St Brigid's Well

About

The saint has the same name as the goddess Brigid, derived from the Proto-Celtic * Brigantī, "high, exalted", and ultimately originating with Proto-Indo-European * bʰerǵʰ-. In Old Irish, her name was spelled Brigit and pronounced [ˈbʲɾʲiɣʲid̠ʲ]. In Modern Irish she is also called Bríd. In Welsh, she is called Ffraid (sometimes lenited to Fraid ), such as in several places called Llansanffraid, "St. Brigit's church". She is also referred to as "the Mary of the Gael ", "the Mary of Ireland" and the "Mother Saint of Ireland". A less common name is "Brigid of Faughart ", after her traditional birthplace.

There is debate over whether Brigid was a real person. According to The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, there are few historical facts about her – the early hagiographies "are mainly anecdotes and miracle stories, some of which are deeply rooted in Irish pagan folklore". There are many supernatural events and folk customs associated with her. She has the same name as the Celtic goddess Brigid. Like the saint, the goddess in Irish myth is associated with poetry, healing, protection, smithcraft, and domestic animals, according to Sanas Cormaic and Lebor Gabála Érenn. Furthermore, the saint's feast day falls on the Gaelic traditional festival of Imbolc. Some scholars suggest that the saint was not a real person but was a Christianisation of the goddess; others suggest that she was a real person and that traits of the goddess were transferred to her. Medieval art historian Pamela Berger argues that Christian monks "took the ancient figure of the mother goddess and grafted her name and functions onto her Christian counterpart". Dáithí Ó hÓgáin and others suggest that the saint had been chief druidess at the temple of the goddess Brigid, was responsible for converting it into a Christian monastery, and that the name and characteristics of the goddess later became attached to her.

The earliest accounts of St Brigid are two Old Irish hymns from the 7th century; the first by St Ultan of Ardbraccan (died c. 657 ), Brigit Bé Bithmaith ('Brigid ever-excellent woman') also known as "Ultan's hymn", and the second is "Broccán's hymn", composed by St Broccán Clóen (died c. 650 ) at the request of Ultan who was his tutor. "Ultan's hymn" begins:

Two early Lives of St Brigid in Hiberno-Latin prose, the Vita Sanctae Brigitae I and II, were written in the 7th–8th centuries, the first one possibly by St Aleran (died in 665), lector of Clonard, the second by Cogitosus, a monk of Kildare. An Old Irish prose Life, Bethu Brigte, was composed in the 9th century. Several later Latin and Irish Lives of the saint were composed. The Vita III, in hexameter verse, is sometimes attributed to St Coelan of Inishcaltra of the 7th–8th centuries, but appears more likely to have been written by St Donatus, an Irish monk who became Bishop of Fiesole in 824. In Donatus' prologue, it refers to the earlier Lives by Ultan (see before for his hymn), Aleran (see "Vita I") and an Anonymus. A 34- hexameter Latin poem about Saint Brigid had previously been composed by the Irish Roman cleric Colman c. 800.

Discussion on dates for the annals and the accuracy of dates relating to St Brigid continues.

Because of the legendary quality of the earliest accounts of her life, there is debate among many secular scholars and Christians as to the truthfulness of her biographies.

Her year of birth is usually given as 451 or 452 AD. One tradition is that Brigid was born at Faughart (just north of Dundalk ), in Conaille Muirtheimne, part of the Kingdom of Ulaid. Another tradition is that she was born at Ummeras, near Kildare. All early sources say she was one of the Fothairt, a people mainly based in Leinster. Three biographies name her mother as Broicsech, a slave who had been baptised by Saint Patrick. They name her father as Dubhthach, a chieftain of Leinster.

The Vitae says that Dubhthach's wife forced him to sell Brigid's mother to a druid when she became pregnant. This might have been inspired by the Biblical story of Abraham and Hagar. An 8th-century account calls the druid Maithghean. It says Broicsech gave birth to Brigid at dawn, on the threshold, while bringing milk into the druid's house. This liminality seems to be a vestige of druidic lore. Brigid was thus born into slavery. Legends of her early holiness include her vomiting when the druid tried to feed her, due to his impurity; a white cow with red ears arrives to sustain her instead. Brigid's druid stepfather is portrayed somewhat sympathetically in the stories. He can see that Brigid is special; he is concerned for Brigid's welfare, and he eventually frees her and her mother.

Cogitosus said she spent her youth as a farm worker, churning butter, shepherding the flocks and tending the harvest.

As she grew older, Brigid was said to have worked miracles, including healing and feeding the poor. According to one tale, as a child, she once gave away her mother's entire store of butter. The butter was then replenished in answer to Brigid's prayers. Around the age of ten, she was returned as a household servant to her father, where her charity led her to donate his belongings to the poor.

In both of the earliest biographies, Dubhthach is so annoyed with Brigid that he took her in a chariot to the King of Leinster to sell her. While Dubhthach was talking to the king, Brigid gave away her father's bejewelled sword to a beggar to barter it for food to feed his family. The king recognised her holiness and convinced Dubhthach to grant his daughter freedom.

It is said that Brigid was "veiled" or became a consecrated virgin either through Mac Caille, Bishop of Cruachán Brí Éile, or by St Mél of Ardagh at Mág Tulach (the present barony of Fartullagh, County Westmeath ), who gave her the powers of an abbess.

According to tradition, around 480 Brigid founded a monastery at Kildare ( Cill Dara, "church of the oak").

Brigid, with an initial group of seven companions, is credited with organising communal consecrated religious life for women in Ireland. She founded two monasteries; one for men, the other for women. Brigid became the first Abbess of Kildare and invited Conleth ( Conláed ), a hermit from Connell, to help her; he became the first Bishop of Kildare. It has often been said that she gave canonical jurisdiction to Conleth, but Archbishop Healy says that she simply "selected the person to whom the Church gave this jurisdiction", and her biographer says that she chose Conleth "to govern the church along with herself". For centuries, Kildare was ruled by a double line of abbot-bishops and abbess-bishops, the Abbess of Kildare being regarded as superior general of the monasteries in Ireland. Her successors have always been accorded episcopal honour. Brigid's oratory at Kildare became a centre of religion and learning, and developed into a cathedral city.

Brigid is credited with founding a school of art, including metalwork and illumination, which Conleth oversaw. The Kildare scriptorium made the Book of Kildare, which drew high praise from Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), but disappeared during the Reformation. According to Giraldus, nothing that he ever saw was at all comparable to the book, every page of which was gorgeously illuminated, and the interlaced work and the harmony of the colours left the impression that "all this is the work of angelic, and not human skill".

According to the Trias Thaumaturga, Brigid spent time in Connacht and founded many churches in the Diocese of Elphin. She is said to have visited Longford, Tipperary, Limerick, and South Leinster. Her friendship with Patrick is noted in the following paragraph from the Book of Armagh : "inter sanctum Patricium Brigitanque Hibernesium columnas amicitia caritatis inerat tanta, ut unum cor consiliumque haberent unum. Christus per illum illamque virtutes multas peregit" ("Between St. Patrick and St. Brigid, the pillars of the Irish people, there was so great a friendship of charity that they had but one heart and one mind. Through him and through her Christ performed many great works".)

The monk Ultan of Ardbraccan, who wrote the life of Brigid, recounts a story that Darlugdach, Brigid's favourite pupil, fell in love with a young man and, hoping to meet him, snuck out of the bed in which she and Brigid were sleeping. However, recognising her spiritual peril, she prayed for guidance, then placed burning embers in her shoes and put them on. "Thus, by fire", Ultan wrote, "she put out fire, and by pain extinguished pain." She then returned to bed. Brigid feigned sleep but was aware of Darlugdach's departure. The next day, Darlugdach revealed to Brigid the experience of the night before. Brigid reassured her that she was "now safe from the fire of passion and the fire of hell hereafter" and then healed her student's feet. The name Darlugdach (also spelt Dar Lugdach or Dar Lughdacha) means "daughter of the god Lugh ".

Brigid is said to have been given the last rites when she was dying by Ninnidh of the Pure Hand. Afterwards, he reportedly had his right hand encased in metal so that it would never be defiled, and this was the origin of his epithet. Tradition says she died at Kildare on 1 February. Her year of death is usually placed around 524 or 525.

Upon Brigid's death, Darlugdach became the second abbess of Kildare. Darlugdach was so devoted to her mentor that when Brigid lay dying, Darlugdach expressed the wish to die with her, but Brigid replied that Darlugdach would die on the first anniversary of her (Brigid's) death. The Catholic Church has assigned 1 February as the feast day of both saints.

Because of the legendary quality of the earliest accounts of her life, there is debate among many secular scholars and Christians as to the truthfulness of her biographies.