St Brigid - Patron Saint of the Irish Chaplaincy

Here are some prayers and reflections on St Brigid our Patron Saint

Prayers and music for Irish Chaplaincy service held at St Bride's Church, 2024

St Brigid's Prayer

You were a woman of peace.
You brought harmony where there was conflict.
You brought light to the darkness. You brought hope to the downcast.
May the mantle of your peace cover those who are troubled and anxious,
and may peace be firmly rooted in our hearts and in our world.

Inspire us to act justly and to reverence all God has made.
Brigid you were a voice for the wounded and the weary.
Strengthen what is weak within us. Calm us into a quietness that heals and listens.
May we grow each day into greater wholeness in mind, body and spirit. Amen

(author unknown)

St Brigid: A Saint For Our Times by Fr Gerry McFlynn

When the Irish Chaplaincy decided to adopt St Brigid as its patron saint back in 2011, the choice was well made. Some people wondered about the wisdom of adopting a saint from so far back in time, but in truth, the decision could not have been better. Brigid of Kildare ("Mary of the Gael") may have lived in the fifth century, but she was a woman well ahead of her time. Far from being a figure consigned to folklore, she emerges as someone who has much to say to us today about such contemporary issues as church governance, work for peace and justice, gender equality, care for the earth, as well as the contemplative life.

The bare facts of her life are soon told. She was born near Dundalk, Co Louth, in 452, the daughter of parents who were baptised by St Patrick with whom she developed a close friendship. Despite receiving many offers of marriage, she became a nun and with seven others settled at Croghan Hill in Co Meath… Full reflection here

St Brigid and the Beer by Eddie Gilmore

There are always new stories coming to light about St Brigid and I especially enjoyed the one about the beer!

I heard again on Lá Fhéile Bríde some of the more familiar tales. How she asked her father, a pagan chieftain of Leinster, to give her land in Kildare on which to build a convent. And how he replied that he would give her as much land as her cloak could cover, upon which her cloak spread out to cover acres of land. On another occasion, she gave her father's precious sword to a poor man so that he could barter it for food to feed his family.

It was on the land covered by her cloak that Brigid founded not just a convent but a double monastery, one for women the other for men, and ruled over both as Abbess. And she took her full share of the manual work of the monastery. She miked the cows, shepherded the sheep, helped with the harvest, and made large quantities of butter which she would give to the poor. She was also an expert brewer of ale and legend has it that when she working in a leper colony she was horrified to discover that they had run out of beer… Full reflection here

Reflection given by Pat Gaffney, St Brigid's Feast 2023

A while ago I came across a poem entitled Our Future Will Become the Past of Other Women: that was written to commemorate Irish women winning the vote in December 1918. It is by the late Eavan Boland an Irish poet and author. I want to share part of it now. And while it is about women in Ireland, as you listen, let it conjure up the women in your own life… Full text here