Lá Fhéile Bríde (St. Brigid's Feast)

St. Brigid of Kildare (fl. 451- 525) is the Patroness of Ireland and is revered almost as highly as St. Patrick. Unlike St. Patrick, however, Brigid is a native daughter of the Island and achieved a status in the early Irish Church on par with that of bishops (as far as authority goes...she was never a priest) in her Abbey at Kildare. Like St. Patrick, there are many legends about her life and customs associated with her feast.

There is little reliable information about the convent she founded around 470 at Kildare (originally Cill-Daire or 'church of the oak'), the first convent in Ireland, and the rule that was followed there. This is one of the ways Brigid sanctified the pagan with the Christian: The oak was sacred to the druids, and in the inner sanctuary of the Church was a perpetual flame, another religious symbol of the druid faith, as well as the Christian. Gerald of Wales (13th century) noted that the fire was perpetually maintained by 20 nuns of her community. This continued until the dissolution of the monasteries during the Reformation. Some have speculated that Brigid was a high priestess of a community of druid women, who led the entire community into the Christian faith…which would be awesome…however there is no real evidence of this.

Brigid is renowned for her charism of generosity: It was recorded that if she gave a drink of water to a thirsty stranger, the liquid turned into milk; when she sent a barrel of beer to one Christian community, it proved to satisfy 17 more. Many of the stories about her relate to the multiplication of food, including one that she changed her bath-water into beer to satisfy the thirst of an unexpected clergyman. Even her cows gave milk three times the same day to provide milk for some visiting bishops.

There is a legend that once she fell asleep during a sermon of Saint Patrick, but he laughingly forgave her. She had dreamed, she told him, of the land ploughed far and wide, and of white-clothed sowers sowing good seed. Then came others clothed in black, who ploughed up the good seed and sowed tares in its place. Patrick told her that such would happen; false teachers would come to Ireland and uproot all their good work. This saddened Brigid, but she redoubled her efforts, teaching people to pray and to worship God, and telling them that the light on the altar was a symbol of the shining of the Gospel in the heart of Ireland, and must never be extinguished, and in her church at Kildare, a flame still burns to her memory.

A widely recognized symbol of Ireland is the reed Cross of St. Brigid. The story of the cross goes that a pagan chieftain from the neighborhood of Kildare was dying. Christians in his household sent for Brigid to talk to him about Christ. When she arrived the chieftain was raving. As it was impossible to instruct this delirious man, hopes for his conversion seemed doubtful. Brigid sat down at his bedside and began consoling him. As was customary, the dirt floor was strewn with rushes both for warmth and cleanliness. Brigid stooped down and started to weave them into a cross, fastening the points together. The sick man asked what she was doing. She began to explain the cross, and as she talked his delirium quieted and he questioned her with growing interest. Through her weaving, he converted and was baptized at the point of death. Since then the cross of rushes has been venerated in Ireland. It is traditionally made on the day of her feast and was hung over the front door or in the thatch and protected the house from fire and those within from harm.
The relics of Saint Brigid are traditionally held to be buried at Downpatrick with those of Saint Columba and St. Patrick. A tunic reputed to have been hers, given by Gunhilda, sister of King Harold II, survives at Saint Donatian's in Bruges, Belgium; a relic of her shoe, made of silver and brass set with jewels, is at the National Museum of Dublin. In 1283, three knights took the head of Brigid with them on a journey to the Holy Land. They died in Lumier (near Lisbon), Portugal, where the church now enshrines her head in a special chapel.