STS. BRIGID AND DARLUGHDACH OF KILDARE

In the pre-Christian period of Celtic history, Brighid was one of the most beloved goddesses. Both solar and lunar, she guaranteed the fertility of the fields, sheep, cows, and human mothers; and she protected all bodies of water. Her principal symbol was a perpetual fire, representing wisdom, poetry, healing, therapy, metalurgy, and the hearth.

St. Brigid (Bridget, Bride, Ffraid) is the most famous woman saint of Ireland. She was revered for her charity, miracles, and lavish hospitality. Some writers theorize that she may have begun her life as the last high priestess of Brighid. Such previous authority would help to explain why, in some of her "lives", St. Mel, Bishop of Ardagh, is said to have ordained her a bishop. When questioned about doing this, Mel responded that she alone of the abbesses of Kildare would be a bishop, but her successors would continue to have a bishop's jurisdictional authority. Indeed, they did. The other Irish bishops customarily sat at the feet of Brigid's successors until the Synod of Kells ended this custom in 1152. Brigid's double monastery at Kildare was built at a location previously sacred to her divine namesake. It had a perpetual fire which was kept burning by the nuns in St. Brigid's memory until it was extinguished by the reformation in 1540.

Brigid was one of the many Celtic saints who insisted that a vital component of the spiritual life is having a soul friend (aman cara). Her own dear friend was the younger nun Darlughdach, who slept with her and sometimes functioned as her ambassador. When Brigid told her that she expected to be dying soon, Darlughdach begged that they might die together. Brigid responded that she would outlive her for one year, in order to succeed her as abbess. After this, she would join her in heaven. Brigid died in 525 on February 1st - the date of Imbolc, the annual festival of the goddess Brighid. Since Darlughdach died exactly one year later, they share the same feast.

On the icon's frame, their names are in Gaelic. Since fire is the symbol of Northern Sophia (Wisdom), the mandala on the breast(s) of the saints contains a flame and the face of Christ evocative of the Book of Kells. This represents Christ/Holy Wisdom, whose divine Love enflames them, consumes them, is the bond between them, and the gifts they bestow. The three flames above them are also a reminder that the pre-Christian Brighid was a triple goddess whose blaze represented the spiritual fires of poetry, healing, and smithcraft. Thus it is appropriate that parts of the icon are painted with copper, silver, and three different karats of gold.

(The text above was taken from a desciption sheet  outlining the historical symbolism of a painting of Sts. Brigid and Darlughdach which hangs in St. Brigid's Cathedral, Kildare, Co. Kildare, Ireland. The author of the text is unknown.)