The Airy Christ
by Stevie Smith After reading Dr Rieu’s translation of St Mark’s Gospel.
Who is this that comes in splendour, coming from the blazing East?
This is he we had not thought of, this is he the airy Christ.
Airy, in an airy manner in an airy parkland walking,
Others take him by the hand, lead him, do the talking.
But the Form, the airy One, frowns an airy frown,
What they say he knows must be, but he looks aloofly down,
Looks aloofly at his feet, looks aloofly at his hands,
Knows they must, as prophets say, nailèd be to wooden bands.
As he knows the words he sings, that he sings so happily
Must be changed to working laws, yet sings he ceaselessly.
Those who truly hear the voice, the words, the happy song,
Never shall need working laws to keep from doing wrong.
Deaf men will pretend sometimes they hear the song, the words,
And make excuse to sin extremely; this will be absurd.
Heed it not. Whatever foolish men may do the song is cried
For those who hear, and the sweet singer does not care that he was crucified.
For he does not wish that men should love him more than anything
Because he died; he only wishes they would hear him sing.
Stevie Smith, “The Airy Christ” from New Selected Poems. Copyright © 1972 by Stevie Smith. Reprinted by permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.Source: The New Selected Poems of Stevie Smith (New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1988).
In this poem, Stevie Smith presents the Airy Christ as a fresh breathing image in Rieu's translation of the gospels. "If Christ is not God," she wrote, "he is a human being, a lofty and noble creature, someone we may love an admire and whose words we may sort." If Christ is God, She argued, then he is party to an ignominious bargain, the death of God's son to redeem our sin, a bargain that imposes an intolerable burden of guilt and gratitude.
In general, she had no patience with aspects of the New English Bible translation and poor syntax. She argued that the translation of Gen 1: "When all things began, the word already was.." leads naturally to the question, "Was what?" since the construction is not current English. Moreover, changing the words of the Lord's Prayer from "Lead us not into temptation" to "Do not bring us to the test" would conjure up for the British reader images of going to a series of cricket matches called "test matches."
Stevie Smith's attitude to Christianity is that of an agnostic who could not entirely abandon belief in a God of Love (Spaulding, Stevie Smith, 234). Alongside her Anglican background was "my formidable conscience, a most practical agent, a really literal creature, full of the plainest common sense and a determination to make words mean what they say."
Monday, February 12, 2007
Saturday, February 10, 2007
Codex Sinaiticus detected on Feb 7th, 1844
Remember Oscar Wilde's line, " Perhaps, after all, America never has been discovered. I myself would say that it has merely been detected." Well, the same applies to the detection of Codex Sinaiticus by Constantine Von Tischendorf in 1844, the anniversary of which falls this past week.
The earliest complete copy of the New Testament, it is the antecedent of all bound copies of the Bible. Containing over 400 large leaves (pages) of animal skin, partly calf, on which half of the Old Testament and Apocrypha (2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1&4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach, all of the New Testament with the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas is written in Greek. Named after the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, 347 leaves of the Codex are now in the British Library. Eleven leaves from the beginning and end of the Codex remain in the monastery of St. Catherine while 43 leaves are at the University Library in Leipzig and parts of five leaves are at the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg. An estimated 330 leaves completing the Old Testament are lost.
Dated to the mid-fourth century, the Greek is without word division (scriptio continua) and in capital letters. The text is arranged in four columns on each page. On every page one can see thousands of corrections dating from the fourth to the twelfth century visible in the margins and between the columns. It is perhaps the most corrected early manuscript of the Christian Bible.
While we know nothing about the producers of the codex or the place they worked (Alexandria, Rome, Caesarea?), we can detect three copyists of the text known as A, B, and D. Each scribe copied and corrected his or her work. Scribe A added to the ending of John's Gospel the verse 21:25, "And there are also many things which Jesus did, the which, if they were tobe written every one, I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Scribe D noticed an omission from scribe A's copy of I Cor 13:1-3 and inserted the missing text into the margin above.
Between the 5th and 7th Centuries, a corrector known as Ca not only emended earlier errors but also attempted to bring the entire text into line with a version of the text more familiar to him or her. In the Lucan account of the crucifixion, for example, Ca restored the passage, "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Now the entire Codex in its four separate parts is being digitized and will appear in 2009 or 2010.
The earliest complete copy of the New Testament, it is the antecedent of all bound copies of the Bible. Containing over 400 large leaves (pages) of animal skin, partly calf, on which half of the Old Testament and Apocrypha (2 Esdras, Tobit, Judith, 1&4 Maccabees, Wisdom and Sirach, all of the New Testament with the Epistle of Barnabas and the Shepherd of Hermas is written in Greek. Named after the monastery of St. Catherine on Mount Sinai, 347 leaves of the Codex are now in the British Library. Eleven leaves from the beginning and end of the Codex remain in the monastery of St. Catherine while 43 leaves are at the University Library in Leipzig and parts of five leaves are at the National Library of Russia in St Petersburg. An estimated 330 leaves completing the Old Testament are lost.
Dated to the mid-fourth century, the Greek is without word division (scriptio continua) and in capital letters. The text is arranged in four columns on each page. On every page one can see thousands of corrections dating from the fourth to the twelfth century visible in the margins and between the columns. It is perhaps the most corrected early manuscript of the Christian Bible.
While we know nothing about the producers of the codex or the place they worked (Alexandria, Rome, Caesarea?), we can detect three copyists of the text known as A, B, and D. Each scribe copied and corrected his or her work. Scribe A added to the ending of John's Gospel the verse 21:25, "And there are also many things which Jesus did, the which, if they were tobe written every one, I suppose even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written." Scribe D noticed an omission from scribe A's copy of I Cor 13:1-3 and inserted the missing text into the margin above.
Between the 5th and 7th Centuries, a corrector known as Ca not only emended earlier errors but also attempted to bring the entire text into line with a version of the text more familiar to him or her. In the Lucan account of the crucifixion, for example, Ca restored the passage, "Father forgive them; for they know not what they do."
Now the entire Codex in its four separate parts is being digitized and will appear in 2009 or 2010.
Friday, February 09, 2007
James Graham and redemption of a gay RC concert pianist
How about some Celtic music?
James Graham sings Mo bhò dhubh mhòr, a beautiful fragment of a lost Piobaireachd which he learned from Kenna Campbell, then into a strathspey called, "Gogan a chinn mhoir," about a man called Gogan who was popular with the ladies, a reel called "S ioma' rud a chunna mi," and finally a gig, "Nighean na Cailliche Crotaiche Crubaich," about the daughter of an old humped backed woman who was inclined to be a bit of a stroppy madam!
And here's a story about the redemptive power of music in the life of one gay RC pianist with a side glance at the church's teaching on homosexuality including St. Paul from this week's Tablet.
James Graham sings Mo bhò dhubh mhòr, a beautiful fragment of a lost Piobaireachd which he learned from Kenna Campbell, then into a strathspey called, "Gogan a chinn mhoir," about a man called Gogan who was popular with the ladies, a reel called "S ioma' rud a chunna mi," and finally a gig, "Nighean na Cailliche Crotaiche Crubaich," about the daughter of an old humped backed woman who was inclined to be a bit of a stroppy madam!
And here's a story about the redemptive power of music in the life of one gay RC pianist with a side glance at the church's teaching on homosexuality including St. Paul from this week's Tablet.
Wednesday, February 07, 2007
Mary Panel on Feb 21st
Monday Feb 5th Greek News:-
Scholars and clergy from different Christian traditions will address the place of “Mary in our Life and Times” at the annual Cathedral Fellowship lecture series at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Center. The inaugural presentation is by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Abbot and retired hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America at 7:30 Thursday February 15th and the series will conclude with a panel discussion the following Wednesday the 21st at 7:00 PM.
The deep and beautiful mystery of Mary, Theotokos: The Mother of God, will be explored by the presenters, panelists and the audience. The powerful ties of most Christians to the Virgin Mary have inspired some of the world’s greatest poetry, art and architecture and enabled countless generations to endure the miseries of poverty, war, illness and cruelty. Her name ever on the lips and thoughts of Christians, Mary is often forgotten when theology is discussed. The Cathedral Fellowship lecture series will explore Mary’s place in our lives and times.
Scholars and clergy from different Christian traditions will address the place of “Mary in our Life and Times” at the annual Cathedral Fellowship lecture series at the Holy Trinity Cathedral Center. The inaugural presentation is by Archbishop Lazar Puhalo, Abbot and retired hierarch of the Orthodox Church in America at 7:30 Thursday February 15th and the series will conclude with a panel discussion the following Wednesday the 21st at 7:00 PM.
The deep and beautiful mystery of Mary, Theotokos: The Mother of God, will be explored by the presenters, panelists and the audience. The powerful ties of most Christians to the Virgin Mary have inspired some of the world’s greatest poetry, art and architecture and enabled countless generations to endure the miseries of poverty, war, illness and cruelty. Her name ever on the lips and thoughts of Christians, Mary is often forgotten when theology is discussed. The Cathedral Fellowship lecture series will explore Mary’s place in our lives and times.
The place of Mary in the Episcopal Church and the Protestant tradition differs greatly from the Orthodox and Catholic churches and in the latter today there are powerful movements centered on traditional and even revolutionary views on Mary unfamiliar to Orthodox Christians. The modern world opens up new perspectives on Jesus’ mother, both skeptical, as with religion in general, and sociological, especially among feminists. Outside the trenches of the culture wars, however, men and women of faith seek to know the place of Mary in modern times and lives that are so radically different from the days of the ancient Fathers and Mothers of the Church.
I will be a panelist on Feb 21st. The Presentations will be at Holy Trinity Cathedral Center, 337 East 74th Street. Light refreshments will be served and a donation of $10 is requested. For information email: csirigos100@aol.comTuesday, February 06, 2007
Cancelling Liberia's Debt
Today would be a good day to call US Treasury Secretary Paulson asking for debt relief for Liberia. Next week, the Liberia Donors conference meets on Feb 13-14 in Washington DC. President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has called on world leaders to cancel Liberia's debts. In this country Jubilee Network USA amongst others has led the effort.
Does your local representative supported the Jubilee Act? Representatives Waters (D-CA), Leach (R-IA), Frank (D-MA), Bachus (R-AL), Lee (D-CA), and Maloney (D-NY) re-introduced the JUBILEE Act (HR 1130) in March 2005. The JUBILEE Act is groundbreaking legislation that would require the U.S. Treasury Department to work inappropriate multilateral settings to achieve 100 percent cancellation of the debts of 50 nations by the multi-lateral development institutions including the International Monetary Fund (IMF),World Bank, African Development Bank (AfDB), Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The bill urges that the debt cancellation be paid for from the international financial institutions’ own resources and that it come without harmful conditionality attached. The JUBILEE Act will help build a better safer world by providing impoverished nations the fresh start necessary for development. It is now in committee.
Does your local representative supported the Jubilee Act? Representatives Waters (D-CA), Leach (R-IA), Frank (D-MA), Bachus (R-AL), Lee (D-CA), and Maloney (D-NY) re-introduced the JUBILEE Act (HR 1130) in March 2005. The JUBILEE
Monday, February 05, 2007
Review of Jesus' Family Values from The Dominion (LI) January 2007
The Dominion (Diocese of Long Island) for January 2007 offers a short review of Jesus' Family Values by John Egleston of the George Mercer Jr. Memorial Library. Scroll down to p.6.
Sunday, February 04, 2007
Discussing the Apocalypse at Trinity Institute
"Talk of the Town" in this weeks New Yorker magazine includes a piece entitled "End is Near Department" by Rebecca Mead reporting on the recent Trinity Institute's "Apocalypse Not."
The second paragraph gives you a taste of the piece:-
An appetite for smoked-salmon canapés and pinot noir (comment: not reading and discussing the "Left Behind" series) was all that was required of guests at the evening’s gathering, which was held at Trinity’s rectory, a town house on Charlton Street that was built by John Jacob Astor in 1826 and was acquired by the church in 2004, for five and a half million dollars. It joins Trinity’s considerable portfolio—the church owns six million square feet of office space between Houston and Canal Streets. Above the dining-room fireplace hangs a portrait of the house’s current occupant, the Reverend Dr. Jim Cooper, by Thomas Loepp. It depicts him standing on Wall Street with the church and its environs in the background. “There are our dog and cat, and there’s my buddy Mohammed, with his hot-dog cart,” Cooper said.
In the third paragraph, Rebecca Mead mentions the conclusion of Barbara Rossing's talk in which she calls for a novel to be written based on the book of Revelation: “We need a novel whose heroes are rooted on the earth, living in sustainable communities, maybe practicing Permaculture gardening.” Barbara Rossing actually describes the novel as one in which a band of heroes for example rescuing Appalachia from stripmining, engaging in prophetic acts of healing, and speaking truth to power. The earth rescues God's people who are about to be devoured by the dragon in Rev 12 by opening its mouth to rescue and swallow us up.
But the conclusion of her talk is not enough! We need a fuller flavor of the whole talk not a (trivilializing) sound bite (a canape?)
Barbara Rossing's talk available on Trinity Institute's website discusses reading the Bible into the unfinished future in which the earth is God's home that will not be left behind. Taking Moltmann's challenge to adopt ecological economics for the next century, she makes a case for reclaiming the Book of Revelation as a diagnosis of sickness in our world and a vision for healing of this planet. She reframes the discussion not as sin but as illness for which the leaves of the tree of life are for healing. Our unsustainable way of life is coming to an end but not the planet itself.
She does in fact discuss the "Left Behind" series. Revelation is not a count down to the end of this world as novels like the "Left Behind series" imply. The apocalyptic tradition has been hijacked to provide a theology that might be described as "God so loved the world that he sent world-war 3." Armageddon is not the central aspect of Revelation. The "Left Behind" series is fictional in its plot and theology. It is not biblical. In the 19th century when this kind of rapture theology appeared Sojourner Truth critiqued it: "What's nice to come back to a world covered with the ashes of the wicked? If the Lord comes and burns the earth I am going to stay in the fire like Shadrach, Meshach and co. and Jesus will keep me from harm through the fire." Jesus in fact blesses peacemakers and teaches love of enemies.
We need the apocalyptic tradition including the book of Revelation to diagnose "affluenza" (affluence and influenza) in our present western society. We have the disease of More, a disease that is actually idolatrous because its puts us in the role of God. To find healing we need to reclaim the biblical voice of protest. At the heart of Revelation is a prophetic message offering a vision of hope with a sweeping critique of empire and violence against the earth. It has sustained a protest against slavery and against apartheid in South Africa. The word "Apocalypse"means unveiling. When Toto reveals who Oz really is, we see what really is.
What is the truth we need to hear? First Prof. Rossing proposes to go back to the first century and hear the book of Revelation as a call to faithfulness to Jesus, the slain and risen lamb. Hearers are called to an exodus out of empire. The Greek word "ge" means earth. "Kosmos" means world. "Oikoumene" means world and is not the same as the cosmos but actually the imperial world as it is in Luke's account of the census in chapter 2. Revelation says that what will end is "oikoumene," the Roman imperial world and its language of contest and domination. Like Paul, the writer of Revelation says that there will be an end to "eternal Rome." The "ge" will be renewed as God's dwelling place. In Rev 11 God announces "I will destroy the destroyers of the earth" not the earth itself.
What is Revelation's anti-imperial message today? Jesus the slain lamb offers two different political economies of the New Jerusalem and Rome's violence and millitarism. Readers and hearers of Revelation are called to make a choice and come out of the evil empire to God's city of healing and justice. The seven plagues are warnings that work out into the future the danger of the imperial path the empire is taking. Similarly, Scrooge is shown what might happen so that he can amend his life in the present. Chapters 17 and 18 shown the fall of Rome and the horrors of Babylon.
A vision of hope is depicted as the city of the New Jerusalem in chapters 21 and 22 with open gates, ecological renewal, and enough for everyone. God is depicted as dwelling among mortals and God's throne is on earth. There is no rapture to heaven. This is the opposite of the toxic economy of the Roman empire listed in Rev. 18 including human slaves. The new economy centers around the tree of life. In the middle of the city is a paradise of green space and a river flowing out from the throne of God and the lamb. The water is freely given for all. The leaves of the tree are medicine for the nations.
Use of the Columbia river water has been much discussed. The Roman Catholic bishops got everyone to agree that this water is the water of life for all of us in the North west.
God's will is not to destroy but to heal is from the leaves of the tree of life. This is a striking image. How can we take to heart this image of the tree of life and the medicinal leaves for the healing of the world including its cities? Warmongering is heating up the planet. Revelation wants to lay on our wounds and the wounds of the world the leaves of the tree of life for healing and downsize our ecological footprint to heal the brokenness of the world.
The second paragraph gives you a taste of the piece:-
An appetite for smoked-salmon canapés and pinot noir (comment: not reading and discussing the "Left Behind" series) was all that was required of guests at the evening’s gathering, which was held at Trinity’s rectory, a town house on Charlton Street that was built by John Jacob Astor in 1826 and was acquired by the church in 2004, for five and a half million dollars. It joins Trinity’s considerable portfolio—the church owns six million square feet of office space between Houston and Canal Streets. Above the dining-room fireplace hangs a portrait of the house’s current occupant, the Reverend Dr. Jim Cooper, by Thomas Loepp. It depicts him standing on Wall Street with the church and its environs in the background. “There are our dog and cat, and there’s my buddy Mohammed, with his hot-dog cart,” Cooper said.
In the third paragraph, Rebecca Mead mentions the conclusion of Barbara Rossing's talk in which she calls for a novel to be written based on the book of Revelation: “We need a novel whose heroes are rooted on the earth, living in sustainable communities, maybe practicing Permaculture gardening.” Barbara Rossing actually describes the novel as one in which a band of heroes for example rescuing Appalachia from stripmining, engaging in prophetic acts of healing, and speaking truth to power. The earth rescues God's people who are about to be devoured by the dragon in Rev 12 by opening its mouth to rescue and swallow us up.
But the conclusion of her talk is not enough! We need a fuller flavor of the whole talk not a (trivilializing) sound bite (a canape?)
Barbara Rossing's talk available on Trinity Institute's website discusses reading the Bible into the unfinished future in which the earth is God's home that will not be left behind. Taking Moltmann's challenge to adopt ecological economics for the next century, she makes a case for reclaiming the Book of Revelation as a diagnosis of sickness in our world and a vision for healing of this planet. She reframes the discussion not as sin but as illness for which the leaves of the tree of life are for healing. Our unsustainable way of life is coming to an end but not the planet itself.
She does in fact discuss the "Left Behind" series. Revelation is not a count down to the end of this world as novels like the "Left Behind series" imply. The apocalyptic tradition has been hijacked to provide a theology that might be described as "God so loved the world that he sent world-war 3." Armageddon is not the central aspect of Revelation. The "Left Behind" series is fictional in its plot and theology. It is not biblical. In the 19th century when this kind of rapture theology appeared Sojourner Truth critiqued it: "What's nice to come back to a world covered with the ashes of the wicked? If the Lord comes and burns the earth I am going to stay in the fire like Shadrach, Meshach and co. and Jesus will keep me from harm through the fire." Jesus in fact blesses peacemakers and teaches love of enemies.
We need the apocalyptic tradition including the book of Revelation to diagnose "affluenza" (affluence and influenza) in our present western society. We have the disease of More, a disease that is actually idolatrous because its puts us in the role of God. To find healing we need to reclaim the biblical voice of protest. At the heart of Revelation is a prophetic message offering a vision of hope with a sweeping critique of empire and violence against the earth. It has sustained a protest against slavery and against apartheid in South Africa. The word "Apocalypse"means unveiling. When Toto reveals who Oz really is, we see what really is.
What is the truth we need to hear? First Prof. Rossing proposes to go back to the first century and hear the book of Revelation as a call to faithfulness to Jesus, the slain and risen lamb. Hearers are called to an exodus out of empire. The Greek word "ge" means earth. "Kosmos" means world. "Oikoumene" means world and is not the same as the cosmos but actually the imperial world as it is in Luke's account of the census in chapter 2. Revelation says that what will end is "oikoumene," the Roman imperial world and its language of contest and domination. Like Paul, the writer of Revelation says that there will be an end to "eternal Rome." The "ge" will be renewed as God's dwelling place. In Rev 11 God announces "I will destroy the destroyers of the earth" not the earth itself.
What is Revelation's anti-imperial message today? Jesus the slain lamb offers two different political economies of the New Jerusalem and Rome's violence and millitarism. Readers and hearers of Revelation are called to make a choice and come out of the evil empire to God's city of healing and justice. The seven plagues are warnings that work out into the future the danger of the imperial path the empire is taking. Similarly, Scrooge is shown what might happen so that he can amend his life in the present. Chapters 17 and 18 shown the fall of Rome and the horrors of Babylon.
A vision of hope is depicted as the city of the New Jerusalem in chapters 21 and 22 with open gates, ecological renewal, and enough for everyone. God is depicted as dwelling among mortals and God's throne is on earth. There is no rapture to heaven. This is the opposite of the toxic economy of the Roman empire listed in Rev. 18 including human slaves. The new economy centers around the tree of life. In the middle of the city is a paradise of green space and a river flowing out from the throne of God and the lamb. The water is freely given for all. The leaves of the tree are medicine for the nations.
Use of the Columbia river water has been much discussed. The Roman Catholic bishops got everyone to agree that this water is the water of life for all of us in the North west.
God's will is not to destroy but to heal is from the leaves of the tree of life. This is a striking image. How can we take to heart this image of the tree of life and the medicinal leaves for the healing of the world including its cities? Warmongering is heating up the planet. Revelation wants to lay on our wounds and the wounds of the world the leaves of the tree of life for healing and downsize our ecological footprint to heal the brokenness of the world.
Saturday, February 03, 2007
Translating
Concerns and issues about rendering something into another language confronts all readers of the Bible. Especially those reading it in a secondary language. I've been reading "On Translation" by Paul Ricoeur. He says (from George Steiner), "To understand is to translate." Translation, he tells us, follows from two ineluctable features of the human condition: the plurality of natural languages and the non-transparency of the self to others, or even to itself. Beyond a reaction of paralysis in response to Babel, he proposes translation so as to overcome: 1) the impossibility of translation and 2) the creation of an ideal artificial and universal language to overcome the deficiencies of natural languages. In communication we have to overcome notions of inadequacy and resenting the necessity of the task (particularly if you are an introvert). Clarity and self understanding are the twin goals of the enterprise.
Any translation of the Bible is a hybrid: a translation and at the same a text in its own right. What of its authority? Richard Whately (1787-1863), Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, held up an Authorized Version to his clergy and said, "Never forget, gentlemen, this is not the Bible!" He continued, "This, gentlemen, is a translation of the Bible!" The preface of the KJV stipulates that "the very meanest translation by people of our profession contains, nay, is the Word of God" just as the King's speech uttered in parliament and translated into Dutch, French, German etc. is still the King's speech.
Rendering the language of God into human speech is an impossible hence fraught undertaking.
Any translation of the Bible is a hybrid: a translation and at the same a text in its own right. What of its authority? Richard Whately (1787-1863), Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, held up an Authorized Version to his clergy and said, "Never forget, gentlemen, this is not the Bible!" He continued, "This, gentlemen, is a translation of the Bible!" The preface of the KJV stipulates that "the very meanest translation by people of our profession contains, nay, is the Word of God" just as the King's speech uttered in parliament and translated into Dutch, French, German etc. is still the King's speech.
Rendering the language of God into human speech is an impossible hence fraught undertaking.
Thursday, February 01, 2007
Legacy of Molly Ivins
Here's Molly Ivins' last article, "Stand Up Against the Surge" written Jan 11, 2006.
Celebrating the land of Brigid's birth
I took this photo at 6.15am on the shore of Strangford Lough on September 10th 2006. Every morning and evening curlews could be heard along with shore birds coming and going with the tide.
Celebrating St Brigid
Brigid of Ireland—the patron saint of poets, blacksmiths, and healers—was born at Fauchart near Dundalk c.450. She was the daughter of Dubhtach, poet-laureate of King Loeghaire, and his bondmaid Brotsech. Because of the jealousy of Dubhthach’s wife, Brigid and her mother were forced into slavery. She spent her childhood serving the family of a Druid priest performing the burdonsome tasks associated with running a household and a farm. Early in her life she became a Christian. Legend holds that she received baptism from St. Patrick, but this is unlikely. As an adolescent she returned to her father who commanded her to marry. Rather than obeying him, she chose to become a nun receiving the nun’s veil from Bishop Macaile of Westmeath. Afterward, gathering a group of women around her, she founded a nunnery at Kildare (Church of the Oak). Needing to have the sacraments performed, Brigid prevailed upon Conlaed, the leader of a nearby group of anchorites, to receive episcopal consecration and to move with his followers to a site adjacent to the nunnery. This seemingly “mixed house” based upon the Celtic social concept of equality between men and women was unique among Irish religious foundations. Brigid as abbess of Kildare influenced Irish church affairs and headed a network of nunneries as well. Kildare prospered under royal favor in the seventh century becoming one of the most magnificent churches in Ireland during this time. When Brigid died c.525, she was buried alongside Conlaed beneath the altar at Kildare. Three centuries later her body was translated to lie beside the remains of St. Patrick at Downpatrick, one of Ireland's most holy shrines. The shrine was despoiled during the Reformation and its relics dispersed.
Her first biographer Cogitosus writing c.650 attributed to her a number of miracles. Later “lives” added to these miracle stories. Her childhood miracles were associated with the multiplication of food such as providing butter for the poor. As abbess, with the assistance of angels, she caused cows to give milk three times the same day to enable visiting bishops to have enough to drink. Brigid was also credited with taming a wolf at the request of a local chieftain whose pet dog had been killed accidentally by a peasant.
Brigid’s cult spread rapidly throughout Ireland, and as Irish monks wandered throughout England, Wales, and the Continent, they carried Brigid’s cult into those areas as well. In England at least ninenteen churches were dedicated to her, most notably St. Bride's Church on Fleet Street in London. Brigid is still venerated in Alsace, Belgium, and Portugal. Writing in the late twelfth century, Gerald of Wales noted a feature of her cult he witnessed on a visit to Kildare in 1186. There, a sacred fire maintained daily by twenty nuns (nineteen, after Brigid's death) burned continuously. The walls of the firehouse remained on the hill by the abbey church until the eighteenth century. Today, only the foundations remain.
One of Ireland’s most beloved saints, Brigid is known as the “Mary of the Gael.” She is most noted for her compassion to others, especially to victims of violence, the impoverished, and lepers. On one occasion she gave her father’s sword to a leper. Her father, unaware of her act of charity, became enraged and at a loss to control this daughter who gave away his wealth and possessions.
Plaited crosses fashioned from rushes are associated with Brigid. Her iconography depicts her with a cow lying at her feet. Brigid’s feast day is February 1, long held sacred as Imbolg, the Celtic festival of Spring.
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The Oxford Handbook of the Book of Common Prayer Edited by Ruth A. Meyers, Luiz Carlos Teixeira Coelho, and Paul F. Bradshaw Oxford Handbo...
