Our Friends in High Places

St. Brigid of Ireland

Feast Day: February 1

Everybody’s heard about or possibly read the widely popular Harry Potter books. They purportedly tell a tale of magic in the setting of Hogwarts School of Wizardry. Well, hogwash to Hogwarts! Any true ‘magic’ expressed in our world derives only from the miraculous powers of God. And there’s no better place to learn about such heavenly expressions than the school of the saints.

Brigid of Ireland is one saint about whom many miraculous stories are told. It is believed that she was born in County Kildare in the year 457. Also known as Mary of the Gael, Brigid is the most prominent Irish saint after St Patrick.

Slavery was common in her time, and Brigid’s mother was sold to a Druid man named Dubtach. Brigid assisted her mother as she tended the dairy farm for this landowner. Brigid believed God was generous and abundance was the natural order of His world. So one day she gave the dairy’s whole supply of butter away to a passing poor family. She then confidently prayed for it to be replenished and it was miraculously restored.

A beautiful, charming and quick-witted girl, Brigid had many suitors from which to choose. To avoid the attentions of such young men, she prayed that her beauty be no longer visible until the suitors went away. Her original appearance was restored only after she made her religious vows.

After Brigid decided to form her first monastery for monks and nuns at Kildare, she had to ask the King for a donation of much coveted land near the River Liffey. Surprisingly, she told the King she wanted only as much land as she could cover with her cloak. This seemingly absurd request was immediately granted. Her cloak then miraculously spread gently and continuously over 12 miles of the nearby Curragh grasslands.

Brigid fearlessly traveled throughout Ireland by chariot to further St. Patrick’s momentums of pagan conversion. Many healing miracles across the land are credited to her, such as restoring speech to the mute and curing lepers. Legend has it that on occasions of need she was also able to transform substances such as stone into salt and water into ale.

So if we want to bring a sense of true wonder and magical expectation into our lives, why not look to saints like Brigid for inspiration?