Feast and School Day celebrated at St. Bridget's
Convent on February 1:
St. Bridget: The guiding light for students
By Rear Admiral Shemal Fernando
Saint Bridget ranks as one of the most remarkable Irish nuns of the
fifth century. She is known for her extraordinary spirituality,
boundless charity and compassion for those in distress. She is indeed a
strong and intelligent woman who was dedicated to her calling. She built
churches and convents all over Ireland. Even after 1,500 years, her
memory is as dear as ever to the Irish heart and as is well-known,
Bridget preponderates as a female Christian name. Moreover, place names
in her honour are to be found all over the world.
In Sri Lanka, the
renowned educational institution, St. Bridget's
Convent at Colombo 7 founded by the Irish nuns to educate young girls
stands out as a living monument in testimony to the memory of the great
saint, forging ahead her journey, producing disciplined, loyal and
responsible citizens. It was the long cherished wish of the then
Archbishop of Colombo, Most Rev. Dr. T. A. Melizan to open a school and
the premises
was blessed by him on February 15, 1902. The Co-Adjutor, Rev. Dr.
Coudert and Very Rev. Fr. G. Griaux had been among the many
ecclesiastics who were present and the first article on St. Bridget's
Convent was published in 'The Ceylon Independent' February 17, 1902
describing the grand opening.
Later, in June 1911, Sr. Mary of St. Francis Borgia was named the
Superior of St. Bridget's Convent.
Investiture ceremony
The House and Prefect system at St. Bridget's was started in 1933.
The School Anthem too, was composed during this time by Mother St.
Agatha. And for over a century the traditions have followed and the
great institution will celebrate the feast of St. Bridget on February 1
with a Holy Mass followed by the Investiture Ceremony of the newly
appointed Prefects. The Superior, Rev. Sr. Solange Fernando together
with the Principal, Collegiate School, Rev. Sr. Shermila Jayawardena and
Principal Primary School, Rev. Sr. Alexandra Mendis will celebrate the
feast and associated events befittingly.
The birth of St. Bridget
Saint Bridget was born in 451 or 452 of princely ancestors at
Faughart, County Louth, soon after Ireland had been blessed with the
light of faith.
The daughter of Dubtach - a pagan Scottish King of Leinster and
Brocca - a Christian Pictish slave who had been baptised by St. Patrick.
Before Bridget's birth, her mother was sold to a Druid landowner and she
remained with her mother till she was old enough to serve her legal
owner Dubtach, her father.
She grew up marked by her high spirits and tender heart and as a
child, she heard St. Patrick preach, which she never forgot. She could
not bear to see anyone hungry or cold, and to help them, often gave away
things that were Dubtach's. When Dubtach protested, she replied that
"Christ dwelt in every creature".
Then Dubtach tried to sell her to the King of Leinster, and while
they bargained, she gave a treasured sword of her father's to a leper.
Dubtach was about to strike her when she explained that she had
given the sword to God through the leper, because of its great value.
The King, a Christian, forbade Dubtach to strike her, saying "Her merit
before God is greater than ours". Dubtach solved this domestic problem
by giving Bridget her freedom.
Bridget's aged mother was in charge of her master's dairy. Bridget
took charge, and often gave away the produce. But the dairy prospered
under her and the Druid freed Bridget's mother. Bridget returned to her
father, who arranged a marriage for her with a young bard. She refused,
and to keep her virginity, went to Bishop Mel, a pupil of St. Patrick's,
and took her first
vows. Legend has it that she prayed that her beauty be taken from her
so no one would seek her hand in marriage; her prayer was granted, and
she regained her beauty only after making her vows. Another report said
that when Saint Patrick heard her final vows, he mistakenly used the
form for ordaining priests. When told of it he replied, "So be it my
son, she is destined for great things".
Abbatial powers
It is believed that she was professed by St. Mel of Ardagh, who also
conferred on her abbatial powers. From Ardagh, Saints Macaille and
Bridget followed St. Mel into the country of Teffia in Meath, where
under a large oak tree St. Bridget erected her small oratory Cill-Dara,
that is, "the church of the oak" which became the centre of religion and
learning, and developed into a cathedral city.
Together with seven other virgins she formed the first ever female
monastic community in Ireland about the year 468.
They helped the poor at the time and were attributed with many
miracles. Despite having limited resources they never seemed to be
without food or supplies for their good works.
At the invitation of bishops, she set up convents all over Ireland.
She was a great traveller, especially considering the conditions of the
time, which led to her patronage of sailors and travellers.
Bridget also set up the double monastery, the monastery of Kildare on
the Liffey being for both monks and nuns.
Conleth, noted for his skill in metalwork, became its first Bishop;
this connection and the installation of a bell that lasted over 1,000
years apparently led to her patronage of blacksmiths and those in
related fields.
It is exceedingly difficult to reconcile the statements of St.
Bridget's biographers. Probably the most ancient life of St. Bridget is
that by St. Broccan Cloen, who is said to have died on September 17,
650. It is metrical, as may be seen from the specimen that "Saint
Bridget was not given to sleep, nor was she intermittent about God's
love; not merely that she did not buy, she did not seek for the wealth
of this world below, the holy one".
Book of Kildare
She flourished at the beginning of the sixth century, and is named in
the Martyrology of Bede, and in all others since that age. Several
churches in England, Scotland, Germany and France are dedicated to God
under her name.
Her name is in most copies of the Martyrology which bears the name of
St. Jerome, especially in those of Esternach and Corbie, which are the
most ancient. A church of St. Bridget, in the province of Athol, was
famous for miracles, and a portion of her relics was kept with great
veneration in a monastery of regular canons at Aburnethi, once the
capital of the kingdom of the Picts, and a bishopric, as Major mentions.
Cogitosus, a monk of Kildare in the eighth century, expounded the
metrical life of St. Bridget, and versified it in good Latin. This is
what is known as the "Second Life", and is an excellent example of Irish
scholarship in the mid-eighth century. Perhaps the most interesting
feature of Cogitosus' work is the description of the Cathedral of
Kildare in his day: "The
rood-screen was formed of wooden boards, lavishly decorated, and with
beautifully decorated curtains". Probably the famous Round Tower of
Kildare dates from the sixth century.
It has been frequently said that she gave canonical jurisdiction to
St. Conleth, Bishop of Kildare, but, as Archbishop Healy points out, she
simply "selected the person to whom the Church gave this jurisdiction",
and her biographer tells us distinctly that she chose St. Conleth "to
govern the church along with herself". Thus, for centuries, Kildare was
ruled by a double line of abbot-bishops and of abbesses, the Abbess of
Kildare being regarded as Superioress General of the convents in
Ireland.
Death and Memory
From the Kildare scriptorium came the wondrous book of the Gospels,
which elicited unbounded praise from Giraldus Cambrensis, but has
disappeared since the Reformation. According to this twelfth-century
ecclesiastic, nothing that he had ever seen was at all comparable to the
"Book of Kildare", every page of which was gorgeously illuminated, and
he concludes a most laudatory notice by saying that the interlaced work
and the harmony of the colours left the impression that "all this is the
work of angelic, and not human skill". Small wonder that Gerald Barry
assumed the book to have been written night after night as St. Bridget
prayed, "an angel furnishing the designs, the scribe copying". She is
one of the most remarkable Irishwomen and was befittingly made the
"Patroness of Ireland". The most famous miracle associated with St.
Bridget tells of her confrontation with an Irish chieftain. She asked
him for a quantity of land so that she could build a monastic community.
The chieftain replied that she could have whatever amount of land her
cloak could cover. St. Bridget took the cloak from her shoulders and
cast it on the ground where it covered over 12 acres of the chieftains
lands. He gave it willingly.
St. Bridget died of natural causes on February 1, 523 at Kildare,
Ireland, leaving a Cathedral city and a school that became famous all
over Europe.
In her honour St. Ultan wrote a hymn commencing, "In our island of
Hibernia Christ was made known to man by the great miracles which he
performed through the happy virgin of celestial life, famous for her
merits through the whole world".
When dying, St. Bridget was attended by St. Ninnidh, who was ever
afterwards known as "Ninnidh of the Clean Hand" because he had his right
hand encased with a metal covering to prevent its ever being defiled,
after being medium of administering the viaticum to Ireland's Patroness.
She was interred at the right of the high altar of Kildare Cathedral,
and a costly tomb was erected over her. In later years her shrine was an
object of veneration for pilgrims, especially on her feast day, February
1, as Cogitosus related.
Relics
A church of St. Bridget, in the province of Athol is where a portion
of her relics was kept with great veneration in a monastery of regular
canons at Aburnethi. About the year 878, owing to the Scandinavian
raids, the relics of St. Bridget were taken to Downpatrick, where they
were interred in the tomb of St. Patrick and St. Columba. The relics of
the three saints were
discovered in a triple vault in 1185, and on June 9 the following
year were solemnly translated to a suitable resting place in Downpatrick
Cathedral, in presence of Cardinal Vivian but this monument was
destroyed during the reign of King Henry VIII. The head of St. Bridget
is now kept in the church of the Jesuits at Lisbon, Portugal. The hand
of St. Bridget has been preserved at Lumiar near Lisbon, Portugal, since
1587.
The old well of St. Bridget's adjoining the ruined church in Faughart
still attracts pilgrims. Her friendship with St. Patrick is attested by
the following paragraph from the "Book of Armagh", a precious manuscript
of the eighth century, the authenticity of which is beyond question:
"Between St. Patrick and St. Bridget, the columns of the Irish, there
was so great a friendship of charity that they had but one heart and one
mind.
Through him and through her Christ performed many miracles". The
original manuscript of Cogitosus' "Life of Bridget", or the "Second
Life", dating from the closing years of the eighth century, is now in
the Dominican friary at Eichstatt in Bavaria.
The Litany of Aengus, dating back to about the year 798, describes
the occasion of a synod held at Munster under Bishop Ibar, "where to the
Angel of God was ascribed the great feast which St. Bridget had prepared
in her heart for Jesus": I would like the angels of Heaven to be among
us. I would like an abundance of peace. I would like full vessels of
charity. I would like rich treasures of mercy. I would like cheerfulness
to preside over all. I would like Jesus to be present. I would like the
three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us. I would like the
friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts. I would like
myself to be a rent payer to the Lord; that I should suffer distress,
that he would bestow a good blessing upon me. I would like a great lake
of beer for the King of Kings. I would
like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity.
This article is adapted from numerous works by the writer on the
saint and the convent during the past two decades. |