Brigid of Kildare

Name The saint has the same name as the goddess Brigid, derived from the Proto-Celtic , "high, exalted", and ultimately originating with Proto-Indo-European . In Old Irish, her name was spelled and pronounced . In Modern Irish she is also called . "the Mary of Ireland" and the "Mother Saint of Ireland". A less common name is "Brigid of Faughart", after her traditional birthplace.

Historicity There is debate over whether Brigid was a real person. She has the same name as the Celtic goddess Brigid. Like the saint, the goddess in Irish myth is associated with poetry, healing, protection, smithcraft, and domestic animals, according to Sanas Cormaic and Lebor Gabála Érenn. Furthermore, the saint's feast day falls on the Gaelic traditional festival of Imbolc. Dáithí Ó hÓgáin and others suggest that the saint had been chief druidess at the temple of the goddess Brigid, was responsible for converting it into a Christian monastery, and that the name and characteristics of the goddess later became attached to her.

Life