Saint Brigid of Kildare … a modern iconPatrick Comerford
Tuesday 1 February 2022 is the Feast Day of Saint Brigid, one of the three patrons of Ireland – alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba – and the patron of the Diocese of Kildare.
The Readings for Saint Brigid’s Day, as adapted for use in the Church of Ireland, are:
The Readings: Hosea 6: 1-4; Psalm 134; I John 1: 1-4; John 10: 7-16
Traditionally, Irish people regard 1 February, the feast of Saint Brigid of Kildare, as the first day of Spring. There is a saying that Irish people start using at this time of the year: ‘There’s a grand stretch in the evening.’
Saint Brigid is a much-neglected saint in the Church of Ireland, although she is one of the three patrons of Ireland, alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, and she gives her name to Saint Brigid’s Cathedral, Kildare.
If that neglect of Saint Brigid in the Church of Ireland is a response to some of the ‘new age’ myths and fantasies that have been created around her life and story, then the Post-Communion prayer for today invites us ‘to lay aside all foolishness and to live and walk in the way of insight.’
For those preparing sermons for Saint Brigid’s Day, three relevant points about Saint Brigid are worth considering:
1, Firstly, there is a lot of legend, a lot of myth, and a lot of ‘New Age’ style writing about Saint Brigid. But, in fact, we know very little about her. Some stories say she was baptised by Saint Patrick. She may have taken her vows as a nun from Saint Mel of Ardagh, who also gave her the authority of an abbot. Some legends say he made her a bishop – the only female bishop in the early church. But whether she was a bishop or not, what we know of her makes her a good model for those who would be shepherds and pastors in the church.
Saint Brigid was buried in Kildare Cathedral, but then, about the year 878, because of the Viking raids, her relics were taken to Downpatrick, where she was buried alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columba, and they were reinterred in Downpatrick Cathedral in 1186.
The Book of Armagh claims that ‘between Patrick and Brigid, the columns of the Irish, 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 miracles.’
But the legendary nature of most of the accounts of her life means there is little we can say with certainty about her life. The earliest Latin ‘life’ of Saint Brigid was written around the year 800, so we can hardly regard it as a primary source.
However, if we confine Brigid to the shelves of ‘New Age’ books in airport shops and supermarkets, alongside crystal healing and Bigfoot, we take from Irish spirituality an interesting role model for women’s ministry.
2, Secondly, Brigid is not marginal: her legacy is part of our shared Irish cultural heritage. Hundreds of placenames in Ireland and Scotland honour her memory – places such as Kilbride, Brideswell, Tubberbride, Templebride, and so on. Several places in Wales are named Llansantaffraid, which means ‘Saint Bride’s Church.’ And in England, there are 19 ancient church dedications to her, including Saint Bride’s, the journalists’ church in Fleet Street, and Bridewell or Saint Bride’s Well, the parish in which Saint Thomas à Becket was born.
Her small foundation in Kildare became a centre of religion and learning that developed into a cathedral city. According to Giraldus Cambrensis, nothing he had seen ever compared with the Book of Kildare, every page of it was so beautifully illuminated. He says the interlaced work and the harmony of the colours left the impression that ‘all this is the work of angelic, and not human skill.’ Various Continental pre-Reformation breviaries commemorate Saint Brigid, and her name is included in a litany in the Stowe Missal.
But the rich insights of the monasteries are not only for men, nor for one tradition on this island; they are part of our shared, common Christian heritage, from long before the Reformation.
3, Thirdly, Saint Brigid is an interesting role model for the full place of women in the ministry and mission of the Church. From the sources for her life, we can see that – despite the legends and the myths – Brigid was celebrated for many reasons:
● She converted to Christianity at great personal cost, giving away her personal and inherited wealth.
● At a young age, she gave her life to God, choosing to serve God and to serve the poor.
● She balanced wisdom and common sense – something most of us find lacking in equal measure, most of the time.
● She was a spiritual guide to both men and women.
● She is known for her humility.
● She served the wider church as the principal pastoral figure in a large geographical area.
● She built the church, laying both the physical and mission foundations.
● She was one of those Celtic saints who insisted that a vital component of the spiritual life is having a soul friend (anam cara).
More than anything else, though, Brigid is known for her hospitality. When the poor and the infirm came to her in their multitudes, she provided for them, tending to the poor, the lowly and the forgotten, living out the Beatitudes. She saw that the needs of the body and the needs of the spirit are inter-twined. And that to me is good enough reason to remember Saint Brigid this morning.
The steeple of Saint Bride’s, Fleet Street, London … inspired the tiered wedding cake (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)The last of the great wandering bards, Antoine Ó Raifteirí (1779-1835), or Raftery the Poet, wrote about the coming of Spring with the coming of Saint Brigid’s Day in words that most Irish schoolchildren can recite:
Anois teacht an earraigh
beidh an lá ag dul chun síneadh,
Is tar éis na féil Bríde
ardóidh mé mo sheol.
Ó chuir mé i mo cheann é
ní chónóidh mé choíche
Go seasfaidh mé síos
i lár Chontae Mhaigh Eo.
I gClár Chlainne Mhuiris
A bheas mé an chéad oíche,
Is i mballa taobh thíos de
A thosóidh mé ag ól.
Go Coillte Mách rachaidh
Go ndéanfadh cuairt mhíosa ann
I bhfogas dhá mhíle
Do Bhéal an Átha Mhóir.
Now at the coming of Spring
the day will be lengthening,
and after Saint Brigid’s Day
I shall raise my sail.
Since I put it into my head
I shall never stay put
until I shall stand down
in the centre of County Mayo.
In Claremorris
I will be the first night,
and in Balla just below it
I will begin to drink.
To Kiltimagh I shall go
until I shall make a month’s visit there
as close as two miles
to Ballinamore.
John 10: 7-16:
7 So again Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. 8 All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. 9 I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture. 10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.
11 ‘I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. 12 The hired hand, who is not the shepherd and does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and runs away – and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. 13 The hired hand runs away because a hired hand does not care for the sheep. 14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, 15 just as the Father knows me and I know the Father. And I lay down my life for the sheep. 16 I have other sheep that do not belong to this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd.’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: White
Penitential Kyries:
O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who trust in him.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Lord ransoms the live of his servants
and none who trust in him will be destroyed.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Come my children, listen to me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Collect:
Father,
by the leadership of your blessed servant Brigid
you strengthened the Church in this land:
As we give you thanks for her life of devoted service,
inspire us with new life and light,
and give us perseverance to serve you all our days;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Introduction to the Peace:
Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all who are yours (I Samuel 25: 6).
Preface:
To this land you sent the glorious gospel
through the preaching of Patrick.
You caused it to grow and flourish in the life of your servant Brigid and in
the lives of men and women, filled with your Holy Spirit,
building up your Church to send forth the good news to other places:
Post Communion Prayer:
God of truth,
whose Wisdom set her table and invited us to eat
the bread and drink the wine of the kingdom.
Help us to lay aside all foolishness
and to live and walk in the way of insight,
that in fellowship with all your saints
we may come to the eternal feast of heaven;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing:
God, who in days of old gave to this land the benediction of his holy Church,
fill you with his grace to walk faithfully in the steps of the saints
and to bring forth fruit to his glory:
Recommended Hymns:
Hosea 6: 1-4:
206, Come, let us to the Lord our God
125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
Psalm 134:
718, O praise the Lord, ye servants of the Lord
719, Praise the Lord, all you servants of the Lord
I John 1: 1-4:
349, Fill thou my life, O Lord my God
324, God, whose almighty word
81, Lord, for the years your love has kept and guided
624, Speak, Lord, in the stillness
343, We love the place, O God
John 10: 7-16:
215, Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended
87, Christ is the world's Light, he and none other
92, How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
421, I come with joy, a child of God
655, Loving Shepherd of your sheep
235, O sacred head, sore wounded
438, O thou, who at thy eucharist didst pray
526, Risen Lord, whose name we cherish
20, The King of love my shepherd is
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
No comments:
Post a Comment