Draft:Brigid of Kildare
Brigid | |
|---|---|
 Saint Brigid of Ireland in stained glass at St Mary of the Rosary Church in Cong, Ireland | |
| Virgin | |
| Born | c. 451 Faughart, Gaelic Ireland |
| Died | c. 525 Kildare, Kingdom of Leinster, Ireland |
| Venerated in | Catholic Church Anglican Communion |
| Feast | 1 February (Imbolc) |
| Attributes | Brigid's cross; crozier of an abbess; flames or lamp; cow or geese[1] |
| Patronage | Kildare; Ireland; healers; poets; blacksmiths; livestock and dairy workers[1] |
Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland (Irish: Naomh Bríd; Classical Irish: Brighid; Latin: Brigida; c. 451 – c. 525) is the patroness saint (or 'mother saint') of Ireland, and one of its three national saints along with Patrick and Columba. According to medieval Irish hagiographies, she was an abbess who founded the important abbey of Kildare (Cill Dara),[2] as well as several other convents of nuns.
References
[edit]- 1 2 Farmer, David. The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (Fifth Edition, Revised). Oxford University Press, 2011. pp.66–67, 467–470.
- ↑ Jestice, Phyllis G. (2004). Holy People of the World: A Cross-Cultural Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 140–. ISBN 9781576073551. Retrieved 1 February 2013.
Brigid of Ireland, or of Kildare, has been venerated since the early Middle Ages, along with Patrick and Columba, as one of the three national Christian patron saints of Ireland. 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. Certainly, by the 7th century, there was an important double monastery at Kildare that regarded her as its founder.