Our Lady of Peace




St. Brighid (Irish Catholic)

The Christian St. Brigid

St. Brigid (Bridget, Bride, Ffraid) is the most famous woman saint of Ireland. She was revered for her charity, miracles and lavish hospitality. St Brigid was born in a village named Faughart about the year 454 A.D. Dubhthach, her father, was an Irish chieftain and commanded the fort on the top of the hill which controlled the gap of the North about half a mile to the North. Her mother was a bondswoman (slave) named Brocca. As a child, Brigid, demonstrated a strong will, but also a charitable nature. Her calling to help the poor often got her into trouble. One story occurred when she was only 9 years old. The King of Leinster gave her father a precious beautiful jeweled sword as a gift. Brigid took the jewels from the sword to provide food for a family in need. (Sometimes it is said that she gave the sword to a leper). The King was livid, but Brigid did not back down, proclaiming to the king that she would take all of his riches and her father's as well and distribute them to the poor, if it was her decision. There are numerous legendary stories of St. Brigid. According to these stories, she had healing powers. Some say that by simply stepping into her shadow you would be instantly healed. Healing powers were also attributed to her cloak (or mantle). All one needed to do was to touch her cloak to be healed. It was even said that she was seen hanging her cloak to dry on a ray of sunshine.

Stories about St Brigid’s life as a Catholic nun also depict her as being a most unusual person. Some writers theorize that she may have begun her life as the last high priestess of the goddess Brigid. Such previous authority would help to explain why, in some of her “Lives,” St. Mel, Bishop of Ardagh, is said to have ordained her a bishop. When questioned about doing this, Mel responded that she alone of the abesses of Kildare would be a bishop; but her successors would continue to have a bishop’s jurisdictional authority. Indeed they did. The other Irish bishops customarily sat at the feet of Brigid’s successors, until the Synod of Kells ended this custom in 1152. Brigid’s double monastery at Kildare was built at a location previously sacred to her divine namesake. It had a perpetual fire which was kept burning by the nuns in St. Brigid’s memory, until it was extinguished by the Reformation in 1540 (relit in the late 1990’s). She founded 4 monasteries and ruled over thirty religious houses. She and Bishop Conlaeth ruled the Kildare monastery as equals. This was a powerful position for a religious woman of this time. She also founded a school of art at Kildare, which became famous for its illuminated manuscripts.

It is believed that she died at Kildare on February 1 in the year 525 and was buried at
Downpatrick with St. Columba and St. Patrick. Bridget is known as the Mary of the Gael, Bride, and the mother of the Irish race. Her name also has many spelling variations including Briget, Bridget, Brighid, Brigit, Brigid, and Bride.

In Ireland to-day, after 1500 years, the memory of "the Mary of the Gael" is as dear as ever to the Irish heart, and, as is well known, Brigid preponderates as a female Christian name. Moreover, hundreds of place-names in her honor are to be found all over the country, e.g. Kilbride, Brideswell, Tubberbride, Templebride, etc.

Adapted from http://www.geocities.com/irish_maiden_aine/Brigid-biography.htm and St. Brigid by Robert Lentz


St Brigid, Mary of Ireland
Ask for us all today
The courage to do God's bidding
Whatever the world may say
The grace to be strong and valiant
The grace to be firm and true
The grace to be faithful always
To God, God's mother and you.


The “Genealogy of Bride” from Scottish tradition refers to the ability of Bride to give protection from the threefold death described in early Irish literature.

The Descent of Bride

The genealogy of the holy maiden Bride,
Radiant flame of gold, noble foster-mother of Christ.
Bride daughter of Dugall the brown,
Son of Aodh, son of Art, son of Conn,
Son of Crearer, son of Cis, son of Carmac, son of Carruin.

Every day and every night
That I say the genealogy of Bride,
I shall not be killed, I shall not be harried,
I shall not be put in cell, I shall not be wounded,
Neither shall Christ leave me forgotten.

No fire, no sun, no moon shall burn me,
No lake, no water, nor sea shall drown me,
No arrow of fairy, nor dart of fay shall wound me,
And I under the protection of my Holy Mary,
And my gentle foster-mother is my beloved Bride.



Brigidine Prayer for Peace

Brigid,
You were a woman of peace,
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness.
You brought hope to the downcast.

May the mantle of your peace
Cover those who are troubled and anxious,
And may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts
And in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence
All God has made.

Brigid, you were a voice for the wounded
And the weary,
Strengthen what is weak within us,
Calm us into a quietness that heals
And listens.
May we grow each day into greater
Wholeness in mind, body and spirit.
Amen.

Source: prayer card from the Brigidine nuns of Kildare.



 
 

Dona nobis pacem; grant us peace.