SAINT BRIGID
(Saint Brigid of Kildare)
If I had the power I would steal all your royal wealth and give it to Christ’s brothers and sisters.
Her monasteries were organized into male and female sections with monks and nuns respectively—a complete gender reversal of control of religious institutions of the Catholic Church where until modern times females were subservient to males. Remarkably, Brigid controlled both as there was no abbot. She heard confessions, ordained clergy, and may have even celebrated mass. Her first biographer claimed that she had been consecrated a bishop. Bishops were occasionally elected by the people. Brigid was one of the first political advocates of redistribution of wealth.
Saint Brigid of Kildare or Brigid of Ireland (Irish: Naomh Bríd; Latin: Brigida; c. 451 – 525) is one of Ireland's patron saints, along with Patrick and Columba. Irish hagiography makes her an early Irish Christian nun, abbess, and foundress of several monasteries of nuns, including that of Kildare in Ireland, which was famous and was revered. Her feast day is 1 February, which was originally a pagan festival called Imbolc, marking the beginning of spring. Her feast day is shared by Dar Lugdach, who tradition says was her student, close companion, and the woman who succeeded her.
