The Life
Who She Was Brigid of Kildare is the most beloved of the Irish female saints -- venerated as the Mary of the Gaels -- and one of the three patron saints of Ireland alongside Patrick and Columba. She was born around 451 AD, the daughter of a king and a Christian slave woman, and consecrated her life to God as a young woman despite family pressure to marry. She founded the great double monastery of Kildare -- a community for both men and women under her abbacy -- which became the most influential religious center in Leinster and one of the greatest seats of learning and charity in early medieval Ireland. The stories told about her are almost all stories about radical generosity: she gave away whatever she had, whatever was in the monastery's stores, whatever anyone needed. When told that she had given away her father's sword, she showed no concern. When the dairy cows produced butter that she had already distributed, she asked for more. The tradition's point: what looked like imprudent generosity was actually a participation in divine abundance -- the same logic as the multiplication of loaves, the wine at Cana, the oil that did not run out in the widow's jar. Her feast on February 1 marks the beginning of spring in the Irish calendar.