KILDARE, Ireland — St. Patrick has long received the attention and the big parades, but another patron saint of Ireland is making a 21st century comeback.
St. Brigid of Kildare, a younger contemporary of St. Patrick, is quietly and steadily gaining a following, in Ireland and abroad. Devotees see Brigid, and the ancient Irish goddess whose name and attributes she shares, as emblematic of feminine spirituality and empowerment.
Peter Morrison – stringer, AP
For the first time this year, Ireland is observing a public holiday in honor of St. Brigid’s Day and Imbolc, an ancient pagan holy day associated with the goddess Brigid and heralding the coming of spring. The official holiday is Monday, but celebrations began in earnest this week.
The holiday designation, the first honoring a woman in Ireland, comes 120 years after St. Patrick got his holiday.
“The legacy of St. Brigid and its relevance for our world today is not about going back to the fifth century and staying there, but looking at the needs of the world today,” said Sister Rita Minehan, a Roman Catholic sister and one of the founders of Solas Bhride, a center that opened here in 2015 to welcome pilgrims and foster the spirituality inspired by Brigid.
“Does Brigid have something to say to us today?” said Minehan. “We believe she does.”
Some are calling Brigid the “matron saint” of Ireland.
Peter Morrison – stringer, AP
She is seen as embodying women’s empowerment, environmental care and peacemaking in an Ireland that is increasingly casting off traditional forms of Catholicism.
“I think Ireland is ready to celebrate our women and our goddess and our saint,” said Melanie Lynch, founder and CEO of Herstory, which advocated for the holiday. The organization uses arts and education programs to celebrate female exemplars. “You’re talking about a great role model for young girls.”
Peter Morrison – stringer, AP
Herstory has been sponsoring celebrations around Ireland in recent days — complete with fire dances and light shows — and a traveling exhibit highlighting women peacemakers in Northern Ireland.
The holy day also starts the countdown to the 1,500th anniversary of Brigid’s death in 2024. The coming year will include a conference and other events marking the milestone.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
The National Retail Federation estimates that more than half of all Americans will join in the festivities this St. Patrick's Day—55%, to be exact. Predictably, young people lead the charge, with 72% of 18- to 34-year-olds planning to revel on March 17. About 63% of 35- to 54-year-olds will join the party, and all but 42% of those ages 55 and older will stay home.
The National Retail Federation estimates that more than half of all Americans will join in the festivities this St. Patrick's Day—55%, to be exact. Predictably, young people lead the charge, with 72% of 18- to 34-year-olds planning to revel on March 17. About 63% of 35- to 54-year-olds will join the party, and all but 42% of those ages 55 and older will stay home.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
The average participant will spend about $40.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
The most common way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day by far is to rock the green. About 81% of Americans will wear green on March 17, a number that has changed little over the last decade.
The most common way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day by far is to rock the green. About 81% of Americans will wear green on March 17, a number that has changed little over the last decade.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
It turns out that the holiday's rep for booze-soaked debauchery is, in large part, earned. St. Patrick's Day is the #4 biggest drinking day of the year in America. New Year's Eve tops the list, with Christmas and July 4 coming in as close runners-up.
It turns out that the holiday's rep for booze-soaked debauchery is, in large part, earned. St. Patrick's Day is the #4 biggest drinking day of the year in America. New Year's Eve tops the list, with Christmas and July 4 coming in as close runners-up.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
If St. Patrick's Day had an official beer, it would have to be Guinness—it is, after all, the most popular beer in Ireland. In 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on a dilapidated property at St. James Gate in Dublin, Ireland, and began brewing ale. A decade later in 1769, six-and-a-half barrels set sail for England, the first batch ever to leave the Emerald Isle. Guinness would go onto become one of the most successful beers in the world and the one most closely associated with Ireland.
If St. Patrick's Day had an official beer, it would have to be Guinness—it is, after all, the most popular beer in Ireland. In 1759, Arthur Guinness signed a 9,000-year lease on a dilapidated property at St. James Gate in Dublin, Ireland, and began brewing ale. A decade later in 1769, six-and-a-half barrels set sail for England, the first batch ever to leave the Emerald Isle. Guinness would go onto become one of the most successful beers in the world and the one most closely associated with Ireland.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
With the exception of potatoes, cabbage is more closely associated with Irish cuisine than just about any other food—and it seems that a head is in every American kitchen on St. Patrick's Day. Like the potato, cabbage entered the Irish diet out of necessity. Potatoes were the only crop that poor Irish farmers could grow enough of to survive under the tenant farming system, which since the 1600s had forced millions of poor Irish farmers to toil for British landowners in their own country. When the potato crop failed, the Irish turned to the only other readily available source of food at their disposal—cabbage.
With the exception of potatoes, cabbage is more closely associated with Irish cuisine than just about any other food—and it seems that a head is in every American kitchen on St. Patrick's Day. Like the potato, cabbage entered the Irish diet out of necessity. Potatoes were the only crop that poor Irish farmers could grow enough of to survive under the tenant farming system, which since the 1600s had forced millions of poor Irish farmers to toil for British landowners in their own country. When the potato crop failed, the Irish turned to the only other readily available source of food at their disposal—cabbage.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
It is not Boston, but Chicago that lays claim to what is one of the most grandiose and famous St. Patrick's Day traditions in the world. Every year since 1962, the city has dyed the Chicago River bright green in honor of the Emerald Isle's most celebrated saint.
It is not Boston, but Chicago that lays claim to what is one of the most grandiose and famous St. Patrick's Day traditions in the world. Every year since 1962, the city has dyed the Chicago River bright green in honor of the Emerald Isle's most celebrated saint.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
On March 17, 1732, Irishmen celebrated St. Patrick's Day on American soil for the first time in history. That soil, fittingly, was in Boston. The day was marked by the first St. Patrick's Day Parade, as well, but that parade was not officially sanctioned.
On March 17, 1732, Irishmen celebrated St. Patrick's Day on American soil for the first time in history. That soil, fittingly, was in Boston. The day was marked by the first St. Patrick's Day Parade, as well, but that parade was not officially sanctioned.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
Fairly or otherwise, St. Patrick's Day is synonymous with Guinness, shots, and overflowing bars—in America, that is. From 1903 to 1970 in Ireland, however, no one had a sip on St. Patrick's Day that they didn't have to sneak. Drinking was banned, and pubs were ordered closed by the Irish government, which declared March 17 a religious holiday.
Fairly or otherwise, St. Patrick's Day is synonymous with Guinness, shots, and overflowing bars—in America, that is. From 1903 to 1970 in Ireland, however, no one had a sip on St. Patrick's Day that they didn't have to sneak. Drinking was banned, and pubs were ordered closed by the Irish government, which declared March 17 a religious holiday.
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St. Brigid, the compassionate, sensible female patron saint of Ireland, gets a lot less recognition than St. Patrick
In each state, 20 percent of residents have Irish ancestry.
Data from Stacker and WalletHub.
“St Patrick’s Day is obviously iconic around the world,” said the Rev. Philip McKinley, curate of St. Brigid’s Cathedral, an Anglican church that was a derelict medieval ruin until restored in the 19th century. “But now St. Brigid offers this whole new dynamic. She’s a very, very modern saint that speaks to the really cutting-edge issues of our day — gender equality, environmental issues, social care, poverty, peacemaking.”
He said pilgrims come to walk on the ground where Brigid walked and founded an earlier wooden sanctuary — a “church of the oak,” or “cill dara” in Irish, giving the name Kildare to this town where she was a prominent abbess of a monastic settlement of men and women.
Peter Morrison – stringer, AP
On Tuesday evening, to the backdrop of traditional Irish music played on a concertina and tin whistle, about 150 people gathered around a fire pit and a display of candles in a darkened parking lot in Kildare.
Many came from the surrounding area, others from as far as Italy and the United States, to mark the eve of the feast day.
The devotees processed quietly in the dark, some holding lanterns, past a candlelit holy well associated with Brigid. They walked through a light rain up a country road, past the curious stares of horses here in Ireland’s thoroughbred heartland.
The pilgrims concluded their walk at Solas Bhride (Irish for “light of Brigid”), where they gathered in a circle for prayers for peace, for the environment, for immigrants.
All this is honoring a saint about whom no biography was written until two centuries after her lifetime, yet who was long honored as “Mary of the Gael.”
Brigid’s father is said to have been a ruler, her mother enslaved. Brigid likely was named for the goddess venerated by ancient Irish and other Celts.
Peter Morrison – stringer, AP
Legends associate St. Brigid with healing, fertility, care for living things and peacemaking, according to Lisa Bitel, professor of religion and history at the University of Southern California.
Brigid’s moment is happening as many Irish are rejecting traditional Roman Catholicism amid fallout over cover-ups of sexual abuse and other scandals, and are seeking alternatives to patriarchal structures.
“The whole disenchantment with the Catholic Church, the slow seep of women’s rights into Irish society, the idea that you have religious choices — all these things are combining with other factors to give her renewed importance,” Bitel said.
Two churches in Kildare bear Brigid’s name, a Catholic parish and the Anglican cathedral. They honored the saint with a joint service Wednesday.
“There’s something in the whole St. Brigid’s story that’s tapped into people’s imagination and search for spirituality, and there’s great energy there,” said the Rev. Andy Leahy of St. Brigid’s Parish Church. “There’s great energy there.”
