St Brigid and a fun poem
If you are Irish you probably know about St Brigid as a favourite Irish saint, who died about 525 A.D. Or you may know about the Celtic goddess also named Brigid. The old legends and stories often confuse these two. There are few facts about the saint. She was a friend of St Patrick, is said to have founded an abbey at Kildare and was hugely influential in the conversion of the people of Ireland to Christianity. St Brigid is often portrayed holding a crozier (as for an abbott), a lamp (of learning) and a reed cross. She and the abbesses who succeeded her in Kildare seem to have had a similar status to that of a bishop until the 12th century. If you want to know more you can read more about her here. In the Church of England she is remembered on 1 February as 'Brigid, Abbess of Kildare'. Among many other attributes Brigid is remembered for her generosity and not only with her own possessions. Here's a fun poem on that theme, from The Love Letters of Phyllis Mc...