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Saint
Bridget was closely associated with our area. Saint Patrick, said to have planted the yew trees that lent their name
to our town also trod our paths. And of
course Saint Moninna of Killeavy. The
latter too we have already extolled. Now
follows a pen portrait of the life of our second National Saint, Bridget!
Today saints are almost exclusively associated with the Roman Catholic Church, one possible reason that Belfast’s
St Patrick’s Day festivities seem to irk some Protestants. Yet the study of the lives of the saints was
a central part of Christianity for three-quarters of that Church’s history,
even though since the Reformation, such devotion is seen as part of the ‘High
Church’ tradition.
This
study was (and is) encouraged because these persons were considered to be excellent
examples of how Christ would like us
to live our lives and to follow in his path. The recent public outpouring of grief at the
deaths of such figures as Mother Theresa and Pope John Paul II indicate the
underlying need for such eminent examples in the lives of Christians of all
denominations, and many people of other faiths.
The lives of the saints were often
written long after their deaths. They
are therefore naturally open to dispute and even controversy. At least eight lives of Bridget were written
and we cannot always be sure it was one and the same woman. On the other hand, she must have been
impressive to inspire such following.
The
Annals of Ulster maintain that our Bridget was born in 454 AD and belonged to
the ‘eaithech tuathai’ – then a subject people of low social position. Yet tradition has it that her father was a
wealthy pagan chieftain named Dubhthach and her mother a Christian slave named
Broicsech. Most scholars maintain
Bridget was a Leinster woman.
Clearly
her mother raised her to be a Christian. It’s told that at marriageable age her father tried to arrange likely
suitors for her but she refused all offers, determined to become a nun. This she did with the aid of St Malachy and,
with seven virgin followers she followed St Mel into Meath. About the year 470 AD she founded her
monastery at Kildare (Cill Dara). Her
monastery became a centre of learning and spirituality. She also founded a school of art, including
metalwork and illumination (artistic enhancement of gospels by scribes) at
Kildare. From this work emerged the
renowned Book of Kildare – which disappeared at the time of the Reformation.
The
Book of Armagh (7th century) imputes that Bridget – with the
approval of the Primate of Armagh - exercised some ecclesiastic jurisdiction at
Kildare.
At her death in 524 AD Bridget was
attended by St Ninnidh. Towards the
close of the 9th century, when Viking raids were at their height,
her remains were disinterred from the Cathedral at Kildare and taken to
Downpatrick where she was interred alongside St Patrick and St Columba.
Tradition
has it that the religious cult of Bridget is an adaptation and continuation of
the ancient pagan goddess Brigit, who was adored as a symbol of fertility,
healing and creativity. Certainly St
Bridget’s monastery became famous as a refuge for the poor, hungry and the
sick, offering an inclusive hospitality which sprang from her Celtic sense of
the sacredness and unity of creation; and as intimated already, her monastery
was a centre of artistic creativity. Traditionally known as Mary of the Gael (sometime known as Brid, the
nurse of Christ) her aid was sought by devotees with children, pregnant women
and more recently by women suffering from breast cancer.
The
symbol of the St Bridget’s Cross, made of straw or rushes, reaches back even to
pre-Christian times. Again this is consistent with the fertility symbol: even today the Bridget’s Cross in the Irish rural
mind is associated with birth (being hung in calving byres, for
example). It was also a symbol of
protection (against disease and fire) and healing, as evidenced by the huge
number of healing wells dotted throughout the country. Many of these are dedicated to Bridget, most
notably that nearest to us at Faughart. 'Sundays Wells' fall into the same tradition.
Many
miracles were attributed to St Bridget: the changing of water into ale (as with Christ at the Marriage Feast of
Cana), the healing of the blind nun, and of the leper (again, reminiscent of
Christ), being examples.
The
Europe-wide devotion to St Bridget testifies eloquently to the spirituality of
her life and the example she set for all of us. St Moninna’s convent at Killeavy was dedicated in her honour.
Bridget
was and is renowned for her courage, generosity, zeal, virtue, self-control and
compassion. She was the first person to
set up a convent in Ireland
where consecrated virgins could live together. She therefore established a central and crucial role for women in the
Church. Her devotion to a life of
contemplation is an example to all in this modern, frenetic world.
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History 
