Att text: Colgan attributed Fourth Life of St Brigid to Ultan of Ardbraccan because medieval tradition associated Ultan with preserving Brigidine material (Colgan, 1647). Hugh Ward later repeated this attribution (Ward, seventeenth century). Modern scholars generally reject it, however, since no manuscript names Ultan as author and the text appears to be a later medieval composition (Sharpe, 1991).

Colgan, J. (1647) Triadis Thaumaturgae, seu Acta SS. Patricii, Columbae et Brigidae. Louvain: Franciscus Foppens.
Sharpe, R. (1991) Medieval Irish Saints’ Lives: An Introduction to Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Ward, H. (seventeenth century) Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (unpublished collections).

Author’s Prologue #

¹ For three reasons now, my brothers, my mind is assailed: namely by love, by modesty, and by fear. For the love of writing compels me to commit to the page the life of the most renowned Brigid, lest the great gifts of grace which God’s favour conferred on her, and the many miracles which she worked through her, should remain hidden or unheard. But modesty restrains me, lest, as I fear, my all too uncultivated style or the meagreness of my thought should displease the wise who read or hear it. And I am driven back still more by fear, because it is a risk for my weakness to compose this work, since I dread the sneers of detractors and malicious men tasting my poor talents like a dish of food. Yet since the Lord commanded the poor of the people to offer their humble things for the building of the tabernacle, should we not also make our offering for the building of the Church? And what is the Church but the assembly of the just? And how is the life of the wise built up except by the teachings and examples of the wise? So I will give love its course, trample my modesty underfoot, and make allowances for the whisperers. But you, prudent reader and intelligent hearer, I adjure: heed not the placing or the wording of the lines, but the miracles of God and the blessedness of his handmaid. For indeed every farmer ought to eat the fruit of the furrows of his own field.

Book One #

Chapter One: St Brigid’s family, birth, upbringing, and various signs of her holiness #

¹ There was a glorious king in Ireland named Feidlimidh, who was called Feidlimidh Reachtmar, because he made great laws in his kingdom in Ireland — for reacht in Irish means law in Latin. This king had three sons, whose names are Fiacha Suighe, Eochaid Fionn, and Conn Cétchathach, who reigned over Ireland at Tara in the height of its prosperity. When his father died, Fiacha Suighe had three sons: Rossa, Aengus and Eogan; and they, driven out from Tara by Art, the son of the Conn just mentioned, seized with their swords a great region on the border of Leinster and Munster, and they are now called the men of Munster. But Eochaid Fionn went to Leinster, and in many places the king of Leinster gave him lands; and his descendants dwell there to this day, and are now reckoned among the Leinstermen and called Leinstermen.

² Of these there was a great and powerful lord named Dubtach, who bought a slave-girl called Broicsech; she was very beautiful and honest in character. Lord Dubtach, loving her, made her his concubine and slept with her, and she conceived by him. When Dubtach’s own wife learned this, she was deeply grieved and said to her husband: “Sell your slave-girl Broicsech, whom you have made your concubine, for I fear her offspring will rise above my offspring.” But Lord Dubtach refused to do this, loving her greatly, for that woman was perfect in every way.

³ One day afterwards, Lord Dubtach and his slave-girl Broicsech, sitting in a chariot with their companions following them, came near the house of a certain druid. When the druid heard the sound of the chariot, he said to his servants: “See who is sitting in the chariot, for it is a king’s chariot that sounds so.” Then the servants said to him: “We see no man in the chariot but Lord Dubtach.” The druid said to them: “Call him to me.” And when he had been called, the druid said to him: “Is the woman sitting in the chariot behind you pregnant?” Dubtach answered: “Indeed she is.” The druid said: “Woman, by what man did you conceive?” She answered: “By my lord Dubtach.” The druid said to Dubtach: “Guard this woman well, for her child will be marvellous.” Dubtach said: “My wife compels me to sell this woman, for she fears her offspring.” The druid said: “Your wife’s offspring will serve this slave-girl’s offspring until the end of the world.” And to the slave-girl he said: “Be steadfast, for no one can harm you, since the grace of the little child will set you free. For you will bear a glorious daughter, who will shine in the world like the sun at the height of heaven until the end of the world.” Then Dubtach said: “I thank God, for until now I have had no daughter, but only sons.” Then Dubtach and his concubine returned home with their companions; and Dubtach loved her dearly because of the druid’s words.

⁴ In those days, at God’s prompting, two holy bishops came from Britain into Dubtach’s house; one was called Mel and the other Melchu — they were disciples of St Patrick the archbishop, who was then preaching the word of God in Ireland. Bishop Mel, seeing that Dubtach’s wife was sad, said to her: “Why are you sad?” And knowing the cause, he added prophetically: “The child of your slave-girl will surpass you and all your offspring. Yet love her as your own daughter, for her offspring will greatly profit yours.” But she still remained in her fury.

⁵ She, in her anger, with her brothers, who were strong and powerful men, pressed Dubtach hard to sell his rival into a distant region. Then a certain poet from the north of Ireland came, by God’s prompting; and Lord Dubtach, fearing the anger of his wife, who was noble, and the fury of her brothers, consented to sell her — though the lord was himself deeply grieved at this. And the same poet bought that woman as a slave. But Dubtach did not sell her unborn child, declaring that she bore a marvellous daughter in her womb. The poet afterwards went with the slave-girl into his own region. A certain holy guest came who prayed to God through that whole night, and saw in that night a globe of fire in the place where the slave-girl, St Brigid’s mother, was sleeping; and in the morning he told this to the poet, her master, who rejoiced at it.

⁶ At that time the poet prepared a great feast for his king, and the king came to the feast with the queen; but the queen was near her time. Then the king’s friends and servants asked a certain prophet when the favourable hour would be for the queen to bear her child. He said: “If he were born tomorrow at sunrise, he would have no equal on earth.” But the queen bore a son before that hour, against her wish. In the morning, at sunrise, that slave-girl, St Brigid’s mother, came from outside to her master the poet’s house, carrying a vessel full of freshly drawn milk; and when she had set one foot across the threshold of the house while the other foot still stood outside, she fell sitting upon the threshold, and most suddenly, without the pains of labour, by God’s grace she bore a daughter most beautiful of face. For so that prophet had said: the woman would bear her child neither inside the house nor outside it. And with that warm milk which she was carrying, the good infant’s body was washed.

⁷ Great signs at once followed, by God’s gift, about St Brigid, of which this is one. On the very day of her birth, a certain infant born the previous night was carried off by sudden death. And by some chance, when the saint of God was near it, she touched its lifeless body; and suddenly at the most holy infant’s touch that infant rose up alive. Seeing this, everyone said that this daughter had deservedly been foretold by the prophets. The settlement in which St Brigid was born is called Fochart Muirthemne, which is in the province of Ulster, in the region called Conaille Muirthemne. St Brigid now owns that settlement, in which a monastery of canons stands in her honour. There that church and its cemetery are, where the house and dwelling stood in which Blessed Brigid was born. And the stone on which Christ’s most holy spouse was born stands behind that sanctuary, and is honourably venerated by the inhabitants of that land, because many signs are worked upon it through St Brigid’s merits.

⁸ The holy girl rejected the common food of the druid, her mother’s master, and vomited daily — for the man was a poet and a druid. The druid himself, observing this, sought the cause of the nausea; and knowing it, he said: “I am unclean, but that girl is full of the grace of almighty God, and therefore she cannot take my food.” For he was then a heathen and unbeliever, with his household, because the faith of Christ had only lately come to Ireland; and he did not believe at once, but after a time, as you shall hear. Then the druid chose a spotless white cow and assigned it to the holy girl, seeing by God’s grace a whiteness in her; and it happened that a Christian woman was there who was very devout and is said to have been a virgin, and the druid arranged for her to nurse St Brigid. And she milked that cow and nourished St Brigid on its milk, for the blessed infant gladly took that cow’s milk; and the Christian woman diligently nursed Christ’s handmaid, loving her dearly.

⁹ After this the druid went with his whole household to the region of Connacht, which is the fifth part of Ireland, and dwelt there. For his mother was of Connacht and his father of Munster. For the sake of his magic art he travelled round that whole province and other provinces, and had great honour in them.

¹⁰ One day the most blessed Brigid was left alone in the house, sleeping; then that house appeared to be ablaze with fire, and everyone surrounded it to put out the fire; but when they drew near the house, no fire appeared — the house was found unharmed. Waking her, they saw a girl of beautiful face and rosy cheeks, and all said: “This girl is truly full of the Holy Spirit.”

¹¹ On another day the druid and St Brigid’s mother, with her nurse and the rest, sitting outside in a certain place, suddenly saw a cloth touching the head of the girl sitting beside them burning in a blaze of fire; but when they quickly stretched out their hands, they saw no fire — only the cloth unharmed. And by this is signified the grace of the Holy Spirit burning in the saint of God.

¹² On yet another day the same druid, sleeping, saw two clerics clothed in white garments pouring oil upon the girl’s head and completing the order of baptism in the customary manner. One of them said to the druid: “Call this virgin Brigid. She shall be full of grace before God and men, and her name shall be most renowned through the whole world.” And having said this, the angels departed. One night the same druid was keeping vigil in his usual way, watching the stars of heaven; and through that whole night he saw a column of fire burning and rising higher from the little house in which Blessed Brigid was sleeping; and he called another man to him as a witness, who likewise saw it. In the morning they told it to everyone.

¹³ One day, when Blessed Brigid was still a tender infant, she prayed earnestly to God, stretching out her hands to heaven. Then a certain man came to her and greeted her. The blessed girl answered him: “Mine this shall be.” The man marvelled and told the druid. The druid answered: “Truly it is a prophecy that the infant has uttered, for these places shall be hers for ever.” And this was afterwards fulfilled, for today St Brigid has a great paruchia in those regions. Hearing this, the inhabitants of the region gathered to the druid, saying to him: “You remain with your household among us; but let this girl, who prophesies that our regions shall be hers, depart from us.” The druid said: “It shall not be so; I will rather leave your land because of her. For she is great in heaven, and what she has prophesied shall come to pass in time.” Then the druid with all that was his left the province of Connacht and came to his own province, which is in the regions of Munster, where he held his father’s inheritance. And when the holy girl had grown somewhat in body, but still more in faith, hope and charity, she served faithfully—

Chapter Four: Benefits conferred on the wretched, many of them miraculous; deeds done in St Patrick’s presence; an innocent man defended #

¹ At another time St Brigid was travelling through the plain of Tethbae, sitting in her chariot. She saw a man with his household and wife and many cattle, labouring and carrying heavy loads, wearied then by the heat of the sun. Christ’s virgin, taking pity on them, gave them the horses of her chariot to carry their loads. The saint remained sitting on the road with her companions, and the holy virgin said to her servants: “Dig in that place, and a spring will burst forth” — for there had been no water there before — “for people will soon come to us who will need drink.” So they dug, and at once a spring burst forth. A little later a lord came along that road with a great throng of horsemen. Hearing what St Brigid had done with her horses, he offered her two unbroken horses, saying: “May the holiness of the good virgin make them gentle for her”; and at once, by God’s will, they were tamed as though they had always been under the yoke. Afterwards the disciples of St Patrick, archbishop of all Ireland, came along the same road and said to Blessed Brigid: “We are very thirsty and cannot eat.” Then the glorious virgin’s companions said to them: “At our lady’s bidding we prepared drink for you, for she foretold to us that you would come.” Then they all ate of their provisions, gave thanks to God together, and glorified his holy handmaid.

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² From there two lepers followed St Brigid as she went with a great crowd, and the holy virgin received them kindly. It happened that they quarrelled in the presence of the saint of God, and the wretched men struck each other; but the hand of the one who first struck his companion, once bent, could not be raised again, and the other’s right hand, raised aloft to strike, became stiff and could not be drawn back. So the wretched men’s hands remained rigid and unmoving until St Brigid came and made peace between them. Then those lepers repented, and the saint of God restored their hands to their former soundness; afterwards, receiving alms, they went away rejoicing.

³ Another day St Brigid’s chariot was taken away so that a sick man who was breathing his last might be carried in it; and when he had been placed in the chariot he grew better, and coming to St Brigid he told her this, and the next day, when Christ’s virgin had blessed him, he walked in good health. Seeing this, certain lepers asked for that chariot, and Christ’s virgin gave it to them with its horses.

⁴ The most blessed Brigid, being asked, went to a certain monastery of nuns in the region of Tethbae to celebrate Easter. On Maundy Thursday the blessed abbess of that place said to all the virgins: “Which of you will do the washing today for our sick?” When all the others refused, St Brigid said: “I wish to wash the wretched and sick sisters myself.” And this pleased the abbess, who knew it was of God. Now there were four sick women there in one house: one paralysed who lay motionless, another possessed and full of a demon, a third blind, a fourth leprous. Then St Brigid first began to wash the paralytic, and she said to her: “O blessed mother, ask Christ for me to heal me”; and as Christ’s spouse prayed for her, she was healed in that very hour.

⁵ While Blessed Brigid was staying in the same region in a certain cell for some days, she happened to remain alone in the house with one boy, and that boy was mute and paralysed; but God’s handmaid did not know he was mute and paralysed. At that same hour travellers came asking for food. Then the holy virgin said to the boy who was lying there: “Do you know where the cellar key is?” He opened his mouth and at once said: “I know well.” She said to him: “Rise and bring it to me.” At this word the paralytic rose up healed and gave her the key, and he himself served food with the holy virgin generously to the guests, in the Irish manner. Then the members of the household, coming to the house from outside and seeing the boy speaking and walking, marvelled greatly. Then he told them how he had been healed. Knowing this, they all gave thanks to God, blessing his handmaid.

⁶ On one occasion the holy bishops Mel and Melchu came to St Brigid and said to her: “Will you go with us into the plain of Brega to visit our patron St Patrick who dwells there?” She answered: “I greatly wish to speak with him myself, that he may bless me.” Then the holy bishops set out on the way with the blessed virgin and her companions. A certain cleric joined them, who had a large household, cattle and two chariots, wishing to travel with the saints lest they should suffer anything on the road. But the bishops were unwilling, lest their journey be slowed by his multitude of cattle and loads. The holy virgin said to them: “Go on ahead of us; I will stay and share the troubles of these people.” So as the bishops went on, the saint of God remained with them, and said to them: “Why do you not put all your things in the carts?” They said: “Because a paralysed man and a blind woman lie sick in the carts.” When that night came they ate and slept; but the holy virgin Brigid alone fasted and kept vigil. In the morning Christ’s spouse, blessing water, poured it over the paralytic, and at once he rose up healed, and likewise the blind woman received her sight. Then at the holy virgin’s bidding they put the loads on the carts and went on the journey they had begun, giving thanks to God. Afterwards the holy virgin, having received leave and a blessing from them, went on her way with her people.

⁷ And seeing a certain common man beside his house, very sad about his cattle, Blessed Brigid said to her people: “Ask him why he is so sad.” He said: “Because my whole household is sick, and no woman can milk the cows.” For in that man’s house forty lay in sickness. Then the glorious virgin told her girls to milk his cows. When those cows were milked, the man asked them to accept a meal after their labour; and the holy virgin’s companions ate there, though she herself was fasting. When they had all eaten, the saint of God blessed water and sprinkled that house and all who lay sick there; and at once, in Christ’s spouse’s presence, they all rose up in health and gave thanks to God, blessing his handmaid.

⁸ Afterwards St Brigid and her people came by a prosperous journey to the place called Tailtiu, where St Patrick the archbishop was with an assembly of holy bishops and other saints; and Blessed Brigid was received by them with due honour. Blessed Brigid then took St Patrick, the preacher of Ireland, as her father, and he took her as his daughter; for it is found that they had first seen each other there. From that day the wondrous virgin is held by the judgement of all to be the greatest of Ireland’s saints after St Patrick.

⁹ In that council a very grave question arose: for a certain woman who had fallen into fornication said that the infant she had borne belonged to a certain bishop named Bron, who was a foster-son of St Patrick; but he denied it before them all. Then all in the council, hearing of the wonders and works which God displayed through St Brigid, said that this question could be resolved through her. Then St Brigid was asked by all, and the woman with her infant was brought to her outside the council. Christ’s virgin said to her: “By what man did you conceive this infant?” She answered: “By Bishop Bron.” When she thus bore false witness at the devil’s prompting, Blessed Brigid came humbly to St Patrick and said: “My father, it is yours to resolve this question.” St Patrick answered her: “My dearest daughter, it is for you to reveal it.” Hearing this, St Brigid signed that woman’s mouth with the sign of the holy cross. And at once, as she refused to tell the truth, her whole head with her tongue swelled up. Straightway St Brigid turned and blessed the infant’s tongue, saying to him: “Who is your father?” The infant, before the age of speech, said in a clear voice: “Bishop Bron is not my father, but that base fellow who sits last in this council is my father.” Then all, recognising that man, gave thanks to God for the deliverance of the innocent bishop; and Blessed Brigid was deservedly magnified, and that woman did penance before them all.

Chapter Five: Knowledge of hidden things, generosity, austerity of life, and the journey into Connacht #

¹ As evening fell that day, a certain man, seeing the miracles St Brigid had worked that day, asked her, saying: “I have a new house; I wish you to be the first to enter it with your people, to consecrate it.” So the saint of God went with him, and he served her with great joy. As he set out the food generously, St Brigid said prophetically to her people: “The Lord has now shown me that this man is a heathen, and we must not take his food, since he refuses to be baptised.” One of her girls answered her: “What you say is true, for I have heard that he has strongly resisted St Patrick above all others and refuses to be baptised.” Then Blessed Brigid said to him: “We cannot eat your food unless you are first baptised.” Then he, stricken by God, believed with his whole heart, with all his household, and was baptised by Bishop Bron, St Patrick’s disciple, who was then with St Brigid.

² The next day St Patrick, hearing of this, said to the blessed virgin: “From this day you are not permitted to travel without a priest. Let a priest always be in your company.” Then St Patrick ordained a priest named Natfraech, who lived happily in St Brigid’s company for the whole of her life. Then, having received leave from St Patrick, Blessed Brigid returned with her people.

³ In those days a certain man came to St Brigid carrying his paralysed mother on his shoulders; and when he came to the place where the holy virgin was, he set his mother down on the ground in the holy virgin’s shadow; and when she had touched the saint’s shadow, she rose up, saying: “I thank God, for when I touched your shadow, O saint, I was healed at once and feel no pain.” Then a cry of all the people arose in praise of God.

⁴ Then, after an interval of time, certain men led to St Brigid a demoniac bound in strong chains. When he learned that he was being brought to the saint of God, he fell to the ground, saying again and again: “You shall not bring me to Brigid.” They said to him: “Do you know where you are being taken, or the place where St Brigid is?” He answered: “I know it, and I know it well, and I will not go to her”; and he told them the name of the place where St Brigid was; and they could in no way move him from the ground. Taking counsel, they sent to St Brigid, begging her for Christ’s name’s sake to come to him. Christ’s spouse went humbly with them. And when the demon saw St Brigid coming towards him, it fled from the man long before she arrived — for whenever the demons sensed St Brigid coming to their places from afar, they feared and fled — and that man was made whole in that hour and gave thanks to God.

⁵ Afterwards St Brigid came to the monastery of the holy virgin Lasre, and stayed there some days. One evening St Patrick came with a great company, preaching in that region, to that same monastery to lodge there that night. Then the household of the place, troubled, said to St Brigid: “Good mother, what shall we do? We have nothing at hand to feed so great a company.” The holy virgin said to them: “How much do you have?” When they told her what they had, St Brigid said: “You already have enough for very many of us, for God’s grace will increase this.” Then, at St Brigid’s blessing, that food was served to the two companies, Patrick’s and St Brigid’s; and they were satisfied and left greater remains than had been in that provision which St Lasre had prepared for the saints; and she offered her place to God and St Brigid for ever.

⁶ In the same place a certain man, whom his wife hated greatly, came to St Brigid, begging her in the love of God to invoke Christ’s name so that his wife might love him. Then Christ’s virgin blessed water and ordered his house to be sprinkled with it in Christ’s name; and that house was sprinkled, and the food and drink and the bed, in the wife’s absence. The woman came home, and seeing her husband, at once loved him with the greatest love, and as long as she lived she remained in that same love.

⁷ A certain woman of the Uí Ghais lineage, seeking alms through the region, came to St Brigid; the saint of God said to her: “I will give you my cloak, or a cow that was lately given me.” She said: “It does me no good to accept these, for robbers will come on the road and take them from me.” The holy virgin said: “Do you want my girdle? For you told me there are many sicknesses in your region; and through my girdle dipped in water, in the name of his Son, God will heal them, and men will give you food and clothing.” So the woman took the holy virgin’s girdle with her, and first went to a certain sick boy whom his parents loved dearly, and at once healed him, by God’s grace, through the holy virgin’s girdle. And so she did through all the years of her life, healing many sicknesses and receiving many rewards; and with those rewards she bought fields and became rich; and keeping her chastity pure and giving all she had to Christ’s poor, she became a saint.

⁸ After this St Brigid went out with her people to go on pilgrimage in the province of Connacht, not wishing to dwell in her own land, that is, in the region of Leinster; and she dwelt there in the plain of Hai, building cells and monasteries round about. Then she took possession of the paruchia which she had prophesied in her infancy, saying: “Mine this shall be, mine this shall be.”

⁹ Blessed Brigid approached to receive the Eucharist from a certain bishop’s hand; and looking at the chalice, she saw a portent in it — that is, the form of a he-goat. One of Christ’s ministers was then holding the chalice. Then St Brigid refused to drink from it. The bishop said to her: “Why do you not drink from this chalice?” And Brigid revealed to the bishop what she had seen. Then the bishop said to that minister: “What have you done? Give glory to God, confessing your sin.” He confessed that he had eaten the flesh of a stolen goat. The bishop said to him: “Do penance and pour out tears”; and he, obeying the command, did penance. Then Blessed Brigid came to the chalice and saw no monster in it, for that man’s tears had loosed the fault. Afterwards the holy bishop and the glorious virgin Brigid, refreshed by Christ’s body and blood, returned joyfully from the church.

¹⁰ Another time a certain old woman there was sick to death, and all the sisters of that place came to her to keep vigil and pray with her; and the holy mother Brigid came with them. And when she was in the agony of death, the virgins wished to take her better garments off her, lest she die beneath them. Blessed Brigid forbade this, saying: “She will be with you only a little while; show mercy, lest you seem to do robbery.” The charity and humanity of Blessed Brigid would not allow the garments to be taken from her, fearing that she would suffer cold. All, seeing such blessedness of devotion, glorified God.

¹¹ While the glorious virgin Blessed Brigid was still dwelling there, she frequented a pool of icy water which was near the monastery. One night, when there was snow and great cold for everyone, the mother herself came to the pool with one girl, and was in that pool that night until cockcrow, praying and weeping; and what she did that night she resolved to do every night and make a habit of it. But Christ’s goodness and mercy did not suffer this to be done longer, knowing it was beyond the strength of the virgin Brigid. For on the following night, when St Brigid went with her companion to the pool in like manner, they found in it nothing but dry sand without any water, and they returned marvelling. At the first hour of the day the pool was filled with its waters. Likewise on the third night the pool dried up at St Brigid’s coming, and on the next day it was filled at the same hour. God did this to show what affection he had for his spouse St Brigid, as he had towards John the Evangelist, his beloved, delivering both from the wounds of punishment and bodily pain. All who knew this magnified God’s power in his virgin; and when they begged her that this should no longer be against God’s will, she, knowing it had been done on her account, ceased from this practice for ever.

Book Two #

Chapter One: The return to Leinster; the beginnings of Kildare; the goods of the devout divinely defended #

¹ A great controversy now arose among the Leinstermen over St Brigid’s absence. For they, knowing that the whole of Ireland flocked to Blessed Brigid, and the many miracles and greatest wonders that God worked through her, wanted so great a grace of God to be in their own region, for it was there that St Brigid was born. Taking counsel, they sent honourable persons and faithful messengers whom she could not refuse, begging her to deign to return to her own region. The most glorious virgin, knowing this was of God, set in order the places where she then dwelt, and came with them. When St Brigid and her companions came to the river Shannon, they found two peoples sitting on either side of the ford of Athlone — the Uí Néill and the peoples of Connacht. For the river Shannon, which is the great river of Ireland, divides the regions of the Uí Néill and of Connacht. Then St Brigid’s companions asked all the ferrymen to carry them across the river, and did not obtain it — for they demanded payment for the crossing. But the glorious virgin’s companions said: “No; we will now go through the river on our own feet, and the blessing of St Brigid our lady will guard us, by the grace of God who divided the Red Sea and the river Jordan for his servants.” Afterwards they said to St Brigid: “Sign the river, mother, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it may become gentler and lower for us.” Then the holy virgin blessed the river with the sign of the holy cross; and with the two peoples standing by the river, as we said, Christ’s spouse entered the river with her girls, and all her people with her; and the channel of the mighty river did not reach their knees, though the strongest soldiers could not cross it without a boat. So all who saw praised St Brigid.

² And before Blessed Brigid entered the river with her people, other clerics, having bought a small boat, went aboard it, and said to St Brigid: “This boat can carry one of your girls with us.” Then the blessed mother ordered one of the tenderest girls, who greatly feared the water, to go before her in that little boat across the river; and the girl said to her: “Bless me carefully, my mother, for I fear to be parted from you on the river.” The holy virgin said to her: “Go in peace; God guard you.” Then, as they sailed, in the middle of the river the boat sank under the water in the sight of all; but that girl, set in great peril, cried out the name of St Brigid for help; and Christ’s spouse, blessing her from the land — the girl was carried on her seat upon the waters to the harbour, and her garments were dry, as though untouched by the water. Then all, praising God, placed wondrous trust in the most holy virgin Brigid.

³ When the most glorious virgin Brigid had come to her own country, she was received with great honour and the joy of the whole province, and a cell was at once assigned to her, in which the saint of God then led a wondrous life. There she built a great monastery of very many virgins; and there the greatest city afterwards grew up in Blessed Brigid’s honour, which is today the metropolis of Leinster. That cell is called in Irish Kildare, which in Latin means “cell of the oak”. For there was a very tall oak there which St Brigid loved greatly, and she blessed it; its trunk still remains, and no one dares cut it with iron, and whoever can break something from it with his hands counts it a great gift, hoping for God’s help through it, because many miracles have been worked through that wood by Blessed Brigid’s blessing. And by the name the cell was called, the city is also called.

⁴ Before a certain feast day a young woman came to St Brigid, who was staying in the cell just mentioned, bringing the virgin an alms; and when she had presented the gift, she said: “I must return quickly to my house, because my parents want to come and spend this holy night with you, while I stay to guard the house and cattle.” Christ’s friend said to her: “It shall not be so; you stay here, and your parents will come here after you; the Lord will guard your goods and house.” And the parents came, as the saint had said, and all celebrated that feast together at St Brigid’s. At midnight thieves came to their house, knowing the inhabitants had gone out to St Brigid, and stole the oxen. When they came to the river Liffey they found the river full with an abundance of water and could not drive the oxen across. When they had laboured through most of the night, they took counsel and bound all their clothes and weapons upon the animals’ heads, intending to swim after them; and the animals, turning back out of the middle of the river, carried with them the spoils of their enemies upon their heads, running through the plain of Liffey, while the naked men followed them. The oxen did not return to their own house, but came by a straight course to St Brigid’s monastery. So at first dawn, as the oxen arrived there with their pursuers, the men recognised both. Then the thieves gave praise to God and, confessing their sins, did penance at the bidding of the glorious virgin Brigid. And the man went out rejoicing with his own to his house; and finding all his goods whole, as St Brigid had foretold, he gave thanks to the Lord.

⁵ Another girl likewise came to St Brigid before another feast day with an alms, and when her gift had been accepted she said: “I will go home, lady, for I have no one there with me but my fosterer, who is very old and paralysed, and there is no one to milk the cows or guard the house.” But Christ’s spouse said to her: “Stay here this holy night; God will guard your house, and the cows will be milked, and no harm will come to them.” So she stayed there, and the next day, having received the Eucharist, she returned and found the cows and calves feeding apart in the fields, content and unwearied. And when the girl said she had stayed that night at St Brigid’s, the old man declared to her that the cattle had been in the pastures until then, and that he had not slept nor been aware of any passage of time, save only the hour in which the girl had left him. The mystery of this thing God, who did it, himself knows.

Chapter Two: Her father rescued from danger; the angel’s present guardianship; victory promised to King Illand #

¹ After this the glorious virgin Brigid went to the house of her father Dubtach, wishing to visit her parents after a long time. And her father and all her kinsfolk rejoiced greatly at her coming; and her father asked her to remain in his house at least that night, and obtained it. That night the angel of the Lord came and woke Blessed Brigid as she slept, saying: “Rise quickly and wake your sleeping father and all his household and your girls, for enemies are approaching who mean to kill your father with his people; but because of you God does not wish it. Go out from here quickly, for the enemies coming will at once burn this house.” And when they had all gone out of the house, the enemies came at once and set the house on fire, grieving that their foe had escaped them. Then her father and the others, seeing the pyre, said to the holy virgin: “Your blessing, St Brigid, guarded us this night from present death; now we know that all the things foretold of you are true.” Brigid said to him: “Not only this night, but as long as you live, no blood shall be shed in your dwelling.” And this was afterwards proved: for when someone tried to strike a woman there, his outstretched hand went rigid and he could not draw it back until he let the woman go free.

² The next day one of her girls said to Blessed Brigid: “Would that the angel of the Lord always helped you as he did last night, delivering you and your father with his people!” Christ’s spouse said to her: “Not that night only, but through my whole life I have my God’s help through angels in everything. For he brings me daily joy of heart, since through him I daily hear the sounds and spiritual singing of heavenly songs and organs; the holy Masses which are celebrated for the Lord far away in the world I can hear daily as though the Lord were near through him; and the angels offer my prayers to the Lord night and day, and he always hears me whether present or absent. I will now show you this by two examples. Once a certain leprous and sick woman asked me to bring her water and minister to her mercifully in other needs. So I blessed a vessel full of water and gave it to her, saying: ‘Set it between you and the wall, and let no one but you alone touch it until I return.’ And my angel blessed that water in my presence, and it was turned into whatever flavour the leper wanted. For when she desired honey, it had the taste of honey; when wine or ale or milk or other liquors, she had it in that same water; and it changed back and forth at her will. Again, when I was a little girl, I made a stone altar in childish play for the Lord; and the angel of the Lord came in my presence, pierced the stone at the four corners, and fitted four wooden feet beneath it. These two things about my angel I have shown you, girl, so that you may glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. And so his grace remains with me always.”

³ At that time Lord Dubtach, St Brigid’s father, said to her: “I beg you, holy virgin, go to our king, that the sword which he granted me for a time he may give me for ever; for it is a most precious gift.” So Christ’s virgin obeyed her father and went to the king of Leinster, who was staying in the plain of Liffey. When the virgin of God sat with her people at the gate of the king’s city, one of the king’s servants came to her, saying: “If you free me, lady, from my lord the king’s yoke, I will be your servant for ever with all that is mine, and my seed after me, and I and my kinsfolk will be Christians.” The virgin said to him: “I will ask for you.” Then the blessed virgin was called to the king. The king said to her: “Blessed virgin Brigid, what do you want from me?” The holy virgin said to him: “That you give my father your sword, which he has, for ever, and that you freely offer me that servant of yours with his people.” The king said to her: “O saint, most precious is the sword you ask; but what will you give me in return for these two great requests?” The holy virgin said to him: “If you wish, I will obtain eternal life for you, and kings shall be of your seed until the end of the world.” The king said to her: “I do not seek a life I cannot see, and I do not care about the sons who will come after me. But give me two other things: that I may be long-lived in this present life which I love, and be victor in every battle; for we Leinstermen have constant war against the seed of Conn.” So the most blessed Brigid said to the king: “These two things shall be given you: long life and victory in every battle.” Then the glorious spouse of Christ, blessing the king’s victory, returned home with her gifts.

⁴ Not long after, that king went with few soldiers into the land of his enemies, the seed of Conn — that is, into the plain of Brega. A prepared throng of enemies met him there; and when the king saw the multitude of enemies, he said to his men: “Be strong, and call on St Brigid for help, for she will fulfil her promises.” And crying to heaven, they called on the holy virgin’s name. And then, as they charged upon each other, the king saw as it were St Brigid going before him into the battle with her staff in her right hand, and a column of fire burned from her head up to heaven. And at once many of the enemies were turned to flight. The king and his men, the victory won, gave thanks to God and Blessed Brigid. Afterwards that king fought thirty battles in Ireland and won them all, and waged eight campaigns in Britain prosperously. And many kings, giving him gifts, sought his friendship, knowing he was invincible. That king was called Illand mac Dunlainge — that is, Dunlaing’s son — who killed Aengus mac Nadfraích, king of Munster, whom Patrick the preacher of Ireland baptised, with his wife Ethne Uathach, daughter of King Crimthann, king of Uí Chennselaig and Leinster; and who killed Ailill Molt, king of Ireland, near Tara, and reigned after him; and he, dying, was buried at St Brigid’s monastery.

⁵ And it came to pass after the death of Illand, who lived a hundred and twenty years, that the Uí Néill gathered an army to lay waste the borders of Leinster; and the Leinstermen took counsel, saying: “Let us set the dead body of our king before us in a chariot against the enemies, and fight around his corpse.” And when they did so, at once the Uí Néill were put to flight and a slaughter was made of them, for the gift of victory through St Brigid still remained in the body.

Chapter Three: Her zeal for the divine word and holy things, divinely confirmed; her generosity to the needy rewarded in this life #

¹ Another day a certain holy man came to the place where St Brigid was praying alone, and found her standing with her hands stretched out to heaven in prayer. At that same hour a great clamour of women and young men arose in that settlement — for the calves had just then rushed out at the cows, and when the men separated them from their mothers the clamour arose; but the saint did not hear it, her mind rapt in God. The holy man, seeing that Brigid did not hear the clamour, left her, lest he disturb her prayer; and returning to her after an hour, he said: “O St Brigid, did you not hear the great clamour that was in the settlement?” She said: “Truly I did not hear that clamour.” The saint said to her: “Where was your hearing?” She answered: “As God is my witness, I then heard Masses in the city of Rome beside Saints Peter and Paul; and I long greatly that the order and whole Church rule be brought to me from Rome.” Then Blessed Brigid sent wise men to Rome to bring the Masses and the Church rule from there.

² One rainy day the glorious virgin Brigid came to her cell from the road; and when the sun shone after the rain, a ray of sun entered the house through the wall of the house, and St Brigid put her damp garments upon that ray, thinking it was a rope. Then a certain wise man was preaching the word of God in that house; and Blessed Brigid was deeply intent on the divine words, and until a great part of the night the virgin’s mind was made drunk with the divine teaching and forgot present worldly things. But that ray, on which the virgin had put her garments, remained until midnight. Then one of those who were in that house said to the holy virgin: “Lady, take your garment off the sunbeam.” The virgin of God said: “Truly I thought it was a rope and not a ray.” That same day certain people were coming through the plain of Liffey to St Brigid, and night fell upon them in the plain; but that ray of sun lit the way for them, and they said they had seen that ray lighting the plain for them until they came to St Brigid at midnight. Then all who were there raised their voices in praises of God and praised St Brigid, through whom God did such things.

³ The most holy virgin Brigid held a feast in honour of a certain solemnity of the Lord; but before the feast she divided the feast among the poor who came to her. The virgin’s household was grieved at this, for many of the people called by St Brigid came to that feast day. Seeing this, the saint of God prayed to the Lord that night; and look, in that same region a certain steward, a very rich man, was carrying a feast to the king on wagons for that same feast day. He lost his way on roads he knew very well, until by a straight course he arrived at the gate of St Brigid’s monastery. The saint of God, knowing this by divine prompting, went out to meet him and asked about his journey. And he, warned by God, offered all his provision to St Brigid, saying: “For this cause God made me wander in my own region; I will make another feast for my lord the king.” When the king heard this, he offered that steward with all that was his to God and St Brigid, to serve her place for ever. The same king also sent other wagons full of food to St Brigid to supply the holy feast. Then St Brigid found the Gospel promise fulfilled, where it is said: “He shall receive a hundredfold.” By these the assembly at St Brigid’s was solemnly refreshed.

⁴ A certain queen came to Blessed Brigid with great gifts, among which was a silver chain having the figure of a man at its top. When these had been presented, the queen returned home with a blessing. The girls took the chain from St Brigid’s hands and put it in the church treasury. But the blessed mother at once divided all the rest among the poor. One day a poor man came to St Brigid; and the blessed virgin, having nothing else, went to the common treasury, took the same chain, and gave it to the poor man. When the girls recognised it, they spoke to Blessed Brigid: “We have lost through you, mother, what God sends us through good Christians; for you give everything to the poor and leave us destitute.” Then Blessed Brigid, wishing to calm them, said: “Go, daughters, and seek the chain where I go in the church; perhaps you will find it there.” And when they went out, they found there a chain in every way most like that chain, and offered it to St Brigid, asking pardon. Then the holy virgin said: “Give earthly things to God, and God will give you earthly and heavenly things”; and the girls kept that chain always as a witness to the miracle.

⁵ St Conlaed the bishop and prophet of God, who had a cell on the southern side of the plain of Liffey, came in a chariot to St Brigid and stayed with her some days — the first bishop whom Blessed Brigid chose in her city of Kildare. One day, as the bishop was returning to his own place, he said to the holy virgin: “Lady, bless our chariot and our journey.” And the saint blessed it. But the bishop’s charioteer, yoking the chariot, forgot to put the linchpins against the wheels. The chariot itself sped across the plain; and when, after a great part of the day, the bishop examined the chariot, he saw it had no linchpins. Then he, coming down from the chariot, gave thanks to God and blessed St Brigid, magnifying the miracle of her blessing.

⁶ One day St Brigid came through the plain of Liffey with another holy virgin, both sitting in one chariot; the virgin’s charioteer was by holy appointment a priest, who was preaching the word of God to the virgins — there were not many on the road. St Brigid said to him: “Do not preach to us with your face turned back; put your reins behind you. Our horses will go by the right road to our monastery, with God guiding.” And so it was done: the horses went the straight way through the plain. While the holy priest was preaching to the virgins and they were listening with attentive ears and eager minds, one horse drew its head and neck from the yoke and walked free behind the chariot without their knowing. Then the king of Leinster, sitting near the road on a high hill, said to all who stood around him marvelling at it: “I tell you truly, St Brigid sits in that chariot, caring nothing for the horses, since her mind is fixed on the soul alone.” The other horse was drawing the chariot strongly and well. But that horse, hearing the cry of the admiring, running crowd, came to the chariot and itself put its neck under its yoke. Then the voices of the king and his army were raised to heaven, and the wondrous deed was spread by them through the whole region, and they glorified God and Blessed Brigid.

⁷ A certain leper of the Uí Néill came to St Brigid asking her for a cow. The saint said to her herdsman: “Give him a cow.” The herdsman said: “Which cow shall I give him?” The saint said: “I would have it be the best of all.” Then they chose a handsome calf and drove it off; and the best of the cows ran to the herd with a great lowing, and they loved each other so much that no one could separate them — though that calf was not that cow’s but another’s; yet she loved it with a great love as her own, because of St Brigid’s will, since she willed that the poor man of Christ should take the best of her cattle. Then that leper said to the saint of God: “I cannot drive the cow with the calf alone to my province.” The good mother said to a certain servant who was then cooking meat in a pot: “Go and drive the cattle with the leper to his land.” He said: “Who will cook the meat?” The saint said: “You yourself will come back to it quickly.” And it was fulfilled as the saint said. For he went with the leper a journey of two days in one hour, and returned at once in that same hour, and found the meat in the pot not yet cooked. And all marvelled at this thing. But the almighty Lord granted this to the will of his faithful handmaid.

Chapter Four: Deeds done before St Ibar; her wondrous beneficence and gentleness #

¹ Another time Blessed Brigid was asked by her household to go to St Ibar the bishop, who dwelt in the plain of Gesille, and beg grain from him. Blessed Brigid, obedient to her people, set out on the journey. St Ibar, who had been a sower of the faith in many places before the most blessed Patrick, rejoiced with great joy at the coming of the glorious virgin Brigid. As Bishop St Ibar and St Brigid with her people dined and took meat, two virgins of Blessed Brigid’s girls set aside the two portions of bacon allotted to them, not wishing to eat meat; and those portions were turned into two serpents. Seeing this, Blessed Brigid sharply rebuked those virgins before Blessed Bishop Ibar, and ordered them to remain outside and do penance with tears. The saint said to her people: “Let us also pray to the Lord for them.” And when pardon had been granted by God, those serpents were turned into two loaves, which the saints ate consecrated.

² Then the holy bishop said to the holy virgin: “For what reason, mother, have you come to me?” The virgin answered: “My people say they have no grain.” The bishop said with a smile: “O blessed virgin, we do not have much abundance now.” The saint of God said: “It is not so, according to the prophecy: twenty-four wagon-loads stand there in your barn.” And so it came to pass by God’s will that they were in that barn — for there had not been much there before. At the bishop’s bidding it was tested, and twenty-four wagon-loads were found there as St Brigid had prophesied; and giving thanks to God, they divided it between them — twelve wagon-loads were left with the bishop, and Blessed Brigid returned home with twelve.

³ A certain king came to the holy virgin to celebrate the feast of Pentecost; and when he had celebrated that night, in the morning after the solemnities of the Masses he ran with his men in chariots and on horses to his castle. The holy virgin, when the day’s solemnities were ended, came to table; and with rich and poor sitting together before her, a generous provision was set before all. Then a certain most arrogant leper, by the devil’s teaching, refused to eat the food unless Blessed Brigid gave him the spear of the king just mentioned. All said to him, begging him to eat: “Leper, you saw the spear yesterday; why did you not ask for it to be given you then?” He said: “Because I only coveted it today.” Then St Brigid and all begged him to eat, and did not prevail. And Blessed Brigid refused to take food while the poor man fasted before her. At once the blessed virgin sent riders after the king to ask for his spear. They ran and found the king crossing the ford of a small river, and made their request known to him. And the king rejoiced at it and gave them the spear, saying: “If our lady Brigid asked for all our weapons, I would give them to her at once.” Then St Brigid’s messengers asked where the king had tarried so long that he had not got further. The king’s companions said to them: “We have not tarried anywhere, but have ridden swiftly; yet we know that God’s power through Blessed Brigid held us back, so that the saint of God might be quickly freed from the leper’s insolence.” Then all praised God and St Brigid, and the king went rejoicing more swiftly to his castle. And when the messengers showed the king’s spear to the holy virgin, she ordered it to be given to the leper. And giving thanks to God, all were solemnly refreshed with her.

⁴ Once, when Brigid was in the monastery and was sitting near the door of the place, she saw a man walking by the bank of the nearby river, bent far over, carrying a load. The saint of God, taking pity on him, said: “Let us go to that man and carry his load.” Coming to him, the saint said to him: “Give us your load, for it bends you very low.” He answered: “It is not a load that bends me, but an old pain from my youth.” When he asked who the virgin was, he was told it was St Brigid. The man said: “I thank God, for I have found the one I sought”; and he said to the holy virgin: “I beg you, holy mother, to pray to God for me, that my body may be made straight.” The blessed virgin said: “Go into the guest-house and rest there this night, and I will do what you wish.” And that night the saint prayed to the Lord for him. In the morning she said to the man: “Go to the river and wash yourself there in the Saviour’s name, and pray to God; and I tell you that you will straighten your neck; and do not leave until I tell you that you will straighten your neck.” And doing as the holy virgin commanded, he was healed; and blessing his healer, he gave thanks to God, who had set him upright after eighteen years bent double.

Chapter Five: Ulster visited with St Patrick; his burial foreseen, and the heresies to come; and other things #

¹ Afterwards she went with Archbishop Patrick to the northern part of Ireland. One day St Patrick was preaching the word of God there to the people; but St Brigid fell asleep at that hour. And after the preaching St Patrick said to Blessed Brigid: “O holy virgin, why did you sleep during the word of God?” When the virgin heard this, she bowed her knees asking pardon, saying: “Forgive me, Father; forgive me, holy lord. In that hour I saw a dream.” The holy pontiff said to her: “Tell it to us, daughter.” The holy virgin said: “I your handmaid saw four ploughs ploughing the whole of Ireland; and sowers sowed seed, and at once it grew and began to ripen, and streams of new milk filled the furrows; and those sowers were clothed in white garments. After this I saw other ploughs, and the ploughmen were black, who overturned the good harvest and cut it with the ploughshare, and sowed tares, and troubled waters filled the furrows.” The bishop said to the virgin: “Blessed virgin, you have seen a true and wondrous vision. This is its interpretation: we are the good ploughmen who cleave human hearts with the ploughshares of the four Gospels, and sow the word of God; and from us flow streams of the milk of Christian faith. But at the end of the world evil teachers will come, consenting to evil men, who will overturn our teaching and lead astray almost everyone.” Then those who were there with St Patrick and St Brigid blessed God.

² Another day a certain poor leper came to St Brigid, asking that his clothes be washed at St Brigid’s. The virgin said to him: “What you wish shall be done.” The leper said: “I must be naked while my clothes are wet.” St Brigid said to one of her girls: “Give your clothes to the leper, since you have others, until his clothes are cleansed.” But that girl refused to give them; and at once the disobedient girl was struck with leprosy — but after the space of one hour she did penance, and at St Brigid’s prayer for her she was made clean. Another girl gave her mantle to the leper, for fear had seized them all. Then the leper, after he had taken off his own garments before St Brigid, was cleansed of his leprosy. And all who saw such things gave praise to God.

³ In that region in the season of Lent, St Brigid stayed with her girls in a certain cell. One night eight thieves, strong men, came to take the four horses which Blessed Brigid had with her people. Then one girl who was without sleep said to St Brigid: “O mother, our horses are being taken by theft.” The saint said to her: “Let be, daughter; I am aware of it, but stronger than they will carry them off for us.” Then the robbers, having taken the four horses, went to the house of a certain commoner and stole forty measures of grain from it, loading them on the four horses and on their own shoulders; and thinking they were going to their own house, they were led back by God’s will to the virgins’ cell, and unloading the burdens from the horses they slept in a heavy sleep after their labour, in a dark corner. In the morning, look, the men whose goods had been stolen the night before came to St Brigid’s cell, having taken up arms and followed the tracks of the thieves and horses right to the cell. When St Brigid came to them, they said to her: “Our grain was stolen last night, but we followed the tracks of the thieves and horses to the door of this place. We beg you not to conceal anything of the matter.” Then the blessed virgin turned back and saw the robbers sleeping, and woke them, saying: “Why have you brought your theft to us?” They, terrified and wondering, said: “Because we thought, lady, that we had come to our own house.” Then St Brigid sent to St Patrick, who was staying nearby, to come and free the robbers. And St Patrick came at once to the holy virgin; and the thieves were freed and did penance; and those men offered their grain to Blessed Brigid and her virgins, knowing it had been given to them by God. And by this the name of St Brigid was made known in those regions.

⁴ One day St Patrick was preaching the word of God in the land of Ulster to the crowds and to Blessed Brigid. Then the people saw a cloud of great brightness descending from heaven to earth, flashing with immense lightning; and it stood for a short while near the people; and afterwards that cloud, rising, went to Downpatrick — where St Patrick himself and Blessed Brigid are buried, and where the relics of the most blessed abbot Columba were placed many years later in one tomb — and lingering longer there, it vanished. The crowds did not dare ask St Patrick what that wondrous vision meant, but they asked the gentle virgin Brigid. The saint said to them: “Ask our father Patrick.” Hearing this, St Patrick said: “You and I are equal; so reveal this mystery to them.” Then the holy virgin said to the crowds: “In that cloud was the angel of our father St Patrick, who came to visit the places where his body would rest and be buried after his death. For where the cloud first stood near us, there our patron’s body will be buried for some days after his death; but afterwards it will be taken and buried in the stronghold of Downpatrick, and there it will remain until the day of judgement.” Then St Patrick said to St Brigid that she should make a linen sheet with her own hands in which his body would be wrapped after his death, hoping that in that linen he would pass to eternal life. And so the holy virgin did. And she said to St Patrick: “You and I, Father, and God’s beloved St Columba — who was not yet born — shall rise from one tomb.” And in that linen the body of our most blessed father Patrick was wrapped. And when these things had been said, the crowds gave praise to God.

⁵ There was a certain noble, rich and good man in the plain of Macha who suffered a most severe sickness and pestilence, and could not be cured by physicians; and he sent to St Brigid that she might deign to come to him. When the virgin of God saw his house from afar, she said: “From whatever quarter the wind comes to that house, it brings a curse and sickness upon the master of the house.” When this was reported to the man, he said: “It seems to me that I have done no man harm.” Then his herdsman, standing before him, said to him: “I have heard, lord, all travellers cursing you as with one voice, because your farmers, fencing your fields with hedges, have changed all the level and straight roads into rough and thorny ones.” Hearing this, St Brigid said: “Truly this is the cause of your sickness.” Then at his command all the roads were turned back to their former tracks, and all travellers blessed him; and at once that man was healed of all sickness — St Brigid praying for him — and gave thanks to God and St Brigid.

⁶ One day, as St Brigid was sitting with her girls at the side of the fortress of Macha, two men came to her carrying an open wooden vessel full of water; and when they came they asked the saint of God to bless the water. And she blessed the water and the men. As they went on, it happened that the vessel fell from them to the ground on its side; yet it was not broken, nor was the water spilt from it, though it was open — the grace of St Brigid’s blessing guarding it. Hearing of this miracle, St Patrick ordered that water to be divided among the churches of that region, to be added to the Eucharist of Christ’s blood, and for the sick to be sprinkled with it for their healing; and so it was done. And those who were healed by that water praised God and his handmaid St Brigid.

⁷ Then, when the holy father and St Brigid with their people came together in one place, the blessed pontiff Patrick did not cease preaching the word of God to the people for three days and nights, nor did the sun set for them, but all supposed it had been a single hour. But a certain man, knowing they had been there so long, came upon them and said: “Why do you sit here so long, O saints?” The bishop said to him: “What hour of the day is it now?” He answered: “Truly you have been here three days and nights.” Then Father Patrick said: “We should have been so for forty days and nights unless someone had told us from outside, and we would have felt no weariness or hunger, divine grace granting us this.” Then the saints returned to their own places.

Chapter Six: In Meath — offspring obtained for the queen, slaughters prevented, superstitious signs dispelled #

¹ Afterwards the most blessed Brigid received leave from St Patrick the archbishop to come to her own country, and came to the plain of Brega in the region of Meath; and while she dwelt there in a certain cell, the wife of the son of Conall, son of Niall, king of Ireland, came to her to beg her prayers, for she was barren; and she had a silver flask as an alms for St Brigid. The saint of God, unwilling to go out to her, sent one of her girls to greet her as she stayed outside. That virgin, returning to St Brigid, said: “Lady, why do you not wish to come to the queen, to pray to God for her to have a son, when you so often pray for the wives of country folk?” The saint of God answered her: “Because country folk and the poor serve God — except a few — and call upon God. But the sons of kings are serpents, sons of bloodshed and of fornication, except a few chosen by God. Yet since she has adjured us, go to her and tell her: you shall have offspring, which shall be bloody and of accursed stock, yet it shall hold the kingdom for many years.” And the outcome proved it.

² One day a certain madman met St Brigid, running from place to place in a frenzy, who used to afflict everyone he met in those parts. Seeing him, the holy virgin said to him: “Preach to me, man, the word of my Lord Jesus Christ.” The saint of God’s companions, greatly fearing, trusted in their lady’s holiness. The madman, now become gentle, said to the virgin: “O Blessed Brigid, I will fulfil your bidding: love God, and all good men will love you; honour God, and all will honour you; fear God, and all will fear you.” And when he had said this, he fled with a cry.

³ At that time Conall son of Niall came to St Brigid as she was walking on the road, and said to her: “O holy virgin, bless me carefully, lest my brother Carbri, who hates me greatly over the kingdom, kill me.” The saint of God said to him: “Let your soldiers go ahead of me, and I will bless you following them; for it is not fitting that we walk with them.” Then they went ahead; and as they were all climbing the hill, one of the virgins said to St Brigid: “Alas, mother, what shall we do? See, Carbri, that lord’s brother, is coming after us, and those brothers will now kill each other.” The saint said to them: “Our God will not let it be so.” And when he came up, he said to St Brigid: “O holy virgin, bless me, for in these parts I fear my brother Conall.” Then they all went on together with the saint of God, and did not recognise one another — for God had blinded their eyes so that they would not know one another, for St Brigid’s sake; and parting on different roads, Carbri and Conall kissed each other, each supposing the other to be some friend of his. And afterwards, knowing this, they greatly magnified the name of God and of St Brigid.

⁴ Again at another time the same Conall, surrounded by his satellites bearing malign marks upon their brows, came to St Brigid, saying: “We need your blessing, O saint of God; for we wish to go into distant regions of the earth to lay waste and kill our enemies.” The saint answered: “I will ask my almighty God that this time you be harmed by no one and harm no one; and that afterwards you put off these devilish marks.” And Christ swiftly fulfilled the virgin’s prayers. For hearing this, they sailed into the region of the Cruthin, which is the northern part of Britain, attacked a fort there, and it seemed to them that they burned it, and they thought they had killed and beheaded many of their enemies; and they returned to their country with shouting and great joy, carrying the heads of enemy chieftains. And when they came to the harbour, they saw no heads or blood; and no gore appeared on their clothes or weapons. And they were astonished and said to one another: “What has happened to us? Where are the things we saw?” Then, taking counsel, they sent envoys back to the fort they had burned to ask whether anything had happened there. The envoys asked the inhabitants of that place: “Has anything new happened to you?” They said: “No — except that we found charred stubble this morning, and stones cast down from the top gathered on all sides; but we saw no one, nor do we know who did this.” The envoys returned and reported this to Conall. Then Conall, magnifying the name of God, went with his men to his country; and coming to where St Brigid was and telling her all this, he and his men put off their marks at the virgin’s command. She said to Conall: “Because you have put off your marks for my sake, in whatever peril you call upon me, God will defend you through me, and you shall escape unharmed.”

⁵ And this promise was once fulfilled thus: for after a time Conall himself went out with his great army into the region of his enemies and made a great slaughter there; and after the victory he was returning gloriously to his own land when, before they had gone far from that land, night fell upon them; and Conall, seeing a certain deserted fort, entered it. Then his soldiers said to him: “If we stay here near the enemies’ land, we shall be given over to death, for our enemies will follow us secretly and, rushing in, will kill us in our sleep.” Their lord said to them: “Night is already falling and I am weary; know that the most blessed Brigid promised me she would defend me in every peril when I called upon her, and I believe what she promised will prove true. Into God’s hands through her I commend myself with my companions this night.” And at once that night the enemies came after them, following their tracks; and when they had come near the fort where Conall was, they sent three men to spy out the fort; and they, entering the fort where Conall was, saw a great company sitting in clerical habit with a fire in their midst and open books before them — for the soldiers had set the heads of their enemies before them, and they appeared to be examining open books. The spies returned and reported these things to their lords; and they sent three other shrewder men, and they likewise saw clerics with their books open, as the first had seen. Then the enemy army returned to its own region. The next day they sent envoys after Conall to ask him for the heads, to bury them with the bodies; and these envoys reported this to Conall, and having received the heads they returned, telling their lords that Conall was there with his army. And both sides, knowing these things, glorified God and St Brigid.

⁶ Another time Blessed Brigid, asked by certain people, went to the king who was staying in the plain of Brega to free a man who was in chains with the king; and the holy virgin promised to give the king a price for him. But the king refused to release him, promising that the man would be killed that very day. And St Brigid scarcely obtained that he be granted the space of that night. Then that night St Brigid went with the prisoner’s kinsfolk and friends; while all slept, Brigid alone kept vigil. His men said to the king: “Unless that prisoner is killed tonight, lord king, no one will be able to kill him tomorrow, for St Brigid will free him. So we have formed a plan to seize him by force and kill him without your knowledge, and you will be blameless.” And the saint of God knew of this deceit by divine prompting; and in the first watch of the night a vision appeared to the man who was in chains: he saw St Brigid standing by him and saying to him: “See, wicked men are planning to kill you tonight. But when you are dragged by them to be slain, call on my name again and again; and when the chain is taken from your neck for them to kill you, turn aside to your right and you will escape unharmed to us from them.” Afterwards, as he kept vigil, they came and seized him from the king’s palace, and leading him out they loosed the chains from him. But he, set free, at once escaped from them and came unharmed to St Brigid. They supposed they had killed him and cut off his head. But the next day neither body nor head appeared — for they had seen a phantom — and everyone marvelled, astonished. At sunrise Blessed Brigid sent a messenger to tell the king what had been done. The king, hearing this, did penance, and forgave the man all his enmity for the sake of the most holy Brigid.

⁷ One day certain foolish men came to Blessed Brigid bearing devilish marks on their heads, who sought to shed blood; and when they asked to be blessed by St Brigid, she in turn asked them to cease using these vanities. But they said: “We cannot put off our marks in that way.” And the virgin, seeing the shapes of the signs, marvelled greatly, and signed them with Christ’s seal — not for the sake of blessing them, but lest men should perish by them. Then they went off seeking to shed blood, and finding a common man on the road, it seemed to them that they slew him and cut off his head. But the man passed through their midst unharmed to his house, appearing to them as a phantom. Afterwards they sought his head or body or blood and found nothing, and said to one another: “A miracle has happened to us, worked by God for St Brigid’s sake: we thought we killed the man, and did not kill him.” And the deed was made known by them through the whole region; and afterwards they abandoned their marks, glorifying God and magnifying St Brigid.

Chapter Seven: The journey into Munster with Bishop St Erc — the needy variously helped, the insolent punished #

¹ Afterwards Blessed Brigid went into the province of Munster, wishing to visit the holy places and the saints who were there; Bishop Erc went with her, who was a disciple of St Patrick the archbishop and was born in Munster. As they were walking on the road one day, St Brigid said to Bishop Erc: “Show me, venerable father, under what part of the sky your people dwell in Munster.” And when the bishop had shown her, the holy virgin said to him: “A battle is now being waged there between your people and another.” The bishop said to her: “I believe what you say is true, holy mother, for when I came from them to you, I left them quarrelling.” The holy virgin said to him: “Your people, father, are now being put to flight.” Then one of the holy bishop’s disciples, not believing this, said insolently to St Brigid: “How can you see a battle across such a great stretch of land?” And the bishop rebuked him, lest he blaspheme the Holy Spirit who enlightened the holy virgin in body and soul. And he said to the blessed virgin: “I beg you, saint of God, sign my eyes and this brother’s, that we may see what you see.” Then Christ’s spouse signed their eyes, and they saw the battle clearly; and that disciple said to Bishop Erc in a tearful voice: “Alas, alas, my lord! Even now, before my eyes, my two brothers are being beheaded.” And the outcome proved it all.

² Then, in a certain place beside the mountain, the holy bishop Erc and the most blessed virgin Brigid with their companions, wearied by the journey, sat down hungry. Then one of the boys said: “Whoever gave us a meal now would do a great mercy.” St Brigid answered him: “I tell you, if you wish to be filled with food and drink, wait here a little while for the Saviour’s help. I see a house in which an alms is prepared today to be offered to a church, and it is coming here this hour — see, it is already in their packs.” While the saint was still speaking, look, those carrying the alms arrived. And they, recognising that St Brigid and Blessed Bishop Erc with their people were sitting there hungry, rejoiced greatly and offered them their alms, saying: “See the alms which God has sent you; for we found no better church than you.” Then giving thanks to God they ate there. But they had no drink, for the alms was of food only. St Brigid said to them: “Dig the earth there”; and as they dug the earth, a clear spring burst forth there, which remains to this day and is called St Brigid’s Well.

³ Then, entering the plain of Femen, they found a great synod of saints there, and were detained in the synod. The holy bishop Erc told the synod of the miracles he had seen worked through St Brigid. The inhabitants of that region, hearing that St Brigid was there, brought many sick to her for her to cure, among whom were the lame, lepers and demoniacs; and as Christ’s spouse prayed for them, divine power at once healed them of their sicknesses.

⁴ Afterwards St Brigid went to a place near the sea, not far from the place where the holy bishop Erc then dwelt, and stayed there with her girls for a long time. Not far from them dwelt a certain anchorite, who was devoted to God and perfect; and wishing to avoid the faces of women, he left his place and directed his journey to an island ringed by water. And entering upon his way, he came near the cell where St Brigid dwelt. His disciples said to him: “Let us go, lord, to St Brigid, that she may bless us.” The anchorite answered: “You know my vow, sons — that I will see no woman.” Afterwards, rising, they forgot some necessary things of theirs. When evening came they stopped at a lodging, and then remembered their things, saying: “We lost our things because we did not turn aside to the saint of God to bless us; for this fault we will pray to God and fast this night.” In the morning they returned to St Brigid and found their things with her. For when the brethren had forgotten their things, the holy virgin, sitting in her cell, said to her people: “Go and bring in the things of God’s servants which were left on the nearby road.” The holy anchorite and his men remained with St Brigid three days and nights in praises of God and in the preaching of the Lord’s word. Then they went back; and Blessed Brigid, wishing to satisfy them, went out with them on that day’s journey. And the saint of God, seeing that the anchorite’s disciples’ loads were heavy, took pity on them. Then they saw two horses coming down to them from the nearby mountain, and at St Brigid’s bidding they put the loads upon them; and when they came to the end of the journey, St Brigid said to them: “Let the horses go back to their own.” Then the released horses returned; and none of them knew from where they were or whose they had been. And there the blessed virgin Brigid, having given and received a blessing, returned to her cell.

⁵ The anchorite came to the island and entered it; but the man whose possession that island was went into it with his cattle and men, wishing to graze his cattle there through the summer. The holy man, avoiding the sight of women, asked that man to leave the island, but did not obtain it — for the man said he held that land by paternal inheritance. Then the anchorite sent to St Brigid to come and help him. The saint came and asked the man, but could not obtain it. The next day a great eagle came and snatched up that man’s little son into the air. And his wife, the infant’s mother, weeping and wailing, came to St Brigid begging her help. The saint said to her: “Do not weep, for the infant lives; and the eagle has set it down on a shore above the lands.” And so the infant was found unharmed. But the man still remained stubborn and dwelt by the shore, unwilling to leave. The next day, suddenly, by divine power a most violent wind came and carried him with his people gently across the strait to the nearest harbour. Then the man, stricken in heart, did penance and vowed himself to God and St Brigid.

⁶ Another day religious guests came there to St Brigid. Then the saint of God said to her fisherman, who used to kill seals — that is, sea-calves: “Go to the sea in case you can bring something for the guests.” So he sailed out and took the spear with which he slew the sea-beasts. And at once a seal met him; and raising his spear he fixed it in the creature. But a rope hung round the man’s hand, bound to the spear, and the spear was fixed in the seal’s head. The gravely wounded seal dragged the man with it in his little boat into the open sea, and did not stop until it came to the shore of an island set far out in the sea; and there the rope was cut, where the man remained in his boat on the shore. The seal, with the spear hanging in its head, returned into the sea and came by a straight course to the shore of the place where St Brigid was, and there died. And that man, trusting in God through his lady’s holiness, ventured to sail, and by a prosperous voyage, at God’s will, came at the sixth hour to his harbour; and there he found the seal dead with the spear on the shore by a straight course, and entering the house he told everyone of that voyage of his.

⁷ Then St Brigid went with her people into the plain of Cliu in Munster, and dwelt there in a certain place for a time. There a certain slave-girl came to the saint of God, fleeing her mistress because she could not bear her ways. Her mistress followed her, wishing to take her back. St Brigid, wishing to free the wretched girl, begged her mistress to release the slave-girl free to God. But the woman refused, for the slave-girl wove precious garments. Then the mistress seized her slave-girl’s hand and dragged her violently from St Brigid’s side. And this displeased the saint of God. And when the slave-girl had been dragged a little way past St Brigid, the mistress’s right hand withered, with which she had seized the slave-girl’s hand. But the woman, seeing she could not move her hand, wept and, returning, did penance and released the slave-girl free to St Brigid; and at once her hand was healed.

⁸ Another time Blessed Brigid was asked to go to the king of that region, who was then in the plain of Cliu, to free a man who was in chains with the king. And Christ’s friend, coming to the king’s house, did not find the king there, but his foster-father was in the house with his friends. And the blessed virgin, seeing harps in the house, said: “Play the harps for us.” The men answered her: “Lady, there are no harpers in the house now.” Then one of St Brigid’s companions said to them jestingly: “May the holy virgin bless your hands so that you can fulfil what she commands you; obey her voice.” Then the king’s foster-father with his sons said: “May the saint of God bless us to play the harp for her.” And at the saint’s blessing they took the harps, and untaught they played as if skilled harpers, and harped sweetly. Then the king came to his house, and hearing the sound of the music said: “Who makes this music?” And one coming to meet him said: “Your foster-father, lord, and his sons, at St Brigid’s bidding.” The king entered the house marvelling at this, and at once asked for a blessing from the holy virgin. The saint said: “In return for the blessing, release to me freely the man you hold in chains.” Then the king, having received the blessing from St Brigid, freely and graciously gave her the prisoner. And the king’s foster-father and his sons were worthy harpers until the day of their death, and their descendants were harpers honoured by kings.

⁹ Another day two lepers came to St Brigid asking to be made whole. Then the saint prayed to God, blessed water, and told them to wash each other in the holy water. And as one washed the other, one was at once cleansed and put on his washed clothes. The virgin said to him: “Now you wash your companion.” But he, seeing that he was cleansed and had clean clothes, refused to touch the other’s leprosy, boasting of his own healing. The saint said to him: “What you wished him to do for you, you ought likewise to do for him.” But he refused and contradicted. Then Blessed Brigid rose and, washing the leper — he was cleansed between her hands — and clothed him in clean garments. But the one healed first said: “Now I feel sparks of fire upon my shoulders”; and at once his whole body was struck with leprosy because of his pride. But the humble one was cleansed, as it is written: “He who is arrogant shall be cast down, and he who abases himself shall be exalted.” And he rejoiced, giving thanks to God who had healed him through St Brigid’s merits.

¹⁰ Two other lepers came to St Brigid seeking alms. The saint, having nothing else to give them, gave them the one cow she had; one of them gave thanks to God, but the other was proud and ungrateful, saying: “Unless the cow is given to me alone, I will not take a half share of it.” Then the saint said to the humble leper: “You wait here with me a little until the Lord sends us something; and let him have the cow alone.” Then the proud one went out with his cow, but alone he could not drive it. At last, wearied with labour, he returned to St Brigid and railed at her with many insults, saying: “I could not drive it because you did not give it from the heart — you are too hard and cruel.” But the saint tried to console him, and could not soothe him. And this displeasing the blessed virgin, she said to him: “You are a son of perdition. The cow will now be gentle for you, but it shall not profit you.” Then a man came to St Brigid with a cow as an offering, which the saint of God gave to the other leper. Then the two lepers drove their two cows; and when they came to a certain river, the insolent leper was drowned there and swallowed up in the deep, nor was his body ever found; but the humble one escaped unharmed with his cow.

Chapter Eight: The return to Leinster; provisions repeatedly obtained from God; help given to travellers gone astray #

¹ Blessed Brigid did many other things in the regions of Munster, and consecrated many places and monasteries there. Afterwards she set out to come to her own city in the land of Leinster. As she was coming in her chariot through the plain of Femen, they found a farmer preparing his field. The holy virgin’s charioteer said to him: “Allow us to let St Brigid pass in her chariot through your field, and afterwards you may enclose your field with a hedge.” The man answered: “No; go around the field.” Then the holy virgin said: “Let us do as he says, lest anything offend us because of that man.” But the charioteer forced the horses through the field. Seeing this, the man in a fury struck the horses’ nostrils; and as the horses reared, Blessed Brigid fell from the chariot and was hurt, and the charioteer, falling from the horses, was hurt; and the horses stood still afterwards. Then the saint said: “Did I not tell you we should avoid this man, because I saw he was a man of pestilence and death?” And the man set about the work he had begun, making light of the crime he had committed against God’s handmaid. And God, avenging the injury to his handmaid — the man at once fell to the ground and died there.

² Then St Brigid, coming to the borders of Leinster, entered the region of Labraid; and there a certain woman came to her with her leprous daughter, that she might be healed. Then the holy virgin fasted in prayer, blessed water, and ordered the leprous girl to be sprinkled with it; and at once, sprinkled with the blessed water, she was cleansed of her leprosy and gave thanks to God with her mother and to St Brigid.

³ After St Brigid had come to her own city, certain religious men came to visit her and preached the divine words to her. Afterwards St Brigid said to her cellarer: “Prepare a meal for the holy guests.” The cellarer answered: “What sort of meal?” The saint said to her: “Let them be given many dishes.” The cellarer answered: “It shall be so, but you, lady, go to the church first and pray there” — for the cellarer had none of the things the saint had spoken of then, for Blessed Brigid’s boundless bounty of charity used to give away more quickly whatever God had given her. And the saint, knowing her reason, said to the cellarer: “Go now to your cellar, sign it and shut it, and coming back, pray; and I will go to the church.” At the sixth hour St Brigid called her cellarer and said to her: “It is time for God’s servants to be refreshed. Go now to the cellar, and whatever you find there, give to them generously.” Opening the cellar, she found there all the foods which mother St Brigid had named. And those foods did not fail for seven days, and all that time sufficed for the guests, for the whole household and for the poor. No one knew of this matter then except St Brigid herself and her good cellarer. Where those foods came from or who brought them, God’s knowledge knows.

⁴ Another time, when Blessed Brigid was in a certain place where there were streams without the water-plants which grow in the streams of springs without human labour, on which many saints in the western parts feed who crucify themselves in fastings — the company of virgins of that place came to her with a question and said to her: “Lady mother, why do no water-plants grow in these waters, such as holy men are accustomed to use?” The good virgin, knowing they wished to have those plants, kept vigil and prayed to the Lord the following night. In the morning the girls rose and saw the streams above the water full of those plants — that is, watercress and brooklime and other herbs in abundance; and passing through long stretches of country, they found in those places a great abundance of those plants which had never been seen there before, given by God as his handmaid had asked. And there to this day plants of the same kind do not fail for St Brigid, by God’s gift.

⁵ Certain men from distant places came to Brigid, wishing to commend themselves to her, and brought many gifts with them in wagons and on horses; but on the day they thought to reach the saint of God, night fell upon them in a dense wood, and wandering they could not lead the wagons for the darkness. But Blessed Brigid, knowing their trouble by the prophetic spirit, prayed to God for them and said to her people: “Light a fire and heat water, that the feet of the guests coming to us may be washed.” And they marvelled that she said men were walking in the dense darkness of that night. Then a great lamp appeared to them, lighting their way clearly until they came to St Brigid’s monastery; and the most holy virgin went out to meet them. And they all gave thanks to God; and fulfilling their vows, after three days they returned by the same road, and with great labour by day dragged the empty wagons, because of the roughness of the road — but Christ on that night had made those places level and bright for them because of St Brigid’s prayer.

⁶ In like manner the holy bishop Broon, whom we mentioned, came to visit St Brigid with chariots and horses and a great company; and the same thing happened to them as we described above. For a wintry night fell upon them far from St Brigid’s monastery in a dense wood. The holy virgin, knowing this by divine prompting, said to her girls: “Let us pray, daughters, for the holy guests who are struggling on their way to us, that God may pity their troubles. I am about to tell you a wondrous thing, dearest brethren.” Then Bishop Broon and his companions saw, as it were, St Brigid’s monastery near them, and saw St Brigid coming joyfully with her girls to meet them. She at once led them into a great prepared hall, took off their shoes and washed their feet, refreshed them with abundance of food and drink, cared well for their chariots, and set them on spread beds; and the holy virgin with her daughters provided them with everything they needed, as it seemed to them. In the morning St Brigid in her monastery said to her girls: “Let us hasten to meet Bishop Broon with his companions, who wandered last night in the wood.” Then the saint hurried with her people, and they found the guests sitting in the wood. And knowing that God had worked a miracle for them because of St Brigid, and telling what had been done for them — as though the virgin did not know — and glorifying God with great joy, they came with the saint of God to her monastery. For that is why St Brigid had gone out to them into the wood, because she knew they supposed they had been in her monastery.

⁷ And Bishop Broon, remaining there some days, returned with his people to his own region; and St Brigid gave him a little vessel of chrism, which the bishop received from her as a great gift — for the saint of God used to give her great things to pilgrims and Christ’s poor. One day the bishop was crossing the sea-shore, and the brother who carried that vessel forgot it on the shore; and remembering, he came back and told the bishop, weeping. The holy bishop said to him: “Do not weep, brother, for I believe the devil will not be able to destroy what the most blessed Brigid gave us.” Now the sea had come in to its fullness before his return; but the brother, returning, found the vessel unchanged by the sea’s waves, which had risen and fallen over where it had been left, in the sight of travellers passing by; and he gave thanks to God. And when he showed it to the holy bishop, he likewise gave thanks to God and Blessed Brigid.

Chapter Nine: Things foretold to St Ninnidh; St Darlugdach’s fall and victory #

¹ One day, when the glorious Brigid was a little way from the monastery, in the eastern part of the plain of Liffey, a young scholar came along the nearby road; and seeing St Brigid, he lifted his garments and began to run quickly and wantonly. And St Brigid said to one of her virgins: “Call him to me.” And he with difficulty turned aside to her; and when he came, the holy mother said to him: “Where are you running so fast?” He answered: “Today I must enter the kingdom of God, and I am running to it.” The saint said: “Would that I might deserve to run with you today to the kingdom of God. Pray for me, brother, that I may reach the kingdom of God.” The scholar answered: “And you, holy one, ask God that my course be steadfast to the kingdom of God; and I will pray for you in turn, that you and very many with you may go to the kingdom of God.” And then, as St Brigid prayed for him, he was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and converted, he did penance, and became a most religious man until his death — he was called Ninnidh, son of Eochaid, of the parts of Mull, and is reckoned among the greater saints of Ireland. St Brigid said to him: “On the day of my death I shall receive the communion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ from your hand.” And St Ninnidh said: “Would that you might live until you received the Eucharist from my hand” — for he said this meaning to go on pilgrimage for a long time and not see the saint of God again, so that she might remain until the end of the world. But the saint affirmed that it would truly be, and that she would receive communion from him on the day of her death. Afterwards, blessing each other with saving words and commending one another to God, they departed to their own places.

² St Ninnidh, wishing to keep his hand most pure from that day — the hand from which the most blessed Brigid had foretold he would give her the divine viaticum on the day of her death — made a tight bronze sleeve for it, with a lock and key, lest it touch his body or be touched by anything unclean. Hence he has his byname: for he is called in Irish Ninnidh Lamhglan, which means in Latin “Ninnidh of the clean hand”. Then the holy elders saw to his ordination against his will, so that the divine saying could be said of him: “See a great priest.” Then he sailed across to the lands of the Britons, meaning always to leave Ireland, knowing that what St Brigid had said was true — she saying she would not depart from this world until she received communion from his hand. And going aboard ship, he threw the key of his hand into the sea, lest it ever be opened. But it happened as holy Scripture says: “There is no wisdom, no prudence, no counsel against the Lord.” For when the day of the most holy virgin Brigid’s reward drew near after a long time, as St Ninnidh was then sailing in the British sea, by God’s will the force of the winds drove him to the shores of Ireland; and a great fish was brought to him, and when it was cut open the key of the lock of St Ninnidh’s hand was found in it. And Blessed Ninnidh, seeing all these things had come to pass by divine foreshowing, stricken in heart said: “I must no longer be mortal in opposition to the will of the living and almighty God.” And hearing that Blessed Brigid was sick, he went to her, and in the hour of her falling asleep she received the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, from the most pure hand of St Ninnidh, as she herself had prophetically foretold. The rest of St Ninnidh’s life, and the miracles God’s grace worked through him, are contained in his own Life.

³ Another time a certain man who dwelt in the eastern part of the plain of Liffey, a good and generous man, came to Blessed Brigid and said to her: “Let your messengers come with me, lady, to bring you some measures of grain.” When they had returned from him with loads, they found the river Liffey full beyond its banks, and could not cross the swelling waters — for there was no bridge or boat near in those parts, and people and animals cross the river’s ford only when there is no flood. Then they sat on the bank, calling on Blessed Brigid to help them. And at once God’s power, through St Brigid’s grace, carried them all together across the river to the other bank with all their things; but how or in what manner they were carried across they did not know. Then coming to St Brigid, they told her the miracle that had been done for them. But the blessed one ordered them to tell no one.

⁴ One day one of the virgins called St Brigid’s foster-daughter, named Darlugdach, not keeping a good guard on her eyes, saw a soldier and was taken with love for him; and he likewise loved her. One night, while St Brigid was staying in a certain village among the people, that virgin Darlugdach was with her among the others, and the soldier came to the same house where St Brigid was with her people. And Blessed Brigid and the virgin Darlugdach lay apart in one apartment; and the soldier and the virgin Darlugdach made an assignation between them. So when St Brigid had slept a little, the virgin rose to go to her assignation. And as she left the bed, a wondrous tumult of thoughts rushed upon her, and she had a great and unutterable struggle in her heart between love and fear: for she feared God and her nurse St Brigid, and was burning with the most vehement fire of love for the man. And turning to herself, she prayed to the Lord to help her in her great anguish. And God’s grace breathing into her, she filled her two shoes with living coals of fire and plunged her two feet into them; and so it came to pass that fire extinguished fire and pain overcame pain; and so with her feet burned she returned to her bed. But Blessed Brigid, waking, saw this, yet kept silent, so that the girl might be proved by temptation. The next day the blessed girl confessed her sin. Holy mother Brigid said to her: “I saw your struggle, daughter; but because you fought like a soldier and burned your feet in the present, the fleshly fire shall not tempt you again, nor shall the fire of hell touch you in the future.” Then Blessed Brigid, taking the blessed virgin’s burned feet and signing them with the sign of the holy cross, healed them so that no trace of burning appeared on them, as though fire had not touched them.

Chapter Ten: Provisions obtained from heaven for hospitality; wondrous bounty; various miracles #

¹ One day Blessed Brigid sent her reapers to her harvest. But from the third hour a dense rain appeared over the whole province and poured down all day; and while all the reapers of that region were kept from work by the rainy day, the most blessed Brigid’s harvest alone, without interruption and without a shadow of gloom, all day long, by God’s power acting through the holy virgin’s grace, was reaped unceasingly in serenity.

² Another day a bishop with a great company of attendants visited St Brigid; and the blessed virgin, wishing to refresh him, had nothing at hand to serve him. But God’s manifold power, wishing to help her, suddenly gave her the means to refresh them all sufficiently. Likewise for two other bishops who came to the saint of God that day, separately, refreshment was found. Now the holy virgin had a certain cow which gave a quite incredible abundance of milk. A certain greedy man, knowing this, asked the saint of God for it to be given him presently. And the charitable mother gave him that cow. But before he drove it to his own holding, it became like other cows. Then a certain man gave another cow to St Brigid, which by God’s gift became such in abundance of milk as the same one had been.

³ Another day a woman came to St Brigid, saying: “Lady, what shall I do with this son of mine? For he is as it were a monstrous birth, blind from birth, with a flattened face; and his father wanted to kill him.” Then Blessed Brigid, pitying the woman, ordered the little boy’s face to be washed in nearby water; and at once he was made whole, the Lord granting health for St Brigid’s sake. He was called Crimthann, and lived a long time.

⁴ Once, when St Brigid was outside in the heath beside her monastery’s flock of sheep, a certain jester, knowing she was most merciful to the poor, for sport and at the jesting suggestion of others came to her in the guise of a pauper and asked for a wether in charity; and the saint of God ordered a wether to be given him. And that same day he came seven times in different clothing, and seven wethers, asking in the Lord’s name, he obtained from the saint by cunning in the guise of a pauper, as he wished. But when evening came, the full number of the flock was found, the seven wethers being added to the innocent flock by God in a hidden way — for though those who took the wethers were not poor, they were given as if to a beggar in Christ’s charity.

⁵ One day certain lepers, thirsty from the road, anxiously asked Blessed Brigid for ale. Christ’s handmaid, seeing she could not find ale just then, blessed water brought for the bath; and it was turned by God into the finest ale and was served generously to the thirsty.

⁶ Another day, when a fierce boar had been put to flight by many dogs and hunters, it came wearied to the most blessed virgin’s herd of swine; the saint, seeing it among her swine, ordered it to remain tamed with them. And then the wild beast remained fearless and familiar in the saint of God’s herd of swine, for brute animals and beasts obeyed her words and will, and, subjected, served her in gentle service.

⁷ At one time the glorious spouse of Christ Brigid cured a most fierce and strong man named Lugaid of excessive eating — they say he used to eat an ox and a pig at one meal, with bread enough and drink. For as great as was the strength in which he excelled, so great was the greed in which he surpassed others. So she made him like other men in eating, by God’s grace through St Brigid, with no loss of strength.

⁸ A certain man was lodging one night with his wife in the same guest-house as St Brigid; and he asked the saint of God to sign his wife’s womb with the holy sign, as she had no son, so that she might have a son. And the blessed virgin blessed the woman’s womb with the sign of God. That night, as the man slept with his wife, an eminent saint was conceived. That night a slave-girl stole the silver crescent ornament of that man’s wife; and this displeased St Brigid, who feared lest, if the woman spoke of it, she would be deceived by her own. And the next day the slave-girl fled, and many pursued her; and unable to escape, she threw the ornament into a river. But a fish of wondrous size swallowed it at once. And at that hour fishermen caught that fish in their net and at once brought it to St Brigid as an offering; and when the fish was cut open the ornament was found in its belly, and the saint ordered it to be given to its mistress. Then the man, with his wife pregnant, gave thanks to God, blessing the holy virgin.

⁹ Another day St Brigid was clothed in a white garment, and a beggar came asking her for some meat; and at once the saint of God went to the cook, and he foolishly threw a raw piece of meat into the holy mother’s lap; and the gentle one, carrying it in her bosom, gave it to the beggar. But as a sign of the virgin’s charity, the garment remained white by God’s grace, as though untouched by blood. One day Blessed Brigid set down a piece of meat in a certain place, meaning to keep it for the poor. But a dog came to it and sat by it, touching it in no way — for the dog dared not eat the holy virgin’s deposit, but proved a sparing and fit guardian of the meat, tamed by divine power contrary to its usual habit.

¹⁰ Another time St Brigid visited a certain religious virgin who led a solitary life with few companions, having one cow with its calf. That virgin, wishing to prepare a meal for Blessed Brigid and unable to find meat otherwise, had her cow’s calf killed and prepared; and as there was not enough wood for cooking, she had the timbers of her loom burned. Hearing all this, Blessed Brigid prayed to the Lord that night; and the Lord, through her prayer, by his great power renewed everything in the morning: a calf of the same size and form came gambolling and lowing to its mother, and the timbers of the loom were found whole, as they had been before.

¹¹ Once, when poor people came to St Brigid asking alms, the saint of God, then having nothing else, gave them Bishop Conlaed’s Mass vestments, which she had in keeping. And the holy bishop, coming at the hour of sacrifice, asked for his vestments, saying: “I cannot consecrate the body and blood of Christ without my vestments.” Then, as Blessed Brigid prayed from her heart, God revealed his clemency there for the holy virgin’s charity: for in that very place most similar vestments appeared by God’s gift; and the holy bishop, accepting them — all who saw glorified God.

Chapter Eleven: The ready service of sea, rivers, beasts and angels; various transformations #

¹ Another time Blessed Brigid prepared Mass vestments for the holy bishop Senan; and as a very long road lay between them, the saint of God, then staying by the sea, put them in a case and ordered the case to be thrown into the sea, trusting in her heart that God would bring it to St Senan. St Senan dwelt on an island set at the mouth of the sea, ringed by a broad strait, in the western part of Ireland. And by divine guidance that case sailed around Ireland over many stretches of sea to the harbour of the same island, to the holy bishop. Where skilled sailors cannot sail in great ships without the greatest labour, there the case of the two saints sailed, guided by God alone. And the holy father Senan one day, by the revealing of the Holy Spirit, said to his brethren: “Go at once to the sea, and whatever you find there, bring here with you.” They went, found the case there, and brought it to their elder. And Bishop Senan, telling the brethren it was St Brigid’s gift, rejoiced in God and blessed Christ’s virgin. Then St Brigid gave a mass of silver to the blessed virgin Hinna, but the virgin would not receive it. The holy mother, seeing this, threw it into a river; and the mass, coming through the river to the blessed virgin Hinna’s cell — so, afterwards, with God guiding and granting, she received it.

² A certain condemned man was led out to be executed at the king’s command; and the most merciful virgin Brigid made a delay in his execution, begging for his life. Then pure silver was cast down from above by God into the virgin’s lap, and she gave it to the king for the wretched man; and so the condemned man was freed from death through the saint of God. Another day St Brigid divided her one tunic between two poor men, and each received half the tunic; but by God’s grace working, according to the holy mother’s heart’s desire, it became a whole tunic for each of them at that hour.

³ On another day Blessed Brigid pierced a very hard stone with her fingers, being in the greatest need — which we now pass over in silence for brevity’s sake. A certain king drove a prince out of his city who was a friend of Blessed Brigid’s; and the saint of God asked the king for him, that the king would grant him to remain in his princedom; and the king rejected her and would not hear her; and that same day, by God’s will, the king fell from his chariot and died, his head striking the ground.

⁴ Another time, when a multitude of guests had gathered and there was only a small provision, Blessed Brigid turned nettles into butter and tree bark into the richest and sweetest bacon, God’s grace working with her. To a certain druid who had offered his inheritance to God, St Brigid promised to meet him at the hour of his death; and so it was done: for when the druid lay on his bed awaiting death, he said to his household: “Quickly prepare everything that is needed, for I see St Brigid in a white garment coming with many to meet me.” And then at last he was baptised into Christ, and died believing in God.

⁵ One day Blessed Brigid and another virgin named Daria were conversing together about Christ, and they did not notice the night — for where the sun of justice was present, there was nothing dark. Now St Daria had been deprived of her eyes from birth; and she said to St Brigid: “Lady, bless my eyes, that I may be able to see the world as I desire.” Then the saint blessed her eyes, and at once they were opened; and she looked upon the world, and St Daria said to St Brigid: “Close my eyes again; for the more absent a person is from the world, the more present she will be to God.” And as St Brigid signed her eyes they were closed again, as she had asked.

⁶ One night St Brigid alone, aided by God’s help, moved a nearly immovable log of wondrous size from its place, which very many men could not move by day; for the angel of the Lord with Blessed Brigid brought that log to the place where the saint wished.

⁷ Once a woman went with her mute daughter to St Brigid’s church, and coming there she called to her a virgin named Darlugdach, whom we mentioned above, saying to her: “Arrange, good virgin, that my daughter may be healed through St Brigid.” Then the virgin, leading the petitioner’s daughter with her, set her before Blessed Brigid’s face, and did not tell her she was mute. And the holy mother, seeing her, thinking she had speech, said to her: “Do you wish, daughter, to remain in virginity for God, or to be joined in marriage?” And at once the girl answered, her tongue loosed: “Whatever you tell me, mother, I will do”; and afterwards she remained in virginity until her death under St Brigid’s care, and was very eloquent. Another day St Brigid, seeing ducks swimming on a river and sometimes flying through the air, called them to her. Gathered in a flock, the ducks, obedient to the most holy virgin’s voice, came flying to her most tamely without any fear; and the good mother stroked them with her hand and embraced them for a little while, then let them go back to their own.

⁸ One day a rustic, with great folly, went from the village to the king’s palace and saw a tame fox running about there; and thinking it was not tame or trained, he killed it in sight of the multitude in the palace — and that fox was taught and cunning in various arts of play, and provided sport for the king and his companions. Then the man was bound and brought before the king. The king ordered him to be handed over to prison to be killed at a fitting time, and his wife, children and all he had to be given into the king’s service. And when certain people interceded for him, the angry king said: “Unless another fox like that one in all its tricks is restored, it shall be as I said.” When St Brigid heard this and prayed to God with supplications for the wretched man, she took the road to the king’s palace. And without delay the Lord sent her one of the wild foxes made tame, which at once climbed into the chariot to St Brigid most gently and, placing itself beneath her garment, sat demurely with her in the chariot. When the saint of God came to the king, she began to beg him to loose the hapless wretched man from his chains to life. But the king, unwilling, told her he would not release him unless the saint restored for him a fox most like the other in all its tricks. Then the virgin of God produced her fox in their midst, which, performing all the ways and tricks of the other, sported with various arts before the king and peoples; and the king, appeased, let the accused man go free. But as the saint of God was hastening to her cell, that crafty fox, mingling cunningly through the crowds in the squares, fled to desert places and its den; and with horsemen and dogs pursuing it far behind, it escaped unharmed. And all who saw this marvelled at God’s power through the blessed virgin.

⁹ A rich man coming from elsewhere to St Brigid said to her: “Let your messengers come with me, lady, to my farm to bring you fat pigs.” That man dwelt far from St Brigid’s city — a journey of four days for travellers — namely in Munster, in the land of the Déisi, in the plain of Femen. But St Brigid’s messengers, going with him, found his pigs on the first day, unharmed by God’s will, driven on by the wolves. For in reverence for the blessed virgin Brigid, God caused those pigs to be driven through the great woods unharmed by the ravening wolves. And the man, recognising they were his own pigs, marvelled greatly with everyone, and handed them over to St Brigid’s messengers, giving glory to God. And so on the next day they came to St Brigid with the pigs that had been offered, and telling the miracle they had heard, in the presence of God’s handmaid who knew it, they gave thanks to God.

¹⁰ Another day, when the blessed virgin Brigid was pressed by some necessity and sought honey, asking God’s help, honey appeared to her on the floor of her house, very pure and sweet. For God, whom the virgin always held in her heart, heard her at once. The virgin of God, seeing this, gave thanks to her Maker with all her strength. One day the glorious spouse of Christ Brigid moved a river from its place to another fitter place, God granting it; and the first tracks of that river appear dry to all to this day.

¹¹ When the most blessed handmaid of Christ, Brigid, was now weighed down with venerable old age, her foster-daughter, the proved virgin Darlugdach, one day said to her: “My mother and lady, I wish to depart to the kingdom of God with you at once.” The holy mother answered her: “It shall not be so; but you shall succeed me for one year, and when that year is ended you shall die on the day of my death; and your feast and mine shall be kept under one celebration.”

Chapter Twelve: The writer’s epilogue; St Brigid’s death and burial #

¹ Here, dearest brethren, we set a term to writing or telling of the miracles and mighty deeds of the most blessed mother Brigid; for something new about her alone would always be found daily worthy of being set down on the page. For such miracles as you have heard worked through her in her life do not now cease, nor shall they cease until the end of the world, worked through her by God. And by these few things which have been written, you who will read and hear can know what manner and how great in merit the most glorious virgin was with almighty God.

² And she, knowing that the time and day of her reward was at hand, and foreknowing by the prophetic spirit the place of her resurrection, set in order her city and monastery and the places which were under her care throughout Ireland; and she told her people that she wished to visit the tomb and relics of her patron St Patrick the archbishop before her death. Yet she knew she would not return in the body; and as she journeyed she blessed the whole of Ireland on every side, as Bishop St Patrick had commanded when dying, saying: “For thirty years after my death, Blessed Brigid, bless Ireland.”

³ And when the most holy Brigid came into the northern part of Ireland — that is, into the province of Ulster — she was at once seized with her final pains; and after a brief space of time, among a multitude of saints, in the eightieth year of her age, in the thirtieth year after the death of St Patrick the archbishop — Murchertach Mac Erca then reigning in Tara over the kingdom of Ireland, succeeded in the kingdom by Tuathal Máelgarb, in the first year of the reign of the Emperor Justinian, Hormisdas sitting as pope in the apostolic see, in the year 548 from the Incarnation of the Lord — with the angels of God visiting her, she died most blessedly. And she was buried in glory and honour in one tomb with the most blessed Archbishop Patrick, according to their will, in a city set in the region of Ulster near the sea, called Downpatrick, which in ancient times was called the Hall of Celtchar, son of Uthechar, the count of Conchobar son of Ness, king of Ulster. Yet the grace and honour and see of St Brigid remain for ever in the city of Kildare, in the land of Leinster. So the most holy and most glorious virgin Brigid departed from this life on the first of February, after a perfect victory, among the choirs of patriarchs and prophets and apostles and martyrs, confessors and holy virgins, and among the hosts of angels and archangels, to the eternal crowns of the heavenly King, into the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the kingdom without end, where eternal rewards are bestowed upon her by our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives, reigns and rules as God, through all ages of ages.