Brigid is honoured on 1 February in the calendars of the
Catholic Church in Ireland, as well as the
Anglican Church of Ireland,
Church of England, and
Episcopal Church. She is a patroness saint of Ireland (and one of its three national saints), as well as of healers, poets, blacksmiths, livestock and dairy workers, among others. In the late 12th century,
Gerald of Wales wrote that nineteen nuns took turns keeping a
perpetual fire burning at Kildare in honour of Brigid, and that this fire had been burning since Brigid's time. The customs of Saint Brigid's Day did not begin to be recorded in detail until the early modern era.
Brigid's crosses are traditionally made on her feast day. These are three- or four-armed crosses woven from
rushes. They are hung over doors and windows for protection against fire, lightning, illness and evil spirits. On St Brigid's Eve, Brigid was said to visit virtuous households and bless the inhabitants.
Holy wells Holy wells are often visited on St Brigid's Day, especially those wells dedicated to her.''' and along with St Patrick and
St Mary is one of the saints with the most holy wells dedicated to her. Holy wells are sites of
pilgrimage for some
Irish Catholics, who come to give thanks or pray to the wells' patron saints. Visitors sometimes leave tokens, such as religious medals or
prayer cards, and some take holy well water with them. Most holy wells are said to be able to cure various conditions and diseases, with some exceptions such as St Brigid's Well in
Brideswell, which is said to aid with fertility. that is the
Igreja de São Roque (Church of St Roch), where a frontal part of her skull is still venerated. According to the local tradition of the latter church, St. Brigid's head would have been carried to
King Dinis of Portugal in 1283 by three Irish knights travelling to the
Aragonese Crusade. A commemorative inscription on the northern façade of the church, in 16th-century characters, reads: "Here in these three tombs lie the three Irish knights who brought the head of St. Brigid, Virgin, a native of Ireland, whose relic is preserved in this chapel. In memory of which, the officials of the Altar of the same Saint caused this to be done in January AD 1283." It is in fact only from the mid-16th century onwards that this church assumed the invocation of Saint Brígida when a new side chapel was built and dedicated to her. In 1884,
Francis Cardinal Moran,
Archbishop of Sydney, obtained a relic of the saint's tooth from the parochial church of
St. Martin of Tours in
Cologne in the
German Empire and gave it to the Brigidine Sisters in
Melbourne.
Cardinal Moran wrote about the circumstances in which he obtained the tooth in a letter to the Reverend Mother of this Convent dated 13 March 1906: In 1905, Sister Mary Agnes of the
Dundalk Convent of Mercy took a purported fragment of the skull to St. Bridget's Church in Kilcurry. In 1928, Fathers Timothy Traynor and James McCarroll requested another fragment for St. Brigid's Church in
Killester, a request granted by the
Bishop of Lisbon,
António Mendes Belo. The city of
Armagh had several associations with St. Brigid. In the twelfth century, the city had two crosses dedicated to Brigid, though, according to the
Monasticon Hibernicum, purported relics of the saint reposing in Armagh were lost in an accidental fire in 1179. In the seventeenth century, Armagh also had a street named Brigid located near Brigid's church in the area called "Brigid's Ward." The
Old Saint Peter's Church, Strasbourg contains also (unspecified) relics of St. Brigid, brought by the canons of St. Michael in 1398 when they were forced to leave their submerged
abbey of Honau-Rheinau, itself founded by Irish monks.
Iconography In liturgical iconography and statuary, Saint Brigid is often depicted holding a
Cross of Saint Brigid, a
crozier of the sort used by
abbots, and a lamp. Early hagiographers portray Brigid's life and ministry as touched with fire. According to
Patrick Weston Joyce, tradition holds that nuns at her monastery kept an eternal flame burning there. She is also often depicted with a cow, or sometimes geese. Plant motifs associated with St. Brigid include the white
Lilium candidum popularly known since medieval times as the Madonna Lily for its association with the
Virgin Mary, and the Windflower
Anemone coronaria, called the "Brigid anemone" since the early 19th century.
Heleborus niger augustifolius is also known as the "St. Brigid's Christmas Rose". Kildare, the church of the oak
Quercus petraea, is associated with a tree sacred to the
druids.
Placenames Ireland Kilbride ("Church of Brigid") is one of Ireland's most widely found placenames, there are 45 Kilbrides located in 19 of Ireland's 32 counties: Antrim (2), Carlow, Cavan, Down, Dublin, Galway, Kildare, Kilkenny (3), Laois, Longford, Louth, Mayo (5), Meath (4), Offaly (4), Roscommon (2), Waterford, Westmeath (2), Wexford (4), and Wicklow (8) as well as two Kilbreedys in Tipperary, Kilbreedia and Toberbreeda in Clare, Toberbreedia in Kilkenny, Brideswell Commons in Dublin, Bridestown and Templebreedy in Cork and Rathbride and Brideschurch in Kildare. A number of placenames are derived from
Cnoic Bhríde ("Brigid's Hill"), such as
Knockbridge in Louth and
Knockbride in Cavan.
Wales There are many traditions associating the saint with Wales, with dedications and folklore found across the country. As such, villages are often named for either a church or "
Llan" associated with Bridget. These include the village, castle and parish of
St Brides in
Pembrokeshire (near
St Brides Bay), the churches and villages of
St. Brides-super-Ely and
St Brides Major in the
Vale of Glamorgan, the church and village of
St. Brides Netherwent in
Monmouthshire and the church of
St Brides, in
Newport, the village of
Llansanffraid Glan Conwy in Conwy,
Llansantffraid in Ceredigion, and the villages of
Llansantffraid-ym-Mechain and
Llansantffraed in
Powys.
Scotland In Scotland,
East Kilbride and
West Kilbride are called after Brigid.
Lhanbryde, near
Elgin,
Scotland is thought to be Pictish for "Church of Brigid". In Toryglen, on Glasgow's southside, there is St. Brigid's RC parish. In
Hebridean mythology and folklore, one of the most prominent figures featured in
ethnomusicologist Margaret Fay Shaw's iconic 1955 book
Folksongs and Folklore of South Uist is St Brigid of Kildare, about whom many local stories, songs, and customs are recorded.
England In
Fleet Street,
City of London stands
St Bride's Church, substantially rebuilt since its foundation in the 600s (7th century).
Isle of Man In the
Isle of Man, where the first name "Breeshey", the
Manx form of the name is common, the parish of
Bride is named after the saint.
Elsewhere • In the United States, in
Marshall County, Kansas, is the unincorporated community (or township) St. Bridget, described by some accounts as an extinct town. •
St. Bride's, Newfoundland and Labrador, at the southwest tip of the
Avalon Peninsula, is named for St. Brigid, reflecting historical ties to southeastern Ireland •
St. Brigid Island in
Antarctica is named after Brigid of Kildare. •
Bierstadt, Germany, a borough of Wiesbaden, was originally named Birgidstadt, after the saint's name in German, Brigida von Kildare. • In Argentina there are many locations that pay homage to Santa Brigida. Also, one of the biggest schools in Buenos Aires is the St. Brigid School next to Ireland Square in the Caballito Neighborhood, one of the popular destinations for Irish immigrants to the country.
Other St. Brigid's popularity made the name Brigid (and variants, e.g., Brigitte, Bridie, and Bree) popular in Ireland over the centuries. One writer noted that at one time in history "every Irish family had a Patrick and a Brigid". In
Haitian Vodou, Saint Brigid (along with the goddess Brigid and
Mary Magdalene) is
worshipped as the death loa
Maman Brigitte, the consort of
Baron Samedi.
Links with Glastonbury St. Brigid has long been linked to
Glastonbury. Sites that depict her include
Glastonbury Tor, where a stone carving of her milking a cow can be seen above one side of the entrance. She also appears in a fresco painting that adorns the interior of
St. Patrick's Chapel on the grounds of
Glastonbury Abbey depicting the saint with a spindle, a bowl of fire, and a cow in the background. It is also documented by
William of Malmesbury that ‘Wherefore the report is extremely prevalent that both Saint Indract and Saint Brigid, no mean inhabitants of Ireland, formerly came over to this spot. Whether Brigid returned home or died at Glastonbury is not sufficiently ascertained, though she left here some of her ornaments; that is to say, her necklace, bag, and implements for embroidering, which are yet shown in memory of her sanctity, and are efficacious in curing divers diseases.’ The Benedictine Monk
John of Glastonbury wrote in the mid-fourteenth century that the chapel which was excavated in
Beckery was named after her; 'Saint Brigid made a stay of several years on an island near Glastonbury, called Bekery or Little Ireland, where there was an oratory consecrated in honour of Saint Mary Magdalene. She left there certain signs of her presence—her wallet, collar, bell, and weaving implements, which are exhibited and honoured there because of her holy memory—and she returned to Ireland, where, not much later, she rested in the Lord and was buried in the city of Down. The chapel on that island is now dedicated in honour of Saint Brigid; on its south side there is an opening through which, according to the belief of the common folk, anyone who passes will receive forgiveness of all his sins.’ ==In popular culture==