St Bridget of Ireland Pendant. Angel Jewellery.
The lovely St. Bridget Pendant, with its colorful gemstones of Garnet, Peridot and Moonstone and its pure silver angel wings, represents our dearly loved St.Bridget, who is considered patron saint of women, children, childbirth, home, and family.
She, the compassionate one also extended her nurture and protection to orphans and those born out of wedlock. Poets, dairy farmers and especially blacksmiths the keepers of the fire came under her divine protection.
Bridget of Ireland – Daughter of a Leinster Chieftain.
St. Brigid of Ireland was born in AD 450 in Faughart, in Co. Louth. Her father, Dubhthach, was a chieftain of Leinster and named her after one of the most powerful goddesses of the old pagan religion – Brigit or Bride, the goddess of fire, whose manifestations were song, craftsmanship, and poetry, which the Irish considered the flame of knowledge.
She has been worshiped by the Celtic people as a Saint for over fifteen hundred years, and as a Goddess long before the Roman invasion of Britain and the birth of Christ.
Legend tells us that from childhood Brigid of Ireland was bound for a life of celibacy and devotion, and later founded many convents all over Ireland; the most famous one was in Co. Kildare. It is said that this convent was built beside an oak tree where the town of Kildare now stands. Around 470 AD she also founded a double monastery, for nuns and monks, in Kildare. As Abbess of this foundation she wielded considerable power. The Abbey of Kildare became one of the most prestigious monasteries in Ireland, and was famous throughout Christian Europe.
St Bridget`s feast day is celebrated on the 1st of February.
You can read more about Saint Bridget of Ireland here.
And what of the “other” Bridget or Brighid, venerated in Irish and Celtic folklore over the centuries?
The fascinating stories of the lives of two women named Brigid have become intertwined by myth and religion.
The Celtic Goddess Brigid and the Catholic Saint Brigid of Kildare both embodied a similar spiritual practice and indeed many scholars believe that the two are the same mythological person; and as so often happened when an older earth religion gave way to a later Christian one the “saint” was used to mollify the native population easing the transition away from the worship of Pagan gods and goddesses.
This transition from goddess to saint allowed Brigid to survive throughout the Christianizing world at a time when the worship of a pantheon of gods – and any religious or spiritual belief system that existed outside of Christianity – was no longer acceptable in Europe.
We are glad She survived, and I intend my Bridget necklace to honour both the Goddess and the Saint; to give Her essence life and form, for all who would honour her too.
Blessings
Linda. x