Friday, February 1, 2008

St. Brigid of Ireland




"I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us. I would like an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of charity. I would like rich treasures of mercy. I would like cheerfulness to preside over all. I would like Jesus to be present. I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts. I would like myself to be a rent payer to the Lord; that I should suffer distress, that he would bestow a good blessing upon me. 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." -Saint Brigid



Daughter of a pagan king, Brigid (453-523) became a slave in her father's household. And her Christian mother was sold as a slave to another pagan in a farm. Brigid always wished to please God, and often forgot that she was her father's slave, and acted as his daughter. She always gave away food to the hungry, and gave away her father's possesions, never forgetting the time when she once heard St. Patrick preach. She even once gave away her father's jeweled sword to a leper, and when her father protested against all her charitable acts, she answered, "Christ dwelt in every creature."



It wasn't long after that before he was finally tired with her deeds of giving away his posessions to the poor. Brigid's father reported to the king, who was also a Christian, about what she was doing. The king ended the conversation saying, "Her merit before God is greater than ours." Brigid's father then decided to solve the problem by freeing her.



Sometime later, Brigid asked her father if she could visit her mother. Although her father said no, she went anyway, having stubborness like her father. There at the farm she would help her mother in her duties assisting in the dairy. So she left her father, bringing only what she really needed, her generosity. Once she got there she started to give the butter, milk, and cream "to God" to the poor people who arrived daily. God rewarded her by keeping the dairy stocked with butter and milk. Her mother and her master were amazed! In gratitude, the owner of Brigid's mother decided to free her. Later, he was converted to Christianity.



pic and quote from here, and the info came from the book, Fifty-Seven Saints, by Eillen Hefferman FSP

3 comments:

the mother of this lot said...

My dad was from Kildare, where St. Bridget lived, and she was his favourite saint, along with St. Patrick, of course!

He used to tell me a story about her. She went to an important landowner to ask if she could have some land to build a church. He laughed at her and said she could have as much land as her cloak covered when she laid it on the ground. When she did so, her cloak grew bigger and bigger until it covered enough land to build the church. They called the place 'Cill Dara' (Kildare) which means 'church of the oak tree'.

Akalei said...

Thanks for visiting and leaving a comment! :-)
Wow...I didn't know that story! :-D Thats very nice to know that your father was from Kildare!!
God bless!! :-D

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the information. I am using her as my saint for confirmation and I had to do a report on her. She is an amazing role model. I hope everyone can learn from her work.