Praying Together February 5th 2023

This week offers a new Bank Holiday in Ireland. Always welcome – and this one in particular has been too long coming. Patrick has long had his – Brigid, of at least equal significance in Irish history – deserves the same.

But who exactly was she? Well, it depends who you ask.

Some would refer to her as the Pagan Goddess Brid (meaning ‘the High One). She was known as the Goddess of poetry and wisdom, who first introduced the tradition of ‘Keening’ on the death of her son. She was a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann, the mythical supernatural race that inhabited Ireland at the dawn of time, and was among other things, a protector of domesticated animals. The pagan festival of Imbolc on February 1 is regarded as the first day of Spring.

A different Folklore tradition says her father was a Chieftain, her mother a slave. The pregnant woman, who had been baptised by St. Patrick, was sold on to a Druid, who in turn became himself a Christian. Brigid grew up as farm worker, churning butter and shepherding the sheep. She subsequently was consecrated and eventually became an Abbess, founding a Monastery in Kildare and consecrating men and women across Ireland as well as performing many miracles – including turning water into beer. She is the Patroness of Ireland and of  healers, poets, blacksmiths, livestock and dairy workers, among others.

And perhaps it is her  example of living the Christian life – being salt and light, living the Gospel in the language of the ordinary men and women of her culture  that we rightly celebrate as the example in our own lives..