Life Story of St. Bridget
Bridget is (also spelled as Brigid)
450 - 525 A.D.
St. Bridget was probably born in a small Irish village named Faughart
about the year 450 A.D. St. Patrick, with whom she developed a close
friendship, baptized her parents. According to legend, Bridget's father
was an Irish chieftain of Leinster, named Dubhthach, and her mother,
Brocca, was a slave at his court. Even as a young girl, Bridget showed
an inclination to the religious life and as a youth took her first vows
from St. Macaille at Croghan. She was probably officially professed as a
nun by St. Mel of Armagh. It is also believed that he conferred on her
the authority to establish a religious order and be its abbess. She
settled with seven other nuns at the foot of the Croghan Hill, and then
about the year 468 A.D., followed St. Mel to the city of Meath.
About the year 470 A.D., Bridget founded
both a monastery and convent at Cill-Dara [translated Kildare]
and was abbess of the convent, the first of its kind in Ireland. She
built her room, called a cell, under a large oak tree, and thus derives
the name of her convent: Cill-Dara [cell of the oak]. The convent
developed into a center of learning and spirituality, while around the
convent developed the cathedral city of Kildare. Bridget founded a
school of art at Kildare and its illuminated manuscripts became famous,
notably the " Book of Kildare." This book, which was praised as one of
the finest of all illuminated Irish manuscripts, disappeared three
centuries ago, when England invaded Ireland and killed thousands of
Irish Catholics and destroyed many Irish treasures and buildings.
Bridget was one of the most remarkable
women of her time, and despite the numerous legendary, often
extravagant, and even fantastic miracles attributed to her, there is no
doubt of her extraordinary spirituality, her boundless charity and
compassion for those in distress. She died at Kildare on February 1, 525
A.D. This is also the traditional date of her feast day. Called "Mary of
the Gael," she is buried at Downpatrick, Ireland with two other great
Irish saints: St. Patrick and St. Columba. She shares the title "Patron
of Ireland" with St. Patrick.
Other biographies of St. Bridget tell us
that as she sat beside her dying father, she was meditating and began
weaving a cross, made from the river " rushes" [thatch growing along
the banks of the River Shannon].
Rushes was the common floor material that
covered an Irish home. Her father saw the cross and asked her to explain
its meaning. After Bridget explained the cross' significance, her father
wanted to join the Church and was baptized by St. Patrick before he
died. Today, people place a "St. Bridget Cross" in their homes and farm
buildings believing that, with their faith, it protects them and their
animals from evil and deprivation.
In Ireland, the festival of St. Bridget
was celebrated on February 1. [It was sometimes confused
with another St. Bridget, Bridget of Sweden, whose feast is July 23].
On February 1, a family would kill a sheep. They would share the meat,
along with milk and butter with neighbors and especially any less
fortunate of the area. This was done to carry on the tradition Bridget
started, of sharing one's bounty with the poor. It was also a custom to
place a cake on one of the outside windowsills. This was meant as
nourishment for Bridget as she made her rounds throughout the country. A
sheaf of corn was offered for Bridget's white cow, which according to
legend always accompanied her on her charitable rounds.
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