07-03-2025
St. Brigid: Uncovering the Legacy of Ireland's only female Patron Saint
(WWTI) – Saint Patrick's Day is around the corner, but there is another Irish Saint that you may not know too much about.
The charitable Saint Brigid is who we are talking about. She is the only female among the three patron saints in Ireland and she's a figure associated with creativity and womanhood. Saint Brigid is the patron saint of Ireland, dairymaids, cattle, midwives, Irish nuns and newborn babies, according to Catholic Online.
St. Brigid is a unique character in Irish history. She was born in 451 and was the daughter of a Christian woman baptized by Saint Patrick named Brocca and Dubthach, a Leinster chieftain. As Brocca was a slave so was Brigid, when Dubthach's wife found out that Brocca was pregnant, Brocca was sold to a Druid landowner.
Brigid's early years are not without legends. Apparently baby Brigid would vomit any food the Druid attempted to feed her as he was impure, however a cow became her source for food instead. Stories also say the Saint Briged was incapable of not feeding the poor and healing them.
Brigid's charity was well known including giving away all of her mother's butter, the butter was replenished later after she prayed. After moving and living with her father, she donated his possessions to anyone who asked for them.
Dubthach was, understandably, annoyed by this behavior and tried to sell her to the king of Leinster. Even while the king and her father spoke Brigid's charity was seen as she gave a jeweled sword to a beggar so he could barter it for food for his family. The king seeing this and being Christian convinced Dubthach to grant her freedom by saying, 'Her merit before God is greater than ours.'
Brigid's charity didn't end there. She later returned to her mother and the Druid, took over the Druid's dairy farm, made a profit all while giving away milk to those in need. Her mother was eventually freed by the Druid.
Brigid wasn't just charitable but chaste as well. She even prayed that her beauty be taken away so no man would want to marry her. Legend goes that her beauty did not come back until after she made her final vows to the church.
She may also have been accidentally ordained as a priest, not a nun. Saint Patrick supposedly accidentally used the form for ordaining priests, when he was informed of his error he said, 'So be it, my son, she is destined for great things.'
Later in life she founded a monastery in Kildare, two monastic institutions and a school of art that included metalwork and illumination. Many miracles are attributed to her, one miracle says that she transformed a lake into beer to serve a leper colony and her prayers were said to calm winds and stop rain.
She died on February 1 525, at 73-74 years old. According to Europeana, she is celebrated in Ireland on her death date every year, by people participating in creative activities, music, storytelling and artistic expressions that pay tribute to her creative spirit. In parts of Ireland, there are parades dedicated to Saint Brigid, which include making and carrying Saint Brigid's Crosses.
You can find instructions on how to make your own Saint Brigid's Cross HERE.
Saint Brigid's skull can be found in two places, the Church of St. John the Baptist in Lumiar, Portugal and St. Brigid's Parish Church, Kildare. However, a little closer to home, Saint Bridget has an exhibit in The Brooklyn Museum.
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