The Real St. Brigid, "the Mary of the Gael"

Today is the feast day of one of Ireland's patrons, St. Brigid, 451-525. Now, since I have been in Eire, I have discovered some craziness among certain groups of Catholics and lapsed Catholics, who have become infected with the virus of New Age nonsense. Many ideas floating around this great Saint Brigid have become more popular than her real person, who in her own right without the help of New Age myth-makers, was a great leader, abbess of double monastery, (like my patron here, St. Etheldreda), and a holy woman of God.

So, now, in 2012, St. Brigid is being hailed as, (get ready), a feminist, a goddess of the Celts, the first woman priest of Eire, and a bishop, among other things. Why the pagans have captured the story of this woman, who founded the greatest monastery in Eire, Kildare, remains a mystery only clear within the Celtic talent for story, and the mixing of truth and fiction. St. Brigid was famous throughout Europe early on for her own accomplishments and love of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. A good place to start real research is found here. These strong women of the early Church in Ireland and Great Britain, such as Ss. Brigid and Etheldreda, deserve our respect for who they really were, not for our modern, political, and even silly interpretations. St. Brigid stands above all us women here in Ireland, and does not need revisionists to cloud her many achievements for Christ and His Church. But, that is the impetus of New Age cults, to take what is good and separate such things as saints and angels from the Church, so that the members can have "religion" without ethics or dogma. Neat, but deadly for the soul.