Although Brigid is probably the best known Irish saint after Patrick, her life cannot be documented with much certainty. Cogitosus's Life of Brigid was written not much more than a century after her death, but he was mainly concerned with recounting her many miracles. She may have been born in Co. Kildare, c. 457, but local tradition suggests Faughart, Co. Louth. Her parents, Dubtach and Brocseach, may both have belonged to noble families, though one account suggests that Brigid's mother was a slave in Dubtach's household. It is generally accepted that Brocseach was a Christian. Dubtach may also have been one, or perhaps converted from paganism in later life. Brigid was noted for her generosity to the poor, and as a child once gave away her mother's whole store of butter. Fortunately her prayers were answered, and the store of butter was miraculously renewed.

Her father may well have welcomed her decision to take the veil, once she had rejected his choice of a husband for her. With seven other young women robed in white, she took her vows before Saint Mel, the abbot and bishop of Longford, and it is said that he mistakenly consecrated her a bishop. When seeking land for her community, she asked the King of Leinster only for as much as her cloak would cover. The cloak miraculously spread over the whole of the Curragh, an area of grassland famous then and now for horse racing.

In Ireland Christianity did not supplant paganism so much as superimpose itself on Celtic tradition. Sites of pagan worship or superstition quickly became associated with Christian worship and belief. Brigid's feast day, for example, falls on 1 February, the date of Imbolg, the pagan festival of spring. Significantly Brigid was also the name of a pagan goddess, and even seems to have been used as a general name for Irish goddesses, for the name means "exalted one". The attributes of the pagan Brigid, such as healing powers, learning and poetic skill, were readily perceived in the saint who established a convent at Kildare. The name Kildare means "church of the oak", and there was probably a pagan sanctuary there with a sacred fire which burned for centuries into the Christian era. By the time of Brigid's death, c. 5 25, Kildare had become an important centre of learning.

The saint travelled by chariot throughout Ireland, carrying on Patrick's work of conversion, but there is no evidence that they ever met. Many miracles of healing are attributed to Brigid, such as curing Iepers and giving speech to the dumb. There are tales of her turning water into ale or stone into salt, and many concern her rapport with animals. She also negotiated the release of captives. Perhaps the best known story is of her visit to a dying pagan chieftain. While she prayed, she plaited rushes into a cross. Thc chieftain heard her account of the cross as a Christian symbol, and was converted and baptised before he died. It is still customary on 1 February to plait Saint Brigid's Crosses, in the hope that they will protect a household in the year ahead.

Brigid has been called "Mary of the Gaels" and a common salutation in the Irish language expresses the hope that "Brigid and Mary be with you". Her influence is not confined to Ireland, however, for she has been revered throughout the ages in innumerable countries. One legend is that the medieval Knights of Chivalry chose Saint Brigid as their patroness, and that it was they who first chose to call their wives "brides".

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The following text is from the Introduction to a new book on the saint from Appletree Press, written by Anna Egan Smucker: The Life of St Brigid.

The first of February, the first day of the Irish spring, is celebrated as St Brigid's Feast Day. Who was this woman who, along with Patrick and Columcille, is one of the three great patron saints of Ireland? Legends of the saint tell of an extraordinary woman who lived in the fifth and sixth centuries at the very beginning of Christianity in Ireland. She was a healer of the sick, a counsellor of bishops, and a peacemaker in a violent time. She was the founder of a renowned monastery - Cill Dara (Church of the Oak) on the Hill of Kildare. Above all, she was merciful to the poor.

February 1st was also the time of the pre-Christian Celtic celebration of Imbolc, when seeds were sown and lambs were born. It is not surprising that underlying, and often mixing with the legends of the saint, is another story - the story of a goddess who had the same name. Brigid, the triple goddess, was goddess of poetry, smith-work, and healing; and goddess of nurturing, fertility, and fire.

The legends of the saint are infused with stories of the goddess and it is impossible to separate one from the other. The recounting of signs and wonders in the story of St Brigid has its own kind of truth, deeper than the literal. Perhaps it is not too great a stretch to imagine that the goddess would be pleased with her namesake who saw the face of God in all those in need and who held the earth and all its creatures sacred.

From the Appletree Press title: A Little Book of Celtic Saints.