ST. BRIGID:
Dancing the Dance of the New Life of Creation
by Gail Donovan
May the blessing of light
be on you, light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight
Shine upon you and warm your heart till it glows like a great peat fire, so that the stranger may
come and be warmed and also a friend.
And may the light shine out of the eyes of you,
like a candle set in the window of a house,
bidding the wanderer to come in out of the storm.
And may the blessing of the rain
be on you - the soft sweet rain;
May it fall upon your spirit so that all the little flowers
may spring up,
and shed their sweetness on the air.
And may the blessing of the great rains be on you,
may they beat upon your spirit and wash it fair and clean, and leave there many a shining pool where the blue
of heaven shines, and sometimes a star.
And may the blessing of the earth
be on you - the great round earth;
May you ever have a kindly greeting
from them you pass as you're going along the roads.
May the earth be soft under you when
you rest upon it, tired at the end of a day,
and may it rest easy over you when,
at the last, you lie out under it.
May it rest so lightly over you that
your soul may be off from under it so quickly,
and up and off, and on it's way to God.
And now may the Lord (and Lady)
bless you and bless you kindly.

- traditional Irish blessing

BRIGID - MUIRE NA nGAEL (MARY OF THE GAEL)

Brigid was born in Fochart in 450AD and lived until 525AD. Her father was Dubtach and her mother worked as a bondmaid in Dubtach's house. As a child, she was sold into service in the house of a Druid where she worked as a shepherd, a dairymaid, alms giver. As an adult, she started the church of the oak (Coill Dairagh, Cill Dara, Kildare) in Kildare town where she worked as spiritual leader, healer, miracle worker, and educator.

(The text above was taken from a sheet distributed at the visitors center in Kildare town. Compiled by Tourism Students at Kildare College of Further Studies, January 2000.)


Visitors Since Ostara 2000

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