St. Patrick is Ireland's leading patron saint. Although he wasn't the first Christian missionary in Ireland, he is credited with bringing Christianity to the island. St. Patrick has a cool symbol: The shamrock. St. Patrick is known for driving snakes out of Ireland. There weren't any snakes in Ireland but Patrick drove them out anyway. St. Patrick is the official sponsor of an awesome drinking holiday. Not an endorsement for this or any other beverage. Today St. Patrick's Day, the anniversary of his passing, is celebrated worldwide. St. Brigid is Ireland's female patron saint. She's as big a deal as St. Patrick. St. Brigid also has a cool symbol: Brigid's cross. St. Brigid is the patron saint of a great many things. Among the things St. Brigid is patron saint of: babies, blacksmiths, blacksmithing, boatmen, cattle farmers, children whose parents are not married, children whose mothers are mistreated by the children's fathers, Clan Douglas, dairymaids, dairy workers, dairy production, fugitives, healing, Ireland, learning, Leinster, livestock, mariners, midwives, milkmaids, nuns, poets, poetry, the poor, poultry, poultry farmers, poultry raisers, printing presses, protection, sailors, scholars, travelers, and watermen. She is also one of several patron saints of beer. https://vinepair.com/articles/patron-saint-of-beer/ St. Brigid even turned water into b*er. (Sorry about the *. You can't say this word in a description of YouTube doesn't like it.) That's right. She's a patron saint of b*er. Sadly, Brigid does not have an awesome drinking holiday associated with her. St. Columba is Ireland's third patron saint. He was such a badass saint he could baptize an entire tribe of Picts with one hand. St. Columba came to Ireland from Scotland. Columba could predict when people would die, which made him popular. Despite the obvious handicap of being Scottish, Columba became one of the 12 apostles of Ireland. Columba left behind this church in Donegal. But he lacks both a cool symbol and an awesome drinking holiday. Thank you for watching! Image credits: Shamrock: According to legend, Saint Patrick used the three-leaved shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to Irish pagans. – Creative Commons via Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shamrock#/media/File:Irish_clover.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Irish_clover.jpg Pint of Guinness – Public Domaine pictures https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/pictures/20000/velka/pint-of-proper-guiness-in-dublin.jpg St. Columba’s church - West wall of St Columba's church, Gartan, Donegal; Gartan is said to be the birthplace of Columba, Kay Atherton, Creative Commons via Wkipedia https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/St_Columba%27s_church%2C_Gartan%2C_Donegal.jpg St. Patrick postcard - : "St. Patrick's Day Souvenir" postmarked 1912 in the United States. On postcard: "OLD WEIR BRIDGE" Description: "1912 POSTCARD ST. PATRICK'S DAY SOUVENIR; POSTALLY USED and CANCELLED MARCH 1912" Pictured: The painting depicted is of the "Old Weir Bridge" located Dinis Cottage, in Killarney National Park, Ireland. Public Doman via Wikimedia Commons https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/20/PostcardStPatricksDaySouvinir1912.jpg Patrick depicted with shamrock in detail of stained glass window in St. Benin's Church, Kilbennan, County Galway, Ireland, Andreas F. Borchert, Creative Commons via Wikipedia St. Finnian imparting his blessing to the Twelve Apostles of Ireland. Clonard, County Meath, Ireland Detail of the seventh stained glass window in a series depicting the life of St. Finian in the Church of St. Finian at Clonard. The windows were created by Hogan in 1957. The inscription reads: Saint Finian imparts his blessing to twelve apostles of Ireland. This image has been cropped from this image. Andreas F. Borchert, Creative Commons via Wikipedia. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Columba_converting_the_Picts.jpg Saint Columba converting King Brude of the Picts to Christianity, Mural painting in the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, photographed by uploader, Kim Traynor. Creative Commons via Wikimedia Commons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiberno-Scottish_mission#/media/File:Columbanus_at_Bobbio.jpg Fresco of Saint Columbanus in Brugnato Cathedral, Fresco of Saint Columbanus on a column at Brugnato Cathedral in Italy, Davide Papalini, Creative Common via Wikipedia. https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_130889/Lorenzo-Lotto/Blessings-of-St-Bridget-(detail)-1524 "Blessings of St Bridget (detail) 1524" oil on Canvas. Lorenzo Lotto. Public domain via Wikigallery.
Category Archives: St. Brigid
Inside St. Brigid’s Holy Well – Imbolc/St. Brigid’s Day
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St. Brigid is the bridge between paganism and Christianity in Ireland.
St. Bridgid is one of the three Irish national saints – the others are Patrick and Columba. She is considered the patroness saint, or mother saint, of Ireland. https://www.libraryireland.com/Wonders/St-Brigit-1.php/
Feb. 2023 marks the first year that St. Brigid’s Day will be a national holiday in Ireland, the first named for a woman. https://www.newsendip.com/saint-brigid-day-ireland-first-public-holiday-created-after-a-woman/
The result of a successful three-year campaign to establish St. Brigid’s Day, Ireland’s newest national holiday will be observed in 2023 on Monday, 6 February.
The initiative to make St. Brigid’s Day an Irish national holiday was spearheaded by HerStory https://www.herstory.ie/home, an organization founded in 2016 that tells women’s stories through education and arts programs.
Also known as Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland, she is purported to have been born and raised circa 451 AD in Faughart just north of Dundalk in County Louth. She is said to have died in Kildare on 525 AD.
St. Brigid is the patron saint of Ireland, poetry, learning, healing, protection, blacksmithing, livestock and dairy production. A very busy saint, Brigid is also patron saint of babies, boatmen, children whose parents are not married, children whose mothers are mistreated by the children’s fathers, Clan Douglas, fugitives, Leinster, mariners, midwives, nuns, the poor, poultry farmers, printing presses, sailors, scholars, travelers, and watermen.
However, there are few historic facts about Brigid. There is on-going debate among both secular and Christian scholars over whether she was a real person.
St. Brigid shares her name with a Celtic goddess.
Some scholars suggest that St. Brigid is a Christian version of the pagan goddess. Others argue that she was a real person whose story was given the goddess’s attributes.
Christian monks “took the ancient figure of the mother goddess and grafted her name and functions onto her Christian counterpart,” art historian Pamela Berge asserts.
St. Brigid was an abbess who founded several convents, most notably in Kildare, which were Ireland’s most important, according to medieval Irish hagiographies.
“By the end of the seventh century, at least two Latin biographies had been written describing her as a nobleman’s daughter who chose to consecrate her virginity to God, took the veil as a Christian nun, and became the leader of a community of religious women — or perhaps of both women and men,” Phylilis G. Jestice wrote in ‘Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia’. “Certainly, by the seventh century, there was an important double monastery at Kildare that regarded her as its founder.”
Votive Offerings and The Rag Tree
Pilgrims often leave votive offerings at St. Bridgid’s Holy Well. Growing next to the well is a rag tree. A common offering at holy wells is a rag or piece of cloth that is attached to the ‘rag tree’, which is often also considered holy. Offerings include pins, medals, rosary beads, holy pictures, statues and so forth. The offering represents the sickness the pilgrim wants cured.
St. Brigid’s feast day is 1 February, which was originally a pre-Christian festival called Imbolc, marking midwinter day, the beginning of spring. Brigid was a fire goddess in ancient Irish mythology. Today St. Brigid is celebrated with a perpetual flame at her shrine in Kildare.
St. Brigid’s Day/Imbolc traditions and customs https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/st-brigids-day-traditions
A folk tradition celebrated on St. Brigid’s Day or Imbolc is Brigid’s Bed. Girls and young unmarried women make a corn doll representing Brigid that is called the Brideog and they make a bed for the Brideog.
the girls and young women gather in one house and stay up all night with the Brideog. The next day they visited by the young men of the community who must ask permission to enter, and must then treat them and the doll with respect.
Brigid is said to walk the earth on Imbolc eve. On St. Brigid Day’s eve people may leave clothing or strips of cloth outside for Brigid to bless when she passes by in the night.
A Brigid of Faughart Festival http://www.brigidoffaughart.ie/ takes places in 2023 from 29 January to 6 February at the An Táin Arts Centre Crowe Street, Dundalk, Co. Louth, St. Brigid’s Shrine and several other locations in co. Louth.
Click here for more information: http://www.brigidoffaughart.ie/festivals/
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The Secrets of The Hill of Faughart: A Saint, a King and 3 Epic Battles!
Here a saint was born. A king was killed. A vanquished chieftain lost his head. Three major battles were fought.
There’s a centuries-old cemetery, a ruined medieval church and a holy well that attracts pilgrims from around the world. There’s even the remains of an iron age Norman-style motte-castle.
Here is the Hill of Faughart.
Located just north of Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, the Hill of Faughart has a lot of Irish myth and history going on in one fairly small site.
The hill itself is in a natural position to become an important place. Occupied since prehistoric times, Faughart was strategically important for centuries.
Faughart overlooks the Gap of the North/Moyry Pass — eastern Ireland’s main south-north route — Dundalk and its bay, the Cooley mountains and Slieve Gullion to its north. It has a clear view north and east of a large area.
The remains of an iron age, Norman-style earth-and-wood motte-castle stand to northeast of the cemetery, evidence of Faughart’s strategic location.
Even by Irish stands Faughart is steeped in history. It is the birthplace of St. Brigid, 451 AD. It is the burial place High King of Ireland Edward Bruce who was killed near here 14 October 1318.
St. Brigid is Ireland’s female patron saint. Sharing a name with a popular Celtic pagan goddess, Brigid is the bridge between paganism and Irish Christianity. Few historical facts are known about St. Brigid’s life, but she is an extremely popular saint both in Ireland and around the world.
There are three sites related to St. Brigid at the Hill of Faughart. The most significant site is St. Brigid’s Holy Well.
The holy well attracts pilgrims who believe the well’s water has healing powers. The second is St. Brigid’s Bed, said to be the remains of a hut where she slept. The third site is St. Brigid’s Pillar.
This site appears to be the remains of the base of a round tower that once existed there. In the center of the circle is a piece of a broken Celtic high cross. A church has existed on the Faughart since at least the 4th century and monastery once existed there. The ruined church in the graveyard dates from the 12th century.
A rag tree grows above the holy well. Pilgrims leave various votive offerings, often strips of cloths or rags, in hopes of healing ailments or being granted answers to prayers.
Faughart was at the center of three significant battles. In 248 AD, a battle was fought by Cormac Ulfada, High King of Ireland, against Storno (Starno), king of Lochlin (Scandinavia). Ulfada prevailed.
Legend has it that the defeated Storno was allowed to sail home to Scandinavia. https://books.google.com/books?id=NSE…
In 732 AD, Áed Allán, king of Ireland, fought a battle with Áed Róin, king of Ulaid, over what amounted to an insult to a parish controlled by a powerful bishop[. 2]https://books.google.com/books?id=NSE…
Áed Róin was vanquished and wound up having his head cut off on The Stone of Decapitation (Cloch-an-chommaigh) in the doorway of the church of Faughart. A number of other chieftains in Áed Róin’s army were also killed.
Today there are several stones near the entrance of church. It was unclear when we visited which stone was THE Stone of Decapitation. If you know the answer please let us know in the comments.
Perhaps the most significant Battle of Faughart was fought 14 October 1318 between Hiberno-Norman forces led by John de Bermingham, 1st Earl of Louth, and Edmund Butler, Earl of Carrick and his Scots-Irish army commanded by Edward Bruce.
Bruce was the brother of Robert Bruce, King of Scots, Edward Bruce has been backed as King of Ireland by some Irish chieftains. Butler’s army was defeated. Bruce was killed. His body was quartered and sent to various towns in Ireland. His head was sent to King Edward II in England.
Thus, it is hard to know what, if any parts of Bruce, are actually buried in the grave at Faughart. The Battle of Faughart was part of the First War of Scottish Independence, during a three-year era known as the Irish Bruce Wars. Bruce’s death ended an attempt to revive the High Kingship of Ireland.
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