Abstract
This account of Brigid of Kildare, one of Ireland’s best-known saints, is an ambitious attempt to present a comprehensive account of her history from the earliest times to the present day. While its stated aim is a book for the general reader, the result far exceeds this insofar as it draws on a wealth of primary sources from hagiography, political and social history, archaeology, liturgy, and folklore, and engages in discussion of many aspects of her cult, which are more usually the preserve of the specialist. In this respect, and others, it is thus a very generous book, which makes scholarly materials accessible in an engaging way for a broad readership, while also serving as a veritable handbook of treasures for the scholar.
It comprises ten chapters including upwards of 700 footnotes, two maps, three appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. They are broadly divided into history and biography (chapters one–five), cult (chapters six–seven), modern-day followers (chapter eight on the Brigidine nuns), hymns and poems in honour of St Brigid (chapter nine) and folklore and popular religion celebrating her life and spirituality (chapter ten). These are followed by three appendixes: 1) a translation of the Life of St Brigid by Cogitosus; 2) A survey of the celebration of Brigid in the Liturgy; and 3) Genealogical tables of her ancestors from among the Uí Néill and the Uí Dúnlainge dynasties.
The Introduction presents some of the issues concerning Brigid as a fictional or historical figure, the problems surrounding her biography (date of birth, age and date of death), and variations on her name. Chapter Two discusses Ireland at the time of St Brigid in terms of politics, economy, social structure and the introduction and spread of Christianity. Chapter Three documents the extensive historiography on St Brigid, covering the seven earliest ‘Lives’ (7th–12th century), including what appears to have been the first, a lost Life attributed to Ultan of Ardbreccan (d. 657), and the widely known seventh-century (extant) Life by Cogitosus of Kildare (included here in an Appendix). The ensuing discussion covers later printed versions based on these materials, and a summary of subsequent studies of her cult and influence by both Irish w and foreign historians, chroniclers, and compilers of anthologies from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries.
Chapter Four focuses specifically on the content of the early ‘Lives’ of St Brigid, her biography, good deeds and the miracles attributed to her, amounting to some eighty separate stories, all of which point to the richness of the tradition as well as to her importance as an Irish female icon.
Chapter Five explores the question of Brigid’s biography and related legends, her various embodiments as pre-Christian goddess, saint/holy woman, and real historical figure, her genealogy, and her links to both Faughart and Kildare.
Chapter Six, ‘The Cult of St Brigid in Ireland’, is a very extensive survey organised by province under the headings of place names; holy wells; places with historical associations; monastic houses and churches affiliated to Kildare c. 1000; and current dedications including the Brigidine order of nuns (founded in the 19th century), and more recent iterations in churches, schools, GAA clubs, artistic representation in stained glass, statues, sculpture. The impact of Reformation is also discussed briefly here, and the list includes both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland church dedications.
Chapter Seven, ‘The Cult of St Brigid Overseas’, illustrates the enormous spread of the cult of St Brigid in Britain and in many parts of continental Europe. This is ordered by country, including all of Western and Southern Europe (but not Central and Eastern Europe which still awaits more systematic work before such an overview becomes possible); and by continent, with two brief concluding sections on Brigid in the USA and Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
Chaper Eight contains a brief discussion of the Brigidine order of nuns founded in the nineteenth century with houses or missions on all five continents. One particular Irish manifestation is the Solas Bhríde meditation centre and hermitage in Kildare town, which today attracts people of all faiths and none from every corner of the world.
Thus far the book covers what might be regarded as the more familiar categories of Brigid’s cult, though in unprecedented and exhaustive detail. The last two chapters, however, are more unusual in addressing what might be classified as the intangible cultural heritage associated with her legacy, that of hymns and poems (Chapter Nine) and folklore (Chapter Ten). This is complemented in Appendix Two, on the liturgy, to which I shall return shortly.
The repertory of hymns and poems is chronologically presented, from the seventh to the twentieth century, in Latin, Old and Modern Irish, and English. Among the earliest is the evocative ‘Brigid bé bithmaith’ (‘Brigid, ever-good woman’), a poem in seventh-century Old Irish attributed to St Ultan but preserved in the 11th/12th-century Irish Liber Hymnorum, and the last three stanzas of the earliest known Latin hymn in her honour, ‘Christus in nostra insola’ (sic; from the eighth-century Basel Psalter, thus a liturgical context). Included also are Latin poems by Alcuin, and other medieval authors, as also devotional and reflective compositions from the seventeenth to the late twentieth century.
Chapter Ten, on Folklore, introduces different stories which add to the stock of what are found in the medieval hagiographies, as well as discussing feastday customs, faith, St Brigid crosses, the Brídeog (straw doll), and the custom of naming children after the saint.
Appendix One (pp. 270–87) contains a full transcription of the Latin Life of St Brigid by Cogitosus, translatd by Seán Connolly and Jean-Michel Picard, adding considerably to the usefulness of this publication as a work of reference.
Appendix Two, on St Brigid in the Liturgy (pp. 288–322) provides an extensive further dimension in a subject area not usually included in Irish hagiographic studies, and indeed one which suffers from marginalisation to the extent of being ignored in historical studies more generally.
Here it comprises a survey of liturgical books, including martyrologies, liturgical calendars and services in missals and breviaries from Ireland, Britain and continental Europe containing material for the religious observation of the feast of St Brigid (2 February). The overview of martyrologies and calendars is particularly extensive and thorough, providing a history of refererences to Brigid from the earliest evidence in the martyrologies of the seventh to ninth centuries (Usuard, Ado, Tallaght, Félire Óengusso / the ‘Calendar of Oengus’), and later sources such as the Martyrology of Christ Church Cathedral Dublin (10th c), the Church of St Thomas the Martyr (also Dublin, from the late 1200s).
Liturgical service books are less well covered, however. Lists are comprehensive but not exhaustive. There are also some errors, and a notable lack of reference to recent research (unlike all of the other topics covered in the book). An example is Alan MacQuarrie’s work on the Aberdeen Breviary (2014) where a nineteenth-century edition is used as reference (p. 299, n. 44). Similarly, and perhaps more regrettable in the context of a book of such high standard, is a certain lack of familiarity with the liturgy which at times has led to some misconceptions and misinformation.
Proper offices are here associated with monasteries (p. 296), whereas they were equally part of the liturgy of cathedrals and parish churches. And there is a vague reference to ‘seven or nine’ readings for Matins (p. 297) which makes no sense. Depending on the status of the feast there could be three, six or nine readings (lections) in the secular office, and twelve in the monastic.
Also, variation between red and black listing in calendars is attributed, oddly, to ‘uncertainty’ (p. 297), rather than a recognition that this distinction reflects local ranking: red for important feasts, black for the rest.
Elsewhere, ‘Offices and breviaries’ are referred to as though separate categories (p. 317), whereas the liturgy of the office is of course contained within the breviary. The Corpus Missal (which belongs to Corpus Christi College Oxford) is referred to as being ‘now in the Bodleian Library’ (p. 306). Presumably this error is due to the fact that the online digitised version is on the Bodley website. But even there online the MS is clearly stated to be housed at Corpus.
More disappointing still is the reliance on older works such as that of William Hawkes, writing in the mid 1950s, who referred to TCD MS 78 as a Finglas manuscript – an error which occurs also in the late lamented Donnchadha Ó Corráin’s posthumously published magisterial Clavis Litterarum Hibernensium (2017, vol. 3, item 1330) who also makes mention of Clondalkin – neither author taking account of recent scholarship attributing its origins to Kilkenny (even if it appears to have been taken to Clondalkin soon after it was written). Similarly, referring to National Library of Ireland MS 19954 (now in Kilkenny) as a lectionary (pp. 298 and 312), whereas it is a breviary. One might have thought that in areas where authors are not specialists (which applies to most people engaged in interdisciplinary reserach), they might have made more of an effort to acquaint themselves with the work of others more knowledgeable in the field.
On the other hand one has to be impressed at Kissane’s seemingly exhaustive survey of Leroquais’ compendium of French sacramentaries and breviaries. Yet, while it might not be expected that he would check each and every item, a cautionary note would have been advisable, since he assumes the presence of an office for Brigid in all of the sources he lists over four pages (pp. 313–7),where in fact most of them are calendar references only.
Somewhat frustrating to the reader is that not all of the works listed in the footnotes are found in the Bibliography, e.g., Hennig (p. 291, n. 14), Rushforth (p. 302, n. 58). But typological and other errors are few e.g., Metz being assigned to Germany (p .290, and Index).
In all, this book is a major oeuvre and a huge achievement; a veritable handbook which will endure for many a long year. It is to be highly commended.