Lá Féile Naomh Bríde

 February the first:  St Brigid's Day.  She is co-patroness of Ireland and her feast day is my wife's second onomastico and my grandmother's birthday

A prior post on St Brigid can be found by clicking here.

A pair of collects from the Daily Office of the Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham:

Grant, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that the prayers of Thy holy Abbess, blessed Brigid, may commend us unto Thee:  that we, who have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, may by her advocacy find favour in Thy sight; through Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

O God, who to the blessed Abbess Brigid gavest grace to imitate Christ in His poverty, and with humble heart to follow Him to the end:  grant that all who enter the path of Gospel perfection may neither look back nor go astray from the way; but hastening to Thee without stumbling, may attain the crown of eternal life whereunto Thou dost call them;  through Jesus Christ Thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee, in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end.  Amen.

Lá Féile Naomh Bríde

Today is the feast of St Brigid of Kildare,  my grandmother's birthday, and my wife's 2d onomastico.  So herewith something on St Brigid from a few years ago:

From The Life of St Brigit by Cogitosus, excerpted from The Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham:

. . .On another occasion the blessed Brigid felt a tenderness for some ducks that she saw swimming on the water and occasionally taking wing.  She bid them fly to her, and a great flock of them flew towards her, without any fear, as if they were humans under obedience to her.  She touched them with her hand and embraced them tenderly.  She then released them and they flew into the sky.  And as they did so she praised God the Creator of all living things, to whom all life is subject, and for the service of whom all life is a gift. . . .

The collect for St Brigid from the Masses proper to England and Wales in the old English Missal:

O God, who on this day dost make us to rejoice in the yearly solemnity of blessed Brigid thy Virgin : graciously grant ; that we who are enlightened by the example of her chastity, may be aided by her merits. Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.

The collect in the Pauline Rite:

Lord, you inspired Saint Brigid such whole-hearted dedication to your work that she is known as Mary of the Gael; through her intercession bless our country; may we follow the example of her life and be united with her and the Virgin Mary in your presence.  We make our prayer through Christ our  Lord .  Amen.

The monks of St Benedict's Abbey in Norcia have been brewing their own beer for a while now.  You may have seen a notice here and there that their beer is soon to be available in the U.S.  You can find out about it here.  They're far from being the first brewing abbey.  That talent goes at least as far back as . . . St Brigid.

In his Lives of the British Saints the Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould informs us that St Brigid was no mean brew-mistress:

She was famous for the ale she brewed, and on one occasion supplied seventeen churches in Meath with liquor from Maundy Thursday to Low Sunday. She also furnished [St] Mel, her diocesan, with beer continually. Lepers and poor people clamoured for her ale, and on one occasion she bluntly told them that all she could give them was her bath-water. The [medieval] biographer improves this story into a miracle, her tubbing water was converted into excellent beer. Indeed such was her desire to supply the Saints with wholesome home-brewed ale, that the only hymn of hers that has been preserved, runs as follows: 

I should like a great lake of ale
For the King of Kings!
I should like the whole family of heaven
To be drinking it eternally. 

One day Bishop Mel arrived with a large party of clerics, and clamoured for breakfast. "This is well for you to be hungry," replied Brigid, "but we also are hungry and thirsty, and that for the Word of God. Go into the church first and serve us with the spiritual banquet. After that we will attend to your victuals."

 

29 January -- St Blathnaid of Kildare

St Blathnaid,  or Blath, was the cook in St Brigid's monastery.  She is one of Ireland's hidden and little-known saints although her name is still occasionally in use.

There is a page dedicated to her here.

February 1 -- St Brigid's Day

A collect for St Brigid:

O God, whose dwelling-place is the  pure in heart : grant that we who venerate the memory of Saint Brigid, thy faithful spouse, may have grace to follow the example of her unspotted life  Through Our Lord.   Amen.

That is from the lovely old Anglican Breviary. She's not in the general Roman calendar, the American Ordinariate calendar - a sad failing - nor any of the local feasts given for North America in my old St Andrew Missal.  The Customary of Our Lady of Walsingham gives her feast and a delightful reading but no collect.   Ireland, of course, has a proper collect for her.  The old rite has one -- but I don't have access to it.  The Pauline rite has one, too, but I don't know what I've done with the book.  It's around here somewhere but I don't use it and haven't seen it in a while.  As I recall, it was quite good.  A tad bland as is the modern fashion.  But not heretical as is, alas, sometimes also the modern fashion.

UCD's cultural heritage collection has an interesting article here on her legend and lore throughout the ages.  Not terribly devotional - and a bit too obsessed with druids and suchlike, as is yet again the modern fashion, but still pretty interesting.

Here the Medieval Manuscripts Blog gives a collection of tales of St Brigid's miracles.  (The exploding eye one does seem a bit gruesome, even if it was an illusion.)

And, for what it's worth,  February 1 is my grandmother's birthday.  When she was born Ireland was British, Victoria was still queen and, indeed, had yet another 20+ years to go, and Rutherford B. Hayes was president.

St Patrick's Day as was

God help us, The Inn missed a St Patrick's Day mention on the day entirely.  His collect from the old English Missal:

O God, who for the preaching of thy glory unto the Gentiles wast pleased to send forth blessed  Patrick, thy confessor and Bishop : grant by his merits and intercession ; that we may through thy mercy be enabled to accomplish those things which thou commandest us to do. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

For more than you even knew existed about St Patrick, bookmark this wonderful site Trias Thaumaturga and peruse at your leisure.  There is much for the feasts of St Brigid (1 February) and St Colum Cille (9 June) also.

And in an attempt to atone for inexcusable tardiness, here is the St Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band's medley performance at the 2015 Worlds.

August 21 -- Our Lady of Knock

It was on this day in 1879 that Our Lady, St Joseph, and St John the Apostle appeared in the little village of Knock in County Mayo.  There's a good history of the apparitions here.  Alas, the article is 18 years old and the author's view of contemporary Irish Catholicism is no longer quite so accurate.

Here's what we said about Knock in years past:  2011 and 2015.  I tested a couple of the links therein and, mirabile dictu, they still worked.

Good-bye to Catholic Ireland

The blog Cor Iesu Sacratissimum has a fine review of Mary Kenny's book "Good-bye to Catholic Ireland" here.   I read the book when it first came out and commend to you both the book and the review, or as the reviewer calls it "the tribute".  Even if you don't get your hands on the book, (although you should)  do read the review.

23 September -- St Adamnan of Raphoe and Iona

Today is the feast of the 7th century Irish/Scottish saint and 9th Abbot of Iona, St Adamnan.  Grattan Flood in the good old Catholic Encyclopædia gives a brief life here.  It seems he was not only abbot of Iona but a sort of Abbot General of all the Columban houses in Ireland.  As a canonist he is said to be responsible for 

"the Cain Adamnain, or Canon of Adamnan . . . which freed women and children from the evils inseparable from war, forbidding them to be killed or made captive in times of strife."

It doesn't say what he thought about making them Army Rangers.

Marcella in her comprehensive Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniæ gives a little vignette from his life as a poor student here.

August 21 -- Our Lady of Knock

Today is the 136th anniversary of Our Lady's apparition in the little town of Knock in the County Mayo . . . and of St  Joseph and St John the Apostle,  too, for that matter.  The day merits the status of feast in Ireland but doesn't seem to get a look-in in this country.

There are a few pages on the net that tell the story, like this one and this one. The shrine itself has its own page here.  

As is often the case, you can click on the picture above to enlarge it and get a better view of the new shrine church.  (I would've preferred Gothic, but I wasn't asked.  What you see above is almost always the sort of thing that gets built in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.  Still, if you visit Knock the old parish church from 1879 is still there and Masses are still celebrated there.  It's a consolation.)

Our Lady of Knock, pray for Ireland and for us.

August 13 -- St Lelia

In the old calendar, St Lelia's day was kept only in the diocese of Kerry.  The new calendar she shares yesterday with Ss Muredach and Attracta.

There is more on St Lelia here, but alas, largely speculation.

August 12 -- St Ségéne

August 12 is the commemoration of the fifth abbot of Iona, Saint Ségéne. . . .  Saint Ségéne had a long and interesting reign as a successor to Saint Colum Cille of Iona. He was one of those related by blood to the founder and he featured prominently in the Paschal Dating Controversy. Abbot Ségéne was one of those implacably opposed to accepting the Roman computation for the date of Easter.

Always delighted to find another liturgical traditionalist.

Much more here.

An Inquiry into the 'State of Popery'

‘These Masshouses are generally mean thatched cabins; many, or most of them, open at one end, and very few of them built since the first of King George the First.‘ 

These words are from the official return made to the Irish government in December 1731 by Henry Maule, Bishop of Cloyne in the Established Church (Church of Ireland). The Irish House of Lords had ordered an inquiry into the ‘State of Popery’ in Ireland and each bishop was required to submit detailed returns. The House of Lords wished to know how effective the Penal Laws enacted since 1693 had been in curtailing the practice of Catholicism.There were a number of restrictions imposed by these laws. Catholics couldn’t build a place of worship that looked like a church, it couldn’t be located in sight of a church or beside a main road, and it couldn’t have a bell or belfry.

More here.

St Columba of Iona, the Apostle of Scotland

Today is the feast  of St Columba or Colum Cille, if you prefer.  He is on the liturgical calendars of Scotland and Ireland but he didn't quite make the cut in the United States.

The Inn had this to say about St Columba a few years ago.  The Catholic Encyclopædia has a detailed life here.  Perhaps the best things on the web on St Columba can be found at the Trias Thaumaturga blog.  You could start here but you don't have to stop there.  A little searching reveals a lot more.

Found While Looking for Something Else

ADDENDUM:  This post would have made a lot more sense yesterday -- what with allusions to nostalgia and all -- had I remembered to mention that the video cited is from 1931.  I.e.,  the "New Lord Abbot" hasn't been new in 83 years.  So, once again, bearing the date 1931 in mind, herewith:


"The New Lord Abbot receives the Abbatial Blessing at Mount Melleray" says the title of this silent video:

http://www.britishpathe.com/video/new-lord-abbot

We don't actually get to see an abbatial blessing. What it is, is about two minutes worth of procession into the monastic chapel by assorted clerics and religious: lots of lace-on-cottas, old religious habits (I noted after a couple of run-throughs Franciscans, Dominicans, one each Redemptorist, Passionist, and Discalced Carmelite, and perhaps a couple of Augustinians).   There are a few clerics wearing what look like papal mozettas  --  I suspect they're canons of the local diocese.  A pair of cappae magnae bring up the rear.

It's a delight to see in the beginning and in the end kind of sad and nostalgic, remembering the stark-white polyester nightgowns that make up clerical processions in the 21st century.  (They seem to be called "cassockalbs", God help us.)

February 1 -- St Brigid of Kildare

Today is the feast of St Brigid of Kildare, the co-patron of Ireland and the first Irish nun.  Mrs Vidal has summary of her life here.  Wikipedia tells her story at some length here.

Chambers Book of Days in its usual chatty, gossipy, and occasionally accurate way has this verbal detour which St Brigid's name seems to have taken in England:

For some cause or other Bridget was a popular saint in England and Scotland, where she was better known by the corrupted or abbreviated name of St. Bride, and under this name a number of churches were dedicated to her. We need only mention St. Bride's Church in Fleet-street, London.

Adjoining to St. Bride's Churchyard, Fleet-street, is an ancient well dedicated to the saint, and commonly called Bride's Well. A palace erected near by took the name of Bridewell. This being given by Edward VI to the city of London as a workhouse for the poor and a house of correction, the name became associated in the popular mind with houses having the same purpose in view. Hence it has arisen that the pure and innocent Bridget—the first of Irish nuns—is now inextricably connected in our ordinary national parlance with a class of beings of the most opposite description.

Bride a "corruption or abbreviation".  Hmmm.  Perhaps instead a more accurate approximation to the original Irish of her name than Brigid?

(Aaaand it's my grandmother's birthday.  If she were alive she would be . . .  135 years old.  May she rest  in peace.)

Found While Looking for Something Else

Those who live in Dublin and love the traditional Roman Rite have their very own parish providing Sunday and daily Masses in the old Rite.  I've known that since it was established a few years ago, although I've never been there.  (That happens when you're visiting and have to fit in with other people's schedules.)  But I only found this evening that the Latin Mass Chaplaincy, as it it's known, has its own website.  You can find it here.

What a beautiful church they've been given.  It's worth clicking the link just to see the pictures.  (Especially if you live in California where most of the modern ecclesiastical architecture has been inspired by the shoe box.)

St Columbanus

The 23d of November is the feast of the great Irish missionary and monastic founder St Columbanus.  As always on this day, The Inn reprints a paragraph from the Rev Sabine Baring-Gould's life of the saint (and not just because St Columbanus was a great traditionalist in his day, holding to the method of calculating Easter handed down to him by his spiritual fathers).

He [St Columbanus] received a good classical education, and resolved early to embrace an ascetic life. But the good looks and winning ways of the Irish girls were a snare to him. He tried to forget their bright eyes by toiling (desudavit) at grammar, rhetoric, and geometry, but found that at least syntax and the problems of Euclid were a less attractive study than pretty faces, and that the dry rules of rhetoric failed altogether before the winsome prattle of light- hearted maidens. He consulted an old woman who lived as a recluse. She warned him that if he wished to maintain his purpose of self-conquest he must fly to a region where girls are less beautiful and seductive than Ireland. "Save thyself, young man, and fly!" His resolution was formed; he decided on going away.

So he went to France.

And then Italy.

Really;  you could look it up.

1,000 Years of Irish History in Three Paragraphs

The aunciente Irish descend from the Spaniards whoe, above 1000 yeares agoe got that kingdome from the Graecians, and governed it with just and holie lawes, being holpen thereon by the doctrine and holynes of many holy miraculous and learned men of there owne, until the comeing of the Danes, the which by overthrowing and destroying churches and Universityes in that island, broughte in much barbaritie, and evill customes, with tyranny, after which there followed, even in the Irish themselves sinnes and offences against God, civil wars, and domesticall hatred, murthers, &c.

The remaining two paragraphs.