St. Brigid (451-525) is one of Ireland’s patron saints, like St . Patrick. Known for her contribution to the development of Christianity in Ireland, she remains a leading religious figure in both the Catholic and Orthodox faiths in Ireland.
Saint Brigid was born in 451 in the small town of Kildare, in the province of Leinster. His father was a pagan Scottish king who came to live in Ireland after meeting his mother, a Christian slave who was baptized by Saint Patrick.
Saint Brigid soon decided to devote herself entirely to the Christian religion, and built a small, bare farmhouse to serve as both her home and her place of worship. Faced with this decision, other nuns gathered around them, eventually considering her their mother.
Faced with the gathering of other followers of the Christian religion, Saint Brigitte had the idea of founding a double convent, where monks and nuns could practice their religion in complete tranquillity. Devotees flocked from all over Ireland to swell the convent’s ranks, and the town of Kildare gradually gained in influence, eventually becoming an important cultural and religious center.
Saint Brigid died in 525 at Kildara, and her body was then buried in the town of Downpatrick, alongside Saint Patrick and Saint Columcille.
Since then, Irish Catholics and Orthodox commemorate the existence of Saint Brigid every February 1 with a religious ceremony, and visit her grave. A magnificent Gothic cathedral was even built in his hometown in 1223 in his memory.
