{"id":1012,"date":"2022-03-11T09:57:00","date_gmt":"2022-03-11T17:57:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/st-brigid-the-compassionate-sensible-female-patron-saint-of-ireland-gets-a-lot-less-recognition-than-st-patrick\/"},"modified":"2025-02-10T15:33:27","modified_gmt":"2025-02-10T23:33:27","slug":"who-is-ireland-patron-saint-brigid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/who-is-ireland-patron-saint-brigid\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St.\u00a0Patrick"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n    \n                                          \n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-hero \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-hero\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n<div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--image\">\n\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n              \n      <img\n                            data-src=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3645-768x432.jpg\"\n          data-srcset=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2023\/04\/story-3645-768x432.jpg 768w\"          data-sizes=\"(min-width:1200px) 75vw, (min-width:768px) 83vw, 100vw\"          class=\"lazyload\"\n        \n                  alt=\"St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St.\u00a0Patrick\"\n        \n        \n                                      \/>\n\n    \n    \n  \n  \n\n<\/div>\n  \n      <div class=\"image-caption\">\n          \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  A stained glass window depicts St. Brigid holding a lamp. (Image Source: Wikimedia Commons\/Andreas F. Borchert.)\n\n\n<\/div>\n    <\/div>\n  \n  <div class=\"text-wrapper\">\n          <nav aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\" class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n        <ul>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\">News<\/a><\/li>\n                      <li><a href=\"\/news\/stories\/\/?category=faculty\">Faculty<\/a><\/li>\n                  <\/ul>\n      <\/nav>\n    \n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--page-title\">\n\n    \n  <h1>St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St.\u00a0Patrick<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n    \n          <div class=\"subtitle\">\n            \n<div class=\"f--field f--description\">\n\n    \n  The Irish government recently declared a national holiday for another patron saint of Ireland, St. Brigid. A USC Dornsife scholar and medieval historian explains her fascinating life and history. <strong>[6 min read]<\/strong>\n\n\n<\/div>\n      <\/div>\n    \n           <strong class=\"author-field\"><span >By<\/span><a href=\"mailto:communication@dornsife.usc.edu\">Lisa Bitel<\/a><\/strong>\n    \n          <span class=\"post-date-field\">March 11, 2022<\/span>\n      <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--social-share \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--social-share\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"content-wrapper\">\n    <span class=\"a2a_kit a2a_kit_size_32 addtoany_list\" style=\"line-height: 32px;\">\n      <span class=\"title\">\n        Share\n      <\/span>\n                        <a class=\"a2a_button_copy_link\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"\/#copy_link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"Link\">\n            <span class=\"a2a_svg a2a_s__default a2a_s_copy_link\">\n           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cc--rich-text \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--rich-text\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n      \n<div class=\"f--field f--wysiwyg\">\n\n    \n  <p>On March 17, the world celebrates the feast day of <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/10-things-to-know-about-the-real-st-patrick-92253\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">St. Patrick<\/a>, a zealous British bishop of the fifth century who became famous for spreading Christianity in Ireland. Patrick is Ireland\u2019s main patron saint.<\/p>\n<p>But as a <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/bitel-homepage\/\">medieval historian<\/a>, I suggest that we also pause to remember another of Ireland\u2019s patron saints, the nurturing, compassionate <a href=\"https:\/\/global.oup.com\/academic\/product\/landscape-with-two-saints-9780195336528?cc=us&amp;lang=en&amp;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">St. Brigid<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This year, following a three-year campaign by a feminist organization, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.herstory.ie\/home\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">herstory.ie<\/a>, the Irish government finally acknowledged Brigid\u2019s importance by declaring a new <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishtimes.com\/news\/ireland\/irish-news\/dublin-to-host-st-brigid-s-day-events-celebrating-the-original-brigit-1.4789324#:%7E:text=Drawing%20inspiration%20from%20the%20Celtic,February%201st%2C%20with%20free%20admission.\">national holiday<\/a> on her feast day of Feb. 1. Until now, Ireland counted her among their official three patrons, along with St. Patrick and St. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.irishpost.com\/life-style\/125140-2-125140\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Columcille, or Columba<\/a>, but gave workers a day off only on St. Patrick\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n<h2>So who is St. Brigid?<\/h2>\n<p>Unlike Patrick, who came from Britain, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/cathen\/02784b.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Brigid was born in Ireland<\/a>, sometime around A.D. 450, the child of a slave and a king in the province of Leinster.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, Brigid left no historical record of her missionary work. Patrick wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/www.confessio.ie\/etexts\/confessio_english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">two letters<\/a> that still exist: one a defense of his missionary career and the other a rebuke to a slave-raiding British king. All information about Brigid comes from biographies of saints written long after she lived. A churchman named <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dib.ie\/biography\/cogitosus-a1809\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cogitosus<\/a> was the <a href=\"https:\/\/codecs.vanhamel.nl\/Vita_sanctae_Brigitae_(Cogitosus)\">first to write<\/a> about Brigid, in about A.D. 650, or approximately 200 years after her birth.<\/p>\n<p>Cogitosus recounted Brigid\u2019s many purported miracles: As a girl, she gave away the household\u2019s butter and bacon to hungry beggars and dogs, then miraculously replaced the food for her family. Later in life, she turned a wooden column into a living tree with one touch and hung her cloak on a sunbeam. After she founded her monastic community at <a href=\"http:\/\/kildarelocalhistory.ie\/kildare\/history-of-kildare-town\/st-brigids-cathedral\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Kildare<\/a> and became its abbess, she also traveled, preached and was said to have cured Christians of serious debilities such as blindness and muteness, all in imitation of Christ. While many early female saints have miracles attributed to them, few of them actively proselytized.<\/p>\n<p>Cogitosus tells us that Brigid worked some other unique marvels. She miraculously ended the unwanted pregnancy of one of her fellow sisters, \u201ccausing the foetus to disappear without coming to birth and without pain,\u201d as Cogitosus put it. She tamed both domestic and wild animals, which was handy when her cows went astray. She could also, according to Cogitosus, manipulate the landscape. Once when her kinsmen were building a plank trackway through the bogs, Brigid moved a river to make it easier for them.<\/p>\n<p>Instead of battling wrongdoers, she found peaceful resolutions to violent situations. Once, for example, she deterred a band of bloodthirsty murderers by making it appear as if they had committed a killing that never even happened.<\/p>\n<p>Even after her death, miracles supposedly continued to occur at her shrine. In fact, Brigid\u2019s intervention from beyond the grave helped builders gather materials to build a new and magnificent shrine for her at Kildare, or so wrote Cogitosus. She guided an immovable boulder down a hill to her community for their new millstone. She caused a problematic door to hang correctly. These were minor but useful miracles \u2013 typical, I would argue, of the sensible saint.<\/p>\n<h2>Royal patronage for Patrick<\/h2>\n<p>By comparison, Patrick\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.confessio.ie\/more\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">earliest hagiographers<\/a>, writing only decades after Cogitosus, depicted their saint in constant conflict with the \u201cheathens\u201d he tried to convert to Christianity.<\/p>\n<p>When Patrick arrived in Ireland in the mid-fifth century, he seems to have bullied Ireland\u2019s most powerful king into baptism, but only after dueling and then miraculously killing the king\u2019s chief druids. In hagiography, druids were the Irish and British version of pagan wizards. After watching the druids perish, King Loegaire Mac N\u00e9ill decided \u201cIt is better to believe than die,\u201d wrote Patrick\u2019s hagiographer, Muirch\u00fa around A.D. 700.<\/p>\n<p>Also according to Muirch\u00fa, Patrick routinely cursed unbelievers. When one evildoer tried to lure Patrick into an ambush by pretending to be ill, Patrick supposedly caused the patient to drop dead. Patrick was always larger than life in these early accounts, <a href=\"https:\/\/confessio.ie\/more\/muirchu_english\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">baptizing hundreds of souls at a time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Around the same time that these hagiographers worked, Brigid\u2019s cult center at Kildare became one of the wealthiest and most powerful religious communities in Ireland. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/Ekphrasis-at-Kildare%3A-The-Imaginative-Architecture-Bitel\/2f212e95dae6583859f9d9856cb6504d7248d24d\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cogitosus<\/a> wrote that Kildare was \u201cthe head of virtually all the Irish churches and occupies the first place, excelling all the monasteries of the Irish. Its jurisdiction extends over the whole land of Ireland from sea to sea.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the Middle Ages, Leinster elites continued to donate land and goods to Kildare. They vied to place their female kinfolk as abbess of Kildare until the community closed during the 16th-century <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oxfordhandbooks.com\/view\/10.1093\/oxfordhb\/9780199689736.001.0001\/oxfordhb-9780199689736-e-34\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">dissolution<\/a>, when the occupying English Protestant government of Ireland shut down all monasteries.<\/p>\n<p>Kildare, however, could never match the status of <a href=\"http:\/\/what-when-how.com\/medieval-ireland\/armagh-medieval-ireland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Armagh<\/a>, Patrick\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.stpatricks-cathedral.org\/history\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">chief church<\/a>, which had the advantage of even greater royal patronage and grander donations by mightier kings.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, within the church hierarchy of medieval Europe, as in Catholicism today, Brigid could never outrank Patrick, because she was not a priest. Only priests could baptize, ordain, perform the sacrament of the Eucharist and give last rites. Women were not, and still are not, allowed to become ordained priests in Roman Catholicism.<\/p>\n<p>In the 19th century, when Irish nationalists sought <a href=\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/7\/2019\/03\/GettyImages-523899592-c2cbde6.jpg?webp=true&amp;quality=90&amp;resize=259%2C413\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a symbol of their Catholicism<\/a> and country in the budding fight for independence, they chose the missionary bishop and founder of Armagh. A national holiday was declared <a href=\"https:\/\/www.officeholidays.com\/holidays\/st-patricks-day#:%7E:text=Patrick's%20Day%3F-,St.,a%20holiday%20in%20Northern%20Ireland.\">in 1903<\/a> to honor St. Patrick.<\/p>\n<h2>Brigid\u2019s church falls to ruin<\/h2>\n<p>In the meantime, Brigid\u2019s church at Kildare had fallen into ruin. It was only in 1875 that it was rebuilt by the Protestant Church of Ireland.<\/p>\n<p>Brigid\u2019s devotees resigned themselves to Kildare\u2019s secondary status as \u201cone of the two pillars of the Kingdom, along with Patrick the pre-eminent,\u201d as one <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tcd.ie\/library\/manuscripts\/blog\/2016\/01\/st-brigid-and-the-liber-hymnorum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">medieval hymnist<\/a> put it.<\/p>\n<p>This is despite a tale, circulated by a ninth-century hagiographer, that Brigid was <a href=\"https:\/\/celt.ucc.ie\/published\/T201002\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">accidentally ordained as a bishop<\/a> \u2013 apparently, Bishop Mel was so \u201cintoxicated with the grace of God\u201d as he prepared to veil Brigid that he read the wrong prayers over her. \u201cThis virgin alone in Ireland \u2026 will hold the episcopal ordination,\u201d Mel declared, and a column of fire shot from the saint\u2019s head. Unfortunately, other clerics refused to take the story seriously.<\/p>\n<p>Brigid was venerated as \u201cMary of the Gael,\u201d a saint for women, shepherds, beggars, refugees and those in childbirth. Her feast day, Feb. 1, is the same day as Imbolc, an ancient holiday celebrating the start of spring, season of fertility. Indeed, her associations with Imbolc have long raised suspicions about the possible <a href=\"https:\/\/mythicalireland.com\/myths-and-legends\/brigid-bright-goddess-of-the-gael\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pre-Christian origins<\/a> of her cult at Kildare.<\/p>\n<p>Today, some people keep St. Brigid\u2019s Day by weaving a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=dEkueEXU84A\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">special reed cross<\/a> or visiting a <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.stthomas.edu\/arthistory\/2016\/11\/02\/an-exploration-of-the-irish-holy-wells-of-st-brigid\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">holy well<\/a> whose waters, blessed by Brigid, are believed to heal illness. The Brigidine Sisters of Kildare attend their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kildare.ie\/community\/notices\/perpetual-flame.asp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ever-burning flame<\/a> for Brigid, as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sanctuaryofbrigid.com\/flamekeepers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">nuns did in the Middle Ages<\/a>. These seem like modest observances compared with the massive parades that flood the main streets of towns around the globe in annual celebration of Patrick.<\/p>\n<p>This year on March 17, when you\u2019re wearing the green and singing \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=122isznJdto\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dirty Ol\u2019 Town<\/a>,\u201d take a moment to whisper thanks to St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible, native-born patron saint of Ireland, and ask if Ireland\u2019s premier patron saint should be a woman.<\/p>\n<p>[<em>The most interesting religion stories from three major news organizations.<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/us\/newsletters\/this-week-in-religion-76\/?utm_source=TCUS&amp;utm_medium=inline-link&amp;utm_campaign=newsletter-text&amp;utm_content=religion-best-of-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Get This Week in Religion.<\/a>]<!-- Below is The Conversation's page counter tag. Please DO NOT REMOVE. --><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" style=\"border: none !important; box-shadow: none !important; margin: 0 !important; max-height: 1px !important; max-width: 1px !important; min-height: 1px !important; min-width: 1px !important; opacity: 0 !important; outline: none !important; padding: 0 !important; text-shadow: none !important;\" src=\"https:\/\/counter.theconversation.com\/content\/176659\/count.gif?distributor=republish-lightbox-basic\" alt=\"The Conversation\" width=\"1\" height=\"1\" \/><!-- End of code. If you don't see any code above, please get new code from the Advanced tab after you click the republish button. The page counter does not collect any personal data. More info: https:\/\/theconversation.com\/republishing-guidelines --><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/profiles\/lisa-bitel-418308\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lisa Bitel<\/a>, Professor of History &amp; Religion, <em><a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/institutions\/usc-dornsife-college-of-letters-arts-and-sciences-2669\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<p>This article is republished from <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the <a href=\"https:\/\/theconversation.com\/st-brigid-the-compassionate-sensible-female-patron-saint-of-ireland-gets-a-lot-less-recognition-than-st-patrick-176659\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n  \n        \n  \n    \n\n\n\n\n\n\n<div\n  class=\"cc--component-container cc--article-related-stories \"\n\n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  \n  >\n  <div class=\"c--component c--article-related-stories\"\n    \n      >\n\n    \n  <div class=\"inner-wrapper\">\n    \n                  <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/what-is-a-miracle\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >What\u2019s a \u2018miracle\u2019? Here\u2019s how the Catholic Church\u00a0decides<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/lourdes-byword-for-hope\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >How Lourdes became a byword for\u00a0hope<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n              <article>\n              \n<div class=\"f--field f--cta-title\">\n\n    \n  <h3>\n          <a href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/10-things-to-know-about-the-real-st-patrick\/\" \n                        class=\"\" \n      >10 things to know about the real St.\u00a0Patrick<\/a>\n      <\/h3>\n\n\n<\/div>\n        <\/article>\n            <\/div>\n\n\n  <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Irish government recently declared a national holiday for another patron saint of Ireland, St. Brigid. A USC Dornsife scholar and medieval historian explains her fascinating life and history. <strong>[6 min read]<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":52,"featured_media":1015,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23,10],"tags":[87,71,103,104,83],"class_list":["post-1012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-faculty","tag-expert-viewpoint","tag-history","tag-holidays","tag-religion","tag-the-conversation"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St.\u00a0Patrick<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A USC Dornsife scholar and medieval historian explains Saint Brigid&#039;s fascinating life and history. [6 min read]\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dornsife.usc.edu\/news\/stories\/who-is-ireland-patron-saint-brigid\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St.\u00a0Patrick\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A USC Dornsife scholar and medieval historian explains Saint Brigid&#039;s fascinating life and history. 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