Relics of St Brigid are coming home after 1,000 years
It marks the 1,500th anniversary of death
THE holy relics of Irish saint St Brigid will be returned to her home county after nearly 1,000 years in time for her national day this Monday.
St Brigid is the patron saint of Kildare and will arrive into the county town tomorrow.
David Mongey, who is chairperson of tourism body Into Kildare, worked with the Brigideen Sisters and the local council to make the historic occasion come true.
He said: “The relics of St Brigid have not been in Co Kildare for nearly 1,000 years.
“This year is the 1,500th year of the passing of the saint – and what could be more special than to bring St Brigid’s relics home, where she belongs?
“She built her church in Kildare and her legacy as a peacemaker and a protector of nature is still as relevant today as ever.
“It has been a long process to finally bring her relics back to the county.”
It is believed that Brigid died in 524AD and was buried beside the main altar in her monastic church in Kildare.
Her grave became a focal point for pilgrims throughout Ireland and Europe.
In the eight century, a shrine was built for the saint and was adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones.
When the Vikings first came to Ireland around the year 800, they attacked and plundered towns and churches.
In anticipation of a attack by the Norsemen on the town, the body of St Brigid was moved to Downpatrick, Co Down, where she was buried in an unmarked grave beside St Patrick and St Columba.
The tomb was unmarked to protect it and to keep the location secret.
But, over the passage of time, the locations of the saint’s remains were lost and the location of the patron saints of Ireland was unknown for 300 years.
It is claimed that in 1185 the Bishop of Down prayed to God to show him the location of the sacred relics and bodies of the three saints.
According to Christian lore, a beam of light shone on a section of the floor in the dark church.
Historical records state the floor was taken up and the remains of the three saints were found with Saint Patrick in the middle and St Brigid and St Columba on either side.
The bodies were properly enshrined in 1186 where they remained for the next 400 years until the shrine was destroyed by Lord Leonard Grey the appointee of King Henry VIII.
Although the shrine was gone, Brigid’s remains were saved and secretly transported to continental Europe.
Tradition also holds that three Irish knights took a bone fragment from her head to Lumiar, a small town outside Lisbon
in Portugal in the 13th Century. The relic is still venerated in the church of St John the Baptist in Lumiar.
The Brigidine Sisters in Tullow, Co Carlow, procured a portion of the Lumiar relic in the 1930s which will now return to St Brigid’s Parish Church in Kildare Town to mark the special anniversary.
These ancient relics of St Brigid will go on permanent display from tomorrow.
The holy relics will leave Solas Bhride at Tully in Kildare Town at 10.30am via a procession led by three primary school girls on horseback. The Brigidine nuns from Solas Bhride will carry the relic to the church. At 10.45am, the relics will arrive at St Brigid’s Parish Church in Kildare Town and handed to Bishop Denis Nulty for 11am mass.
Tourism Minister Catherine Martin is also due to attend the ceremony.
A new annual public holiday to honour St Brigid was initiated last year as St Brigid’s Day on the first Monday in February.
Announcing St Brigid’s Day, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said at the time: “This will be the first Irish public holiday which has been named after a woman.
“It marks the halfway point between the winter solstice and the equinox.
“The beginning of spring and the Celtic New Year.”