Lenten campaign 2026
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Nearly everyone knows about St. Patrick, as his feast day is celebrated in even the most secular countries in the world.
Yet he is not the only popular Irish saint. Arguably the second most beloved saint from Ireland is St. Brigid of Kildare.
Her feast day is on February 1 and many celebrate it, though certainly not as widely as St. Patrick’s Day. Devotion to her is boosted by the special woven cross associated with her, and many like to weave this cross for her feast day.
Who was St. Brigid?
St. Brigid was born in the 5th century, shortly after St. Patrick had evangelized the Emerald Isle. In fact, her parents (or at least her mother) were reportedly baptized by St. Patrick and as a child she heard sermons preached by the zealous pastor of souls.
Some stories claim that her mother was enslaved and that Brigid was born into slavery. Relatively little is known about her childhood, except that eventually she was to be married, but refused.
What is best known about St. Brigid is how she entered religious life and began founding convents across Ireland.
According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, she professed her religious vows before two other Irish saints:
Although St. Brigid was "veiled" or received by St. Macaille, at Croghan, yet, it is tolerably certain that she was professed by St. Mel of Ardagh, who also conferred on her abbatial powers.
One of the reasons why she is sometimes referred to as the “mother” of the Church in Ireland is on account of her influence with local bishops and abbots, with some sources claiming that she appointed a bishop:
It has been frequently stated that she gave canonical jurisdiction to St. Conleth, Bishop of Kildare, but, as Archbishop Healy points out, she simply "selected the person to whom the Church gave this jurisdiction," and her biographer tells us distinctly that she chose St. Conleth "to govern the church along with herself." Thus, for centuries, Kildare was ruled by a double line of abbot-bishops and of abbesses, the Abbess of Kildare being regarded as superioress general of the convents in Ireland.
Both during her life and after her death, St. Brigid was associated with countless miracles. This gave her a legendary reputation, which continues to this day.
She was later named one of the three patron saints of Ireland, alongside St. Patrick and St. Columba.
The Irish people continue to venerate her and seek her intercession as a “mother” of Ireland.
