Brigit on the Burren: A Snippet from Lady Gregory

A Book of Saints and Wonders – Lady Gregory, 1906.  p8

She Remembers the Poor
But if Brigit belonged to the east, it is not in the west she is forgotten, and the people of Burren and of Corcomruadh and Kinvara go every year to her blessed well that is near the sea, praying and remembering her. And in that well there is a little fish that is seen every seven years, and whoever sees that fish is cured of every disease. And there is a woman living yet that is poor and old and that saw that blessed fish, and this is the way she tells the story:

"I had a pearl in my eye one time, and I went to Saint Brigit's well on the cliffs. Scores of people there were in it, looking for cures, and some got them and some did not get them. And I went down the four steps to the well and I was looking into it, and I saw a little fish no longer than your finger coming from a stone under the water. Three spots it had on the one side and three on the other side, red spots and a little green with the red, and it was very civil coming hither to me and very pleasant wagging its tail. And it stopped and looked up at me and gave three wags of its back, and walked off again and went in under the stone.

"And I said to a woman that was near me that I saw the little fish, and she began to call out and to say there were many coming with cars and with horses for a month past and none of them saw it at all. And she proved me, asking had it spots, and I said it had, three on the one side and three on the other side. "That is it" she said. And within three days I had the sight of my eye again. It was surely Saint Brigit I saw that time; who else would it be? And you would know by the look of it that it was no common fish. Very civil it was, and nice and loughy, and no one else saw it at all. Did I say more prayers than the rest? Not a prayer. I was young in those days. I suppose she took a liking to me, maybe because of my name being Brigit the same as her own."

The Boy that dreamed he would get his Health
There was a beggar boy used to be in Burren, that was very simple like and had no health, and if he would walk as much as a few perches it is likely he would fall on the road. And he dreamed twice that he went to Saint Brigit's blessed well upon the cliffs and that he found his health there. So he set out to go to the well, and when he came to it he fell in and he was drowned. Very simple he was and innocent and without sin. It is likely it is in heaven he is at this time.

The Water of the Well

And there is a woman in Burren now is grateful to Saint Brigit, for "I brought my little girl that was not four years old" she says "to Saint Brigit's well on the cliffs, where she was ailing and pining away. I brought her as far as the doctors in Gort and they could do nothing for her and then I promised to go to Saint Brigit's well, and from the time I made that promise she got better. And I saw the little fish when I brought her there; and she grew to be as strong a girl as ever went to America. I made a promise to go to the well every year after that, and so I do, of a Garlic Sunday, that is the last Sunday in July. And I brought a bottle of water from it last year and it is as cold as amber yet."

Notes from Lady Gregory's "The Story Brought by Brigit"

Though it would be unwieldy to include the whole play, Lady Gregory's notes may prove of interest to readers. I include here the opening pages to whet your appetite, then move on to the notes at the back of the book.

The play was published in 1924, and first performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin. Fans of Irish theatre, check out the original cast listed on page 90.

For my review of the play click here.

Brigit Reviews (Series Four): Nonfiction, Popular (Saint)

Nonfiction, Popular (Saint):

“Brigit, the Mary of the Gael”, from A Book of Saints and Wonders by Lady Gregory (1907) (Mention only.)

Saint Brigid of Ireland, Alice Curtayne (1954)

Saint Bride, Iain MacDonald (1992)

Power of Raven, Wisdom of Serpent, Noragh Jones (1994)

Rekindling the Flame: a Pilgrimage in the Footsteps of Brigid of Kildare, Rita Minehan CSB (1999) (Pilgrimage Guidebook; Guided Meditation)

The Life of Saint Brigid, Anna Egan Smucker (2007)

Introduction:

This is a surprisingly small sampling, but I like all of these books. If you could read only one I would recommend Curtayne. Unless of course your purpose was to hurriedly prepare for a pilgrimage to Kildare, in which case go with Rekindling the Flame. Oh, heck. They all have different aims, so any could be the one for you, depending on your needs.

Curtayne’s book, written in the early 1950s, is a detailed and broad-ranging introduction to the saint which has no time for the goddess, yet which deepens our understanding of Brigit on many levels. It is told from the perspective of a believing Catholic—ironically, a rare view in the current Brigidine literature, and therefore doubly valuable for the insight it provides. It is the first full book I read about Brigit and remains a favourite.

MacDonald’s highly portable text contains translations of a late (15^th century) Life of Saint Brigit from the Book of Lismore and an unusual prayer sometimes credited to Saint Columba (among others): the 9^th century “Hail Brigid”. Perfect for a quiet walk in the countryside, reflecting on the saint.

Jones looks at length and in an accessible style at the traditional roles and rituals of the Scottish countrywoman, and Brigit appears throughout.

Minehan, herself a Brigidine nun, has written a moving and informative pilgrims’ guide to the Brigidine sites of Kildare town and its environs.

Smucker has pieced together a small and lively (and beautifully illustrated) primer on Saint Brigit as told through the late (15^th century) Life of Brigit from the Leabhar Breac and customs and prayers related to her.

I had hoped to include “Brigit, the Mary of the Gael”, from A Book of Saints and Wonders by Lady Gregory (1907). Unfortunately, the copy I borrowed from the Vancouver Public Library in the ‘80s appears to have been withdrawn from the collection, and I don’t have another copy near to hand. Hence only a brief mention below.

Read More!

Brigit Reviews (Series Three): Plays and Poetry

Poetry/Plays:

The Story Brought by Brigit, Lady Gregory (1924) (play)

St Brigit of the Mantle, Norah Kelly (1924) (play)

Brigit of Kildare, Ann Egan, (2001) (novel/poetry) (SEE ALSO the review in the NOVELS posting)

Brighid’s Runes, ed. Rachel Mica McCann (2008) (poetry)

Introduction:

I'll be brief here as the reviews are not long, themselves. Each of the four books brings something of interest and value. Two are Christian, tinged with the rosy blush of the Celtic Twilight, one is Christian, but embraces to some degree the saint’s pagan roots, and bases the story on diligent research, and the last is NeoPagan poetry that has little to do with Brigit herself. 

The Story Brought By Brigit, Lady Gregory (1924) G. P. Putnam’s Sons (play)

T.R. Henn, in his introduction to Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World, wrote that “Lady Gregory herself could achieve a comedy as refined as her gay and gracious nature, and a tragedy, pathetic or patriotic, fitted to her vision and gifts” (pg 37). This is evident in her Passion Play, The Story Brought By Brigit. The story is tightly scripted and effective, with poems sparsely interspersed in the dialogue. The characters speak in a homey Irish manner, which at first is surprising but which becomes comfortable and pleasant, to my ear, anyway. When a minor character speaks of oppression and rebellion we can easily read English where he says Roman. But if we are hoping to get more than a glimpse of the great lady herself (Brigit, not Lady Gregory) we are to be disappointed.

The play’s conceit is that if Brigit could be present at Christ’s birth (as in Irish and Scottish folk tales), why not at his death? St Brigit arrives in Jerusalem shortly before Passover in order to see Christ for herself, but she is very seldom on stage and has few, brief lines and no role in the action. Where she does surface is in the notes at the end of the play, where the author discusses Brigit’s connection to Mary and Jesus in Irish and Scottish folklore, pointing out that whereas in Scotland Brigit is thought to have gone to Palestine to Jesus’s birth, in Irish tales Mary and her son come to Brigit. Although the play itself has nothing to say about Brigit, the notes do share some lovely images.

“Our tradition, and that of Gaelic Scotland, speak (sic) of St. Brigit as ‘the foster-mother of Christ’, and I have been told by poor women of Slieve Echtge that she succoured both the Blessed Mother and Child when they were brought here by a Heavenly Messenger for safety in Herod’s time, and that she ‘kept an account of every drop of blood He lost through His lifeftime.’”

pg vi

“The two names are constantly put together, ‘calm, generous Brigit,’ ‘mild, loving Mary.’ And in the dedication, the binding, of the young hunter ‘not to kill a bird sitting, or a beast lying down,’ he was bade remember ‘the fairy swan of Brigit of the flocks; the fairy duck of Mary of Peace.’

                                                     pg 92

Fora fine rendering of the hymn Lady Gregory includes in the book, follow this link:

Iarla Ó Lionáird - Caoineadh na dTrí Mhuire

Those interested in a play that actually concerns Saint Brigit, Norah Kelly’s St Brigit of the Mantle, also published in 1924, is the one for you.

St Brigit of the Mantle, Norah Kelly (1924) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, London. (Religious Drama) 32 pp.

First produced in Gloucester Cathedral in 1923, this play is a lovely blend of Celtic Twilight Paganism and unpretentious Christian evangelism. Kelly acknowledges her debt to “‘Fiona MacLeod’ (William Sharp)” for her version of the legend of Brigit.

William Sharp was, with WB Yeats, Lady Gregory, and others, a Celtic Revivalist. This movement drew on traditional Celtic literature and art but did not reproduce them exactly, using them as the loam on which to seed a new self-image for Celtic people. As was Yeats, Sharp was a member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, an occult group famous now for the membership of Aleister Crowley.

How Sharp’s occultism influenced his writing would make an interesting study, but regardless, with this acknowledgement we know that we can’t assume the story “MacLeod” has written, and Kelly bases her play on, is traditional. Had she used a story collected by some diligent folklorist, or an old Life of St Brigit, a vision she’d had at prayer one night, a tale handed down by her grandmother, we would watch out for different elements, trust the material in different ways.

The legend as given is a unique take on the life of St Brigit, bearing elements that likely stem from Scottish legend but which havebeen liberally embellished.

A herdsman named Dughall and his daughter Brigit, ordinary peasants, live on the Scottish island of Iona in the Hebrides in the mid-6^thcentury CE. Only the local Arch-Druid knows that Dughall was a prince of Ireland, exiled for having allegedly made pregnant a Princess Mora. Both she and he protest his innocence—the child, she says, is an immortal, a daughter of the Tuatha De Danann¹.

A storm washes their boat ashore on Iona, killing all but the father and child. Brigit proclaims that one day she will hold “the King of the Elements Himself” in her arms. They are welcomed by the Arch-Druid of Iona who links this statement to a prophecy that “a child of the immortals” would one day “hold eternity in herarms”, neatly combining Pagan and Christian symbols and marking Brigit as an Otherworld being.

Brigit grows up in Iona. Inspired by the Druids’ offerings to a “Most High God”, she time travels “in search of a deathless love” through a gate of quicken trees (either the mountain ash or the service-tree, both in the genus Aucuparia), trees with Otherworld associations. She arrives in Palestine, in therole of the inn-keeper’s daughter²at the “Rest and Be Thankful”, in time to offer lodging to Mary and Joseph and attend the birth of Jesus. In keeping with the traditions of Celtic Otherworld adventures, she is gone for a year and a day.

The prose is delightfully “old fashioned” and well put together. In a wonderful aside, Brigit worries about the cattle of Palestine, caught in drought, and says “scarce a drop of milk will they give, and that only after the milking lassies have sung tune after tune tothem...” I don’t know about the milking lassies of ancient Palestine, but this is exactly how the Irish dairymaids approached such a problem.

It is intriguing that the heavy Pagan symbolism, given in a positive light, is accepted and absorbed into the Christian story, rather than being rejected outright as at other times and places. But be not confused, this is purely Christian in its intent.

Thestory of Jesus’s birth is of course is a familiar one to those raised in Christian tradition, but the infusion of Brigit—disobedient, sincere, and generous to a fault—and the melding of her medieval vitae with the biblical tale is delightful. Introducing Celtic saints into biblical stories (and vice versa) is not uncommon and gives a wonderfully accessible and neighbourly feel to both the saints and the stories themselves. No longer a tale of a remote time and place, it is an incident fresh and real as today’s new churned butter. Mary chastises the storm for threatening to wake her baby. Brigit offers refreshment that grows no less for the drinking. She swaddles Jesus in her blue cloak to keep him warm, and Mary responds that henceforth she will be known as Brigit of the Mantle.

In the closing scene, Brigit has returned to Iona, now blessed with the knowledge of deathless love, to bring Christianity to her “own sea-girt isle...that never more may Druid-worship sway the people’smind.” Ah, well.

Nicely done, all told, and with the various hymns prescribed for scene openings, I can see that a very pleasant afternoon could come of the staging of this play.

1In the statement that Brigit is a daughter of Pagan deities we find a nontraditional element undoubtedly introduced by either Sharp or Kelly.
2See Bryce Milligan’s Brigid’s Cloak: An Ancient Irish Story (picture book) for another instance of Brigit’s assuming this role in fiction.

Brigit of Kildare, Ann Egan, (2001) (novel) Kildare County Council Library and Arts Service, Eire.

This novel is reviewed in the previous post—Brigit Book Reviews (Series Two) but I want to mention it here because Egan, an award-winning Irish poet, has included a number of excellent Brigidine poems.

From “Dufach’s Daughter”:

the touch of her small hand

cool as a breeze-kissed petal

on my hard warrior’s palm,

the woodbine tendrils on her brow

have me within her spell, I am

bondman to my druid daughter.

To her I bequeath my sword,

its hilt aglow with rubies.

Brighid’s Runes: A Collection of Women’s Soul Poetry, Rachel Mica McCann, editor, Mica Arts, England, 2008.

When I heard about this book I imagined that the poems would have something to do with Brigit, but almost without exception, they do not. Instead, they are dedicated in a more generalized way to Goddess, sometimes to specific goddesses, such as the Cailleach, or to the process of ritual and awakening, from a woman’s perspective.

There are some very nice pieces in here. All of the poets are connected in some way to Scotland, England, Wales, or Ireland. They range in poetic experience from relative newcomer to adept, but the sensibility throughout is one of celebration, connection, growth, and joy. The youngest author is in her teens; another has gone on to the Land ofthe Dead. A very pleasant collection under the aegis of Brigit, patron of poetry.

Samples from the poems:

I have a Venus urge

for slow love making

soft kisses, smooth caresses

Autumn cooking,

pickles, stewed apples and spices.

I feel my body soften

as the gentle waning sun beckons me outside,

to pick up hazlenuts from the warm afternoon track,

so that I can bake wisdom cake.

My love for you.

Debra Hall

It was in the wreckage of kelp limbs I found you

The long crescent of your thigh,

a shade quicker than sand,

woven in the tidal reach, the tangle of sea

dried into cloth or food,

dried salt around your lips

your sea fingers

open and

close about drifted wood...

Sophia Dale