Saint of the Day: St. Brigid of Ireland

Her life

+ Born in County Louth, Ireland, to parents baptized by Saint Patrick, Brigid shows signs of devotion and piety from her youth.

+ According to one legend, Brigid asked God to take away her beauty in order to escape marriage and to pursue her religious vocation. God granted her request. Regardless of the truth of this legend, it is recorded that she received the monastic habit from the missionary-bishop Saint Mel.

+ Brigid established her first monastery in Ireland at Cil-Dara (now Kildare). She presided over this community for many years. She also established monasteries in other parts of Ireland and came to hold a great deal of influence within the early Irish Church.

+ Honored for her dedication to the poor and needy, Brigid died around the year 523 and was buried in Downpatrick in the same grave as Saint Patrick and Saint Columba. She is honored as one of the patron saints of Ireland.

+ A popular image associated with Saint Brigid is the “Brigid’s cross.” This is a small cross usually woven from rushes or wheat and typically has four arms tied at the ends and a woven square in the middle. An early, three-armed version has been associated with pre-Christian worship of the sun.

For prayer and reflection

“As long as we love one another,

God will live in us

and his love will be complete in us.”—1 John 4:12

Spiritual bonus

On February 1 we also remember the martyr Blessed Conor O’Devany (Conchubhar Ó Duibheanaigh). A Franciscan friar, he was named bishop of Down and Connor in Ireland in 1582. Six years later, he was arrested in the anti-Catholic persecution that erupted after the failed invasion of England by the Spanish Armada. Although he was released and able to conduct a limited ministry in the years that followed, he was arrested again and subsequently killed for his fidelity to the Catholic Faith on February 1, 1611, in Dublin. He was beatified with other Irish martyrs in 1991.

Prayer

Merciful God,
origin and reward of all charity,
you called Saint Brigid to teach the new commandment of love
through her life of hospitality and her care of the needy;
give to your people, by her intercession,
a generous spirit,
so that, with hearts made pure,
we may show your love to all.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.

(Collect for the Feast of Saint Brigid, approved by the Irish Episcopal Conference and the Holy See)
Saint profiles prepared by Brother Silas Henderson, S.D.S.