Seeker

  I know little about Irish saints. I've only recently discovered that the republic of Ireland now honours St Brigid along with St Patrick as the country's 2 patron saints. Today is St Brigid's feast day. Starting next year, in Brigid's honour there will be a public holiday on the Monday nearest to 1 February, giving her equal status (as far as public holidays go) with St Patrick whose feast day has been a public holiday there for a long time. In the Church of England she is commemorated today as Brigid, Abbess of Kildare, who died about 525 A.D. I've chosen a cross of reed straw to illustrate this post. It's a cross associated with St Brigid because of the legend about her sitting with a dying pagan lord, possibly her father. As she sat in vigil by the bedside she picked up some rushes from the floor and wove them into a cross while explaining the meaning of the cross of Jesus Christ to the dying man. The story goes that the man died peacefully having converted...

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...