February 1 + Saint Brigid of Ireland

Brigid was a monastic foundress who is – together with Saint Patrick and Saint Columcille – one of Ireland’s three patron saints. She directly influenced several other future saints of Ireland and her many religious communities helped to secure the country's conversion from paganism to the Catholic faith. She is traditionally associated with the Cross of Saint Brigid, a form of the cross made from reeds or straw that is placed in homes for blessing and protection.

Around the year 450, Brigid was born out of wedlock, the daughter of a pagan Scottish King named Dubthach and a Catholic slave woman named Broicsech. Dubthach sold the pregnant slave woman to a new master, but contracted for the child to be returned to him eventually. Brigid was born and was baptized as an infant and raised by her mother. She was well-formed in the faith before leaving Broicsech's slave-quarters, at around age 10, to live with Dubthach and his wife.

Within the new circumstances of the Dubthach household, Brigid's faith found expression in feats of charity. From the abundance of her father's food and possessions, she gave generously to the poor. Dubthach became enraged, threatening to sell Brigid – who was not recognized as a full family member, but worked as a household servant – to the King of Leinster. While Dubthach and King of Leinster bargained, she gave her father’s treasured sword to a leper. Dubthach was about to strike her when Brigid explained she had given the sword to God through the leper, because of its great value. The King, a Christian, forbade Dubthach to strike her saying, “Her merit before God is greater than ours.” The King understood Brigid's acts of charity and convinced Dubthach to grant his daughter her freedom.

Released from servitude, Brigid was expected to marry. But she had other plans, which involved serving God in consecrated life. She disfigured her own face, marring her extraordinary beauty in order to dissuade suitors. Understanding he could not change her mind, Dubthach granted Brigid permission to pursue her plan, and material means by which to do so. Thus did a pagan nobleman, through this gift to his illegitimate daughter, play an unintentional but immense part in God's plan for Ireland.

While consecrated religious life was part of the Irish Church before Brigid's time, it had not yet developed the systematic character seen in other parts of the Christian world. Among women, vows of celibacy were often lived out in an impromptu manner, in the circumstances of everyday life or with the aid of particular benefactors. Brigid, with an initial group of seven companions, is credited with organizing communal consecrated religious life for women in Ireland.

Bishop Mel of Ardagh – Saint Patrick's nephew and later Saint Mel – accepted Brigid's profession as a nun. The disfigurement she had inflicted on her face disappeared that day and her beauty returned.

Around the time of Mel’s death, Brigid's community got an offer to resettle. Their destination is known today as Kildare - “Church of the Oak” - after the main monastery she founded there.

Brigid's life as a nun was rooted in prayer, but it also involved substantial manual labor: clothmaking, dairy farming and raising sheep. This communal combination of work and prayer attracted vast numbers of people during the sixth century. Kildare, however, was unique as the only known Irish double monastery. It included a separately-housed men's community led by the bishop Saint Conleth.

Brigid traveled widely founding new houses and building up a uniquely Irish form of monasticism. When she was not traveling, many pilgrims – including prominent clergy, and some future saints – made their way to Kildare, seeking the advice of the abbess.

Under Brigid's leadership, Kildare played a major role in the successful Christianization of Ireland. Brigid died around 525. She is said to have received the last sacraments from a priest, Saint Ninnidh, whose vocation she had encouraged.

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See the Saint Brigid of Ireland Collection