Tag: Mary of the Gael

St. Brigid and the manger of Bethlehem

St Brigid and the Manger.
Last Saturday, February 1st, we remembered St. Brigid (sometimes spelt, Brigit).
Along with St. Patrick, she was Apostle to Ireland and is credited with him as one who proclaimed the Good News of Jesus Christ to the Irish people.
At that time the links between Ireland and what is now the southern part of Scotland were very strong. So Brigid(t) enjoys a special place in the hearts of both nations.
Her abbey was at Kildare in Ireland and, as in some parts of the Irish Christian tradition, it was a double monastery of both women and men. This practice was  later transferred to Northumbria via  the mission from Iona.

Many stories, traditions, myth and legends grew up around St Brigid, including one that suggests she was ordained Bishop to serve her Irish congregations. There is more evidence than not about this and if true, Brigid would have the honour of possibly being the first Woman Bishop in the Christian Church! That’s a thought for another time but one legend about her was brought to my attention by my dear friend, Heather Upfield, with whom I enjoyed a lovely friendship when we were both in Edinburgh. Her love of what we now call the Celtic spiritual tradition did much to feed and inspire my own love of it.
Earlier this week I received this note from her:

“In the Scottish tradition, St Bride was carried by angels from Iona to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve to be midwife to Mary at the Nativity. She then remained with the Holy Family till Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus to the Temple. In the Candlemass mythology, she walked ahead of them carrying lighted candles, with a crown of lit candles on her head.” 

The painting above by John Duncan, painted in 1913, which is in the National Gallery of Scotland, is inspired by this story. The two angels are carrying the saint between them to Bethlehem.

Wanting to know more, who better to turn to than my friend, Heather? I happened to find an article, by her, on St Brigid which was published in 2017. Here is the part of that which refers to this story.

“In the mythology, St Bride is carried from the Isle of Iona, in the Inner Hebrides, to Bethlehem on Christmas Eve, to be mid-wife to Mary at the birth of Jesus. In the Ghaidlíg, she was known as‘Ban-Chuideachaidh Muire’ ‘knee woman of Mary’, as in the Hebrides, women gave birth on one knee.  Not only is she present at the birth of Jesus, but she also takes on the role of the Foster mother of Jesus – ‘Muime Chroisd’. In the Hebridean tradition, a Foster mother was considered more important than a natural mother. They took the view that any woman could become a mother – and be good or indifferent or bad. But the Foster mother took on the rearing of a child who was not her own, and this gave her greater status. In the eyes of the Hebrideans, therefore, St Bride is more important than St Mary and it is she who is considered the true Mary of the Gaels. A Hebridean prayer during labour was ‘Bride, Bride, Come in. Thy welcome is truly made. Give thou relief to the woman and give thou the conception to the Trinity’.
Following the Nativity, the Church celebrates Candlemas forty days after Christmas. St Bride is closely connected to this Festival. When Mary and Joseph carried the infant Jesus to the Temple, St Bride walked ahead of them. She wore a crown of candles and held a lighted candle in each hand. The flames stayed completely still and were not moved by the wind. In some traditions, Candlemas is known as Feast Day of St Bride of the Candles, and she herself is known as St Bride of Brightness.  The legend of the flames also corresponds with what we know of Oimelc (or Imbolc) as a Fire Festival.” 

[Brighid, St Brigid, St Bride, St Bride of the Isles and Scotland’ 
©Heather Upfield, www.brighid.org.uk/scotland_footprints.html, 16 April 2017.]

A certain caution must be exercised and possibly a suspension of belief in this story. It is part of a folklore which belongs to a people who understand the importance of myth as containing a kernel of truth rather than made-up fiction. Chronologically, of course, it can’t be an historical truth but there is more than one sort of truth, especially where angels are involved! Sometimes we have to move from the human realm to the heavenly to discover a new way of discovering the heart of God. Poetry, art, storytelling and music belong to this realm. Often words fail us in their bareness and logic but spring to life in a new way if we use our communication skills differently.

So the myth of St Brigid’s visit to Bethlehem and the echo of a Candlemass ceremony which is ascribed to St. Lucy in Scandinavia , are wonderful stories about new birth, tenderness, care and light. Bride’s visit to Bethlehem is also a delightful and fun story. Anything that brings a smile to our lives right now can only be good!

Thank you, Heather, for bringing this source of joy to my heart.

[If you wish to know more about the painting by John Duncan, go to the website of the National Gallery of Scotland.
Search for John Duncan and click on to the the very informative podcast]

St Brigid, Mary of the Gaels

Many years ago now, I made a pilgrimage around some of the sacred sites of Ireland. I saw some amazing places and towards the end I visited Kildare which was the holy site associated with St. Brigid.
Together with St. Patrick she is regarded as the Patron Saint of Ireland and was, in fact, baptized by Patrick in about 525AD
Her feast day is February 1st so she is the Saint who brings to a close the Christmas season and points us towards Lent and Easter.
Her festival day coincides with an earlier pagan festival – IMBOLC, the season which marked the coming of light after the dark days of winter.

Once again, the Christian Church displayed ingenuity and common sense in replacing a pagan festival with a Christian one, because Imbolc became the feast of Candlemass, the day when we celebrate Christ as the light of the World – the light which overcomes darkness, or to put it into the words of Simeon’s song, the Nunc Dimittis – the light to lighten the Gentiles (the world).
Brigid was herself a showing forth of Christ’s light in the darkened world of her times.

She was a gentle, caring soul who had a special love of the poor.
Before she became a nun and founded a monastery at Kildare she would regularly give possessions to the poor – not all of them her own! Her father didn’t take kindly to losing some of his goods and he complained to the King when he discovered that his sword was passed on to a leper.
He dragged his daughter before the King who asked her if she intended also to give all his property to the poor as well.
She told the King that if the whole of his kingdom was at her disposal she’d give the lot away!
The King gave her father a new sword on her behalf!
She regularly gave food to people.
Whenever she made butter she divided it into twelve equal pieces in honour of the 12 apostles and a larger lump in honour of the Son of God.

Here also was a clue to why she cared for those in need for she said,

“It was Christ and his Twelve Apostles who proclaimed the Gospel to the peoples of the world and it is in their name that I look after the poor, for Christ is to be found in the person of every faithful poor person.”

She believed it was her duty as Christ’s servant to lead people over the dangerous bridge of this life to the gleaming country of heaven.

This was the heart of her faith.  Brigid was a bridge between this world and the world of heaven. As such it is fitting that she occupies that point in the Christian Calendar which turns our thoughts and prayers from Christmas to Easter – from the wonderful joy of God coming to be amongst us in the Incarnation, saving us and the world from within to the completion of that salvation in the Glory of the Cross and through the Crucifixion.

An illustration of this bridging of the world by Manger and Cross, is through the Cross that is called after her – St. Brigid’s Cross.
It is said that it saw the light of day because, when  a pagan chief from the neighbourhood of Kildare lay dying, he sent for Brigid to come and to talk to him about Jesus.
By the time she got there, he was delirious and raving with fever. It was impossible to talk to her nor could she instruct him about Christ. Instead, she sat by his bed and gave him comfort.
As was usual, the floor was strewn with rushes for warmth and cleanliness. Brigid picked some  up and began to weave them into a cross as she talked.
His delirium quietened and he was able to ask her what she was doing. As she talked, she gently explained about Jesus, his Cross and the salvation he brought.
In that quiet moment, handing him the little cross she moved him gently from earth to heaven as she baptized him at the point of his death.
And to help her do it, she had taken symbolically, some strands of the Manger and turned it into the sign of the Cross – the Saving Sign.
The straw of the Manger and the wood of the Cross.

God uses what he finds and through the simplicity of nature and the ordinariness of our lives, as with Brigid, He moulds consecrated vessels to contain His grace so that He can touch others.
So it was with Brigid and it can be so for us.

High Cross, detail. Kildare churchyard

Brigid

You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness. You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,
and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.
Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us. Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit.

Amen.

a traditional Irish prayer about St Brigid.