over the course of history many of the attributes of the goddess have been attributed to her as well. As you might imagine, this makes a mess out of trying to get at the historical person. Nevertheless, there are some very early sources about her life that more or less agree on the particulars.

She was most probably born in Dundalk to the people of Leinster in about 451, and her mother Broicsech was a slave who had been baptised by Saint Patrick. She grew up as a slave farmworker. Eventually she and her mother were freed – some say by her father, who was a chief – and Brigid became a consecrated virgin. She founded the monastery in Kildaire about 480.

She is one of the patron saints of Ireland. Outside of her home country, she is perhaps most famously remembered for the text of a prayer attributed to her, where she prays, “I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings.“

Thanks to the reformation antics of the British Lord Grey, the saint’s relics are now scattered throughout the world. It was only in the twentieth century that some small fragments were returned to her native country.

In Ireland today, they are celebrating the saint’s jubilee with a great festival. The government of Ireland has created a new public holiday in her honour, which will be on the first Monday following her feast day.

Fun fact: in the narthex of my parish church of Saint Patrick, there’s a framed drawing of the original design of the church’s high altar. It features statues of Saint Patrick and Saint Brigid. I’m kind of sorry that this particular design was never executed. Instead, we have two angels flanking the tabernacle.