Is Brigid a Timely Saint in 2025?

 Happy Imbolc! I'm fairly sure you didn't see that greeting coming and I'll be the only person you know to offer it today. Imbolc is a Celtic celebration roughly marking the halfway point between the winter solstice and the spring equinox. It supposedly signifies the beginning of spring and lambing season which shows you that spring arrives at a very different time in Ireland. Imbolc is now a national holiday in Ireland where it's also known as Saint Brigid's Day.

I've written about Brigid before because her lore is fascinating. There is a Brigid who was a pagan goddess and then there is the saint, one of three patron saints in Ireland along with Patrick and Columcille (Columba). Were these two Brigids the same person with the pagan transformed into a Christian by the church? Who knows, although there is no shortage of Brigids in the history of Ireland. 

I like that the Christian Brigid of Kildare was an independent soul, an abbess of renown who may have been a bishop, beyond the sphere of Rome's patriarchy. Both of them are associated with blacksmiths, cattle, and an eternal flame. This is also Candlemass in Roman Catholic tradition, the day when candles to be used in the coming year were brought to a priest to be blessed. The scriptorium at Kildare was said to have produced an exquisitely decorated gospel book, an illuminated manuscript, which fits the theme of light. 

A 16th-century fresco by Lorenzo Lotto showing Brigid turning water into beer (left) and healing a blind man (right) -- a saint and a multi-tasker!

Brigid was also known for her compassion toward the poor and the sick, as well as providing sanctuary for those fleeing violence. We need more Brigid's in our world these days. 

I would be remiss in failing to mention that daughter Jocelyn celebrates her birthday today, always cause for celebration in our famly. 

Given that Dry January has just come to an end this might not be the time to share a portion of a poem attributed to St. Brigid that is a cheerful and well lubricated imagining of heaven, but here goes:

I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings. I would like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity. I'd like to give a lake of beer to God. I'd love the Heavenly Host to be tippling there For all eternity. I'd love the men of Heaven to live with me, To dance and sing. If they wanted, I'd put at their disposal Vats of suffering. White cups of love I'd give them, With a heart and a half; Sweet pitchers of mercy I'd offer To every man. I'd make Heaven a cheerful spot, Because the happy heart is true. I'd make the men contented for their own sake I'd like Jesus to love me too. I'd like the people of heaven to gather From all the parishes around, I'd give a special welcome to the women, The three Marys of great renown. I'd sit with the men, the women of God There by the lake of beer We'd be drinking good health forever And every drop would be a prayer.