St. Brigit of Kildare
by Suzanne Barrett
Nuns are said to have kept an eternal flame burning there
that was not extinguished until the Reformation. The custom may have been
derived from ancient Druidic practice, since there appears to have been female
druids residing at the spot long before Brigit's arrival. Their leader was a
high priestess named Brigid or Brighid (pronounced Breed), which means "the exalted one," and she was deity
of wisdom, poetry, fire, and hearth. The goddess, like many other Celtic
goddesses who appear sometimes in groups of three, was associated with two
sisters by the same name--one who was associated with the art of healing, the
other with the craft of smithing. These attributes were eventually identified
with the saint, whose feast day, February first, came to be celebrated on the
same day as the pagan goddess. Edward Sellner, in his book Wisdom of the
Celtic Saints, says "it is clear that St. Brigit stands on the
boundary between pagan mythology and Christian spirituality."
Fact mingles with fiction and myth when it comes to the deeds
of St. Brigit. One fact is that the deeds and myths attributed to the earlier
goddess Brigid were subsumed into the cult and person of the saint. Within
Scottish tradition, Brigit (both saint and goddess) is associated with the
lambing season and the coming of spring. In pagan culture this equates with the
ousting of the winter reign of Cailleach
Bheur, or the Old Hag who comes with Samhain. At Imbolc (pronounced "IM-bullug" or "IM-bulk" with a guttural
"k" on the end), the Old Hag is replaced by the Young Virgin
(Brigid).
St. Brigit, in Christian myth, is credited with being the
midwife to the Virgin Mary, also to playing the fool by distracting Herod's
soldiers from the infant Christ child by wearing a crown of burning candles on
her head. This crown of candles is also associated with the Scandinavian St.
Lucia, and in some households in Sweden today, the mother of the house serves
cakes and coffee to family members wearing a "Lucia crown." There are
also aspects of the Yorkshire goddess Brigantia attributed to the Irish saint,
particularly in wisdom, water, and pastoral activity.
Brigit was born the daughter of a Christian bondswoman and a
pagan chieftain, Dubthach (the Dark One), of County Louth. When Dubthach's wife
discovered the slave was pregnant, she threatened to leave and take her dowry
if her husband didn't get rid of the slave. Dubthach took the bondswoman to a
druid in Faughart, who, according to legend, gave a very angelic prophesy about
the unborn child.
An interesting sidelight is that this is said to be the spot of the ford which Cuchulain singlehandedly defended against the forces of Queen Maeve, and a short distance from the pillar stone upon which he tied himself during his last combat so he might die on his feet.
An interesting sidelight is that this is said to be the spot of the ford which Cuchulain singlehandedly defended against the forces of Queen Maeve, and a short distance from the pillar stone upon which he tied himself during his last combat so he might die on his feet.
"The offspring of your wife shall serve the offspring of
the slave, and the slave shall bring forth a radiant daughter who will shine
like the sun among the stars of heaven."
I found it fascinating that Imbolc, the pagan sabbat occurring on the Feast Day of St. Brigit, has the dual meaning of "in the belly" and "in milk."
On a certain day, Brigit's mother went out to milk the cows,
while leaving the young Brigit asleep in her house. Neighbors saw the house on
fire and raced over to rescue Brigit. When they got to the house, so the legend
goes, the fire disappeared, and they saw it a a sign that the girl was full of
the grace of the Holy Spirit.
When Brigit was about ten, she returned of her own accord, to
her father and began to give to the poor much of the contents of the kitchen.
Then she further irritated her father by insisting on returning to her foster
home to help her ailing mother, where she took on her mother's dairy work. A
story evolved that when she churned the butter, she sang a song beseeching
Mary's Son to grant abundance, and the butter multiplied. So grateful was the
druid that he freed Brigit's mother and allowed himself to be baptized.
As she grew to young womanhood, everything she touched
increased. She tended sheep, fed the poor, satisfied birds, according to
legend. Once when the druid was sleeping, he saw three clerics anoint the young
woman with oil. The clerics, angels in disguise, told the druid in his dream
that the girl's name was to be Sancta
Brigida - Saint Brigit.
Brigit incurred the wrath of her father when she took his
sword from his house and gave it to a leper who begged something in God's name.
Her furious father took her to the king to sell her, but Brigit's explanation
that "the Virgin Mary's Son knows, if I had your power, with all your
wealth, and with all your Leinster, I would give them all to the Lord of the
Elements." The king told Dubthach: "It is not right for us to deal
with this young woman, for her merit before God is higher than ours."
Brigit accompanied several virgins to Bishop Mel to take the
veil. She held back so the other young women should be first, but legend states
that a "fiery pillar rose from her head to the roof of the church"
and the bishop decreed it a sign she should be first. Then the form of
ordination for the bishopric was read over her--whether intentional or by
miracle--and she became the first female bishop. When challenged by Bishop
Mel's assistant, the bishop said the dignity had been given by God, not by him,
and it was irreversible. From that day onward, the people of Ireland have given
episcopal honor to Brigit's successors.
Many more stories are told of the saints healings, even when
she herself was severely wounded. What is known is that Bishop Mel gave her
what is now the city of Kildare
as lands for a monastery. How she obtained these lands is less clear. One story
tells that when the local king refused her request for the land, she told him
she would be content with whatever her mantle could cover. When spread, the
mantle covered the entire of what was to later be known as the Curragh. At the
edge of her grassland, she built a church and convent. The area was probably an
ancient Druidic site, as previously mentioned, because the nuns retained the
pagan practice of the sacred fire. This fire burned continuously until
extinguished in 1220 by Henry de Londres, the Anglo-Norman archbishop of
Dublin. Later rekindled, it was finally quenched upon the Dissolution.
Cogitosus, a seventh century biographer, described Brigit's
church as being a spacious timber building with a high roof, many windows, and
frescoed walls. Hanging linens divided the sanctuary from the rest of the
church.
The
convent thrived under Brigit's capable and generous leadership, and eventually
she invited a bishop to take up residence at Kildare. Under this man, Conleth,
a monastery grew, where monks crafted chalices, missal covers, shrines and
other beautiful metal objects for religious use. Conleth and Brigit supervised
the double monastery as coequals.
Brigit had many admirers in the clergy. Before Finian built
his monastery at Clonard, he visited Brigit to learn the art of organizing such
an operation. And Brendan the Navigator, returning from his voyage, stopped to
visit Brigit. The folk tale tells that she came in from her sheep pasture to
welcome him and hung her cloak on a sunbeam to dry.
Coincidentally, pagans speak of the goddess Brigid as having an unusual status as a Sun Goddess Who hangs Her Cloak upon the rays of the Sun.
Coincidentally, pagans speak of the goddess Brigid as having an unusual status as a Sun Goddess Who hangs Her Cloak upon the rays of the Sun.
The goddess Brigid is a triple goddess, replaced by a
Trinity. Her role as Mother Goddess was never completely erased and appears
throughout her career as a Catholic saint. As St. Brigit, rays of sunlight come
from her head, exactly as her goddess role. Themes of milk, fire, sun, and
serpents follow the goddess Brigid and the saint Brigit, and both display the
attributes of compassion, generosity, hospitality, spinning and weaving,
smithwork, healing, and agriculture. Fires are raised in the morning and
smoored at night by prayers to St. Brigit.
The Brigit's cross, a crafted cross of rushes, is actually a
widdershins, a counterclockwise swastika, a symbol of the sun. It made its way
to Ireland in the second century and hangs today in Irish Catholic houses and
in Wiccan homes as a symbol of protection.
The early church could not stamp out pagan practices and
chose to make Christianity more palatable by combining the Old Ways into
Christian tradition. In doing so, they made Brigid's transition from goddess to
saint complete. The protective mantle of Mary of the Gael is still invoked
against danger. St. Brigit is the secondary saintly protector of Ireland, after
Patrick.
First published by Kensington, Suzanne's first novel for
Turquoise Morning Press was Late Harvest
a Mendocino California wine country story, followed by her two-time Golden
Heart finalist book In Love and War,
a story set in County Waterford, Ireland. TamingRowan, is set in England's Cumbria district and one borne of her work in
aerospace. Other books include SierraBride, an historical set in Northern California and An Irish Rogue,
a contemporary set in her hometown. Suzanne's website is:
www.suzannebarrett.com.
