St. Bridget of Kildare
(Bride, Brigid)
Abbess & Patron of Ireland
450 - 525
Feast Day 1
st
February
St Bridget was born about 450 AD in a small village in
Ireland named Faughart.
Legend states that her parents were baptized by St
Patrick, with whom she developed a close friendship in
later life.
Her father was an Irish chieftain and her mother a slave
at his court. As a young girl, Bridget had an interest in
the religious life and took her first vows from St Macaille
at Croghan.
Bridget we think was officially professed as a nun when
she was 20 years old by St Mel of Armagh.
It is also believed that he conferred on her the authority
to establish a religious order and to be its abbess.
In the year 470 AD, Bridget founded both a monastery
and convent at Cill-Dara (in Kildare) and was the first
abbess of the convent, the first of its kind in Ireland. She
built her room or cell under a great oak from where the
convent gets its name Cill-Dara (meaning “cell of the
oak”)
The convent became a centre of learning plus St Bridget
founded a school of art at Cill-Dara and its illuminated
manuscripts became famous, most notable was the Book
of Kildare but it disappeared three centuries ago.
Many legends are attributed to St Bridget but she will be
remembered for her extraordinary spirituality, her
boundless charity and compassion for those in distress.
One of the legends tells us about Bridget as she sat with
her dying father, she was meditating and began to
weaving a cross made from rushes. Her dying father
asked Bridget to explain the cross and its meaning.
Prior to his death her father joined the church and was
baptized by St Patrick.
Today St Bridget’s cross is placed in people’s homes and
farm buildings believing that with their faith it will protect
them and their livestock from evil and deprivation.
On 1
st
February, the feast of St Bridget, legend states we
need to kill a sheep, share the meat, along with butter
and milk with the neighbours especially any less fortunate in the area. This
was done to carry on the tradition started by St Bridget, of sharing one’s
bounty with the poor. A cake is placed on the windowsills; this is nourishment
for Bridget as she made her rounds throughout the country. A sheaf of corn
was offered for Bridget’s white cow which always accompanied her on her
chartable rounds so legends say.
St Bridget died at Cill-Dara on 1
st
February 525 AD. She was buried in
Downpatrick with two other Irish saints St Patrick and St Columba.
She shares the title "Patron of Ireland" with St Patrick.