Come and Pray to Save the 8th

Pilgrimage to Honour Saint Brigid of Kildare

For over a decade we have been making an annual pilgrimage to the Parish Church of Saint Brigid of Kildare, Kildare Town. Today we returned to do honour to the Patroness of Ireland.

Bishop Comerford in his Collections Relating to the Dioceses of Kildare and Leighlin, Vol. 2 (1886) under the Parish of Kildare says:

"Ancient Kildare is believed to have stood a little to the west of the present town. From a passage in the Book of Leinster, quoted by O’Curry, (Lectures, p. 487,) it appears that the place was previously named Drumcree, (Druimcriadh, ie. “the Ridge of Clay.”) It received its present appellation “from a goodly, high oak,” under the shadow of which St. Brigid constructed her cell. “When the most glorious virgin, Brigid, returned to her own country,” writes her Biographer, Cogitosus, Bishop of Kildare, in the 10th century, “she was received with great honour and with the great joy of the whole Province, and there a cell was assigned unto her in which this Saint of God led a wonderful life. There she erected a monastery of many virgins, and there, in honour of St. Brigid, a very great city afterwards sprung up which is at this day the Metropolis of the Lagenians. That cell is called in the Scotic, Cill-dara, which sounds in Latin, Cella Quercus, i.e. the cell of the oak. For there was a very high oak tree there which St. Brigid loved much and blessed; of which the trunk still (circa A.D. 980,) remains. No one dares to cut it with a weapon; but he who can break off any part of it with his hands, deems it a great advantage, hoping for the aid of God by means of it; because through the benediction of St. Brigid, many miracles have been performed by that wood. The same name which this cell bore, the city also is named.” (Vita IV. St. Brigidoe, lib. II. c. 3, Tr. Thaum.) St. Brigid established herself at Kildare some time about the year 470, to which period, therefore, the town can trace its foundation.

St. Brigid was born at Faughart, now a village in the Diocese of Armagh, and County of Louth, probably in the year 453. Her father, Dubhtach, and her mother, Brocessa or Brotseach, were both distinguished for their noble descent and their Christian virtues, “Sancta itaque Brigida, quam Deus praescivit ad suam imaginem et praedestinavit, a Christianis, nobilibusque parentibus genita.” (Cogitosus.) The same is repeated in the Prologue to the Vita VI., or metrical Life of the Saint, by Cilien of Iniskeltra. (Tr. Thaum.)

“Dubhtacus ejus erat genitor cognomine dictus,
Clarus homo meritis, clarus et a proavis;
Nobilis atque humilis, mitis, pietate repletus;
Nobilior propria conjuge, prole pia.”

Dubhtach was descended of Eochad, brother of the celebrated Con of the Hundred Battles; and Brotseach was of the noble race of Dal Conchobhair or O’Conor. The parents of the Saint belonged to the district of Leinster; whether her being born at Fauchart was owing to their having a residence there also, or to their having been on a visit there at the time, cannot now be determined. Her biographer, Cogitosus, tells us that she received a good education: - “A sua pueritia bonarum literarum studiis inolevit;” and even in her childhood that extraordinary charity towards the poor, which so distinguished her in after life, manifested itself. Having grown up, she declined various offers of marriage, declaring her purpose of serving God in the Religious Life. In fulfilment of this resolution she had recourse to a holy Bishop named Maccaille, who had a Church at Cruachan-Bri-Eile, in Ifalgia, now the Hill of Croghan, where the site of his Church is still observable, and where his feast was celebrated on the 25th of April. The Bishop being satisfied as to her holy dispositions, received her to Religious Profession, by clothing her with a white mantle and placing a veil of the same colour on her head. Such was the dress of the early Irish nuns, and so it continued for some centuries after the time of St. Brigid :– “Ille, coeleste intuens desiderium, et pudicitiam, et tantam castitatis amorem in tali virgine, pallium album et vestem candidam super ipsius venerabile caput imposuit.” (Cogitosus.) The Profession of the Saint took place about the years 467 or 469. We are not here concerned about the first Communities founded by St. Brigid; the fame of her holiness having spread abroad, the people of her native place sent to invite her to found a Convent amongst them. In compliance with this request, she established herself at Kildare sometime about the year 470. Her first house there was a mere cell; after some time however, the number of those who flocked thither to serve God under her guidance became so great that she had to apply herself to the construction of a monastery of large proportions. This took place, according to Ware, in 480, but other authorities place the date somewhat later. For the details of the wonderful life of this great Servant of God the reader is referred to the Lives of the Irish Saints, by the Rev. J. O’Hanlon, M.R.I.A. The year in which St. Brigid died is uncertain; without entering into the merits of the disputed point, it will be sufficient to state that the weight of authority appears to favour the accuracy of the entry in the Annals of Ulster which assigns it to the year 523, in the 70th year of her age. “A.D. 523, Quies S. Brigidae, an. lxx aetatis suae.” The Annals of Donegal, at Feb. 1st, after tracing her illustrious descent, say, “It was Ultan of Ard-Breccain that collected the (account of the) virtues and miracles of Brigid together, and he commanded his disciple, Brogan to put them into poetry.” The Poem of St. Brogan-Cloen in praise of St. Brigid, here referred to, may be seen—both the original Irish and a Latin translation—in the I. E. Record for February, 1868. It was composed about the year 650, partly in the Monastery of St. Moedhoc, at Clonmore, in the County of Carlow. The Annals of Donegal, still treating of St. Brigid, say of her: –“It was this Brigid that did not take her mind or her attention from the Lord for the space of one hour at any time, but was constantly mentioning Him, and ever constantly thinking of Him, as is evident in her own Life, and also in the Life of St. Brenainn, Bishop of Cluainfearta. She was very hospitable and very charitable to guests and to needy people. She was humble, and attended to the herding of sheep and early rising, as her Life proves, and as Cuimin of Coindaire states in the Poem whose beginning is:– ‘Patrick of the fort of Macha loved,’ &c. Thus he says:–

‘The Blessed Virgin loved
Constant piety, which was not prescribed;
Sheep-herding and early rising,
Hospitality towards men of virtues.’

“She spent indeed 74 years diligently serving the Lord, per¬forming signs and miracles, curing every disease, and sickness in general. The Life of Ciaran of Cluain states, c. 47, that the Order of Brigid was (one) of the eight Orders that were in Erin.” February was called in Irish, “the month of Brigid’s festival;” and Irish writers style her the Mary of Erin, and, on account of her many virtues, assign to her, after the Mother of God, the second place amongst the virgin Saints in heaven. St. Aengus in the Feilire, thus marked her feast:-

“The Calends of February are magnified,
By a galaxy of martyrs of great valour;
Brigid the spotless, of loudest fame,
Chaste head of the nuns of Erin.”

The old Brehon laws prescribe special devotion to St. Brigid, and tribute to her Convent as duties of the Kings of Leinster. Through respect for the Saint, the town and suburbs of Kildare possessed the privilege of Sanctuary:—“Maxima haec civitas et Metropolitana est; in cujus suburbanis, quae sancta certo limite designavit Brigida, nullus carnalis adversarius nec concensus timetur hostium.” (Trias Thaum. 534.) St. Tighernach, Abbot of Clones, and Bishop of Cloghar in succession to St. Maccarten, one of the most illustrious of the Saints of Erin, was baptized at Kildare by St. Conlaeth, St. Brigid acting as Sponsor. A gloss in the Leabhar Breac on the entry in the Feilire of Aengus at the 4th of April, the feast-day of this Saint, quaintly records this event as follows:—“Coirpre, son of Fergus of Leinster, i.e. of Leix, was Tighernach’s father. Or he is of Ui-Bairrchi. Now Coirpre bore him under cover to Kildare. He came into the guest-house. Brigid beheld a watch of angels over the head of the house, and she asked who was there. “One young man is there,” quoth the servant. “Look thou still,” quoth Brigid. Then he looked. “There is, in sooth,” quoth he, “a little babe in the young man’s bosom.” “Good is the babe,” quoth Brigid. Brigid comes into the guest-house, and baptizes the child, and Brigid holds him at his baptism."

He continues:

"Beside the town of Kildare there is a large pond or lough named Loughminane, the formation of which is thus accounted for in a Gloss on the Feilire AEnguis in the Leabhar Breac:- 'Eighteen Bishops came to Brigid from Hui-Brinin Chualand and from Telach-nam-espoc to Loch Lemnachta, beside Kildare on the north. So Brigid asked her cook, to wit, of Blathnait, whether she had food, et dixit illa non. And Brigid had shame, so the angel said that the cows should be milked iterum. And Brigid milked them, and they filled the tubs, and they would have filled all the vessels of Leinster; and the milk came over the vessels and made a lough thereof. Inde Loch Lemnachta dicitur.'"

Clonenagh (Walsh)

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter lviii, at p. 617-18:

Clonenagh in the barony of Maryborough

St. Fintan of Clonenagh was the celebrated master of Comgall of Bangor. Fintan was a native of Leinster and son of Gabhren and Findath both of whom were Christians. On the eighth day after his birth he was baptized at Cluain mic trein which was probably in the neighborhood of Ross. His birth took place about the year 520. He received his early education under the holy man by whom he had been baptized and when of mature age he attached himself to St Columba, son of Crimthan, with whom he remamed until by his advice he established himself at Clonenagh about 548.

Young as Fintan was, his reputation for sanctity soon spread so that numbers of persons from various quarters of Ireland flocked to Clonenagh and became members of his institution. His monks not only lived by the sweat of their brows but cultivated the ground with the spade not having as much as a cow to assist them in their agricultural labors. The discipline of the house was exceedingly severe and the fasting seemed almost intolerable to some holy men. St. Cannech, among others on whose interference Fintan relaxed the discipline allowing milk to the monks, while towards himself he was unbending.

It is related that Cormac, a young prince, son of Dearmod, king of Hy Kinsellagh, was kept in chains by Colman, king of North Leinster, and who intended to put him to death, and that St. Fintan having gone with some of his disciples to the king's residence in order to procure the deliverance of the young prince, so affrighted Colman or Colum that he gave him up. This young prince, having afterwards ruled for a considerable time, ended his days in the monastery of St. Comgall of Bangor. Fintan was also gifted with a prophetic spirit an instance of which is stated to have happened on hearing an unworthy priest offering the holy sacrifice. Being horror struck at his impiety, the saint foretold that this unhappy priest would abandon his order and habit and, returning to the world, would die in his sins.

Columbkille is said to have had such an esteem for Fintan that he directed a young religious named Columbanus of the district of Leix, who was returning from Hy to Ireland, to choose him for his spiritual director and confessor. Accordingly, Columbanus waited upon him and related what the holy abbot of Hy had recommended. Fintan desired that he would not mention it to any other person during his lifetime and died very soon after. Before his death, which was somewhat prior to that of Columbkille, he appointed, with the permission and benediction of the brethren and of other holy men who had come to visit him, Fintan Maeldubh as abbot and successor at Clonenagh. Blessing his community and partaking of the body of the Lord he departed this life on the 17th of February.

His name is mentioned with particular respect in various Martyrologies both foreign and Irish. The year of his death is not mentioned, as is the case with other saints of Ireland, while the day is faithfully recorded. Natalis, which means a natal or birth day, is used to express the day of a saint's death because he then enters on a life that is everlasting. Other hagiologists say coepit vivere, he begins to live. Hence it is the day on which the memory of the saint is preserved, while the year of his death is omitted.

AD 625 died the abbot St Fintan Maeldubh. His festival is observed on the 20th of October
AD 830 the Danes destroyed this abbey
AD 866 died the abbot Laicten
AD 909 died Tiopraid bishop of this abbey
AD 919 again plundered by the Danes
AD 937 Ceallachan, king of Cashel, assisted by the Danes of Watorford, wasted the country of Meath, pillaged and sacked this abbey making the abbot a prisoner
AD 940 Ceallach, bishop of Clonenach, died
AD 970 died the bishop and abbot Muredach O'Connor
AD 991 died the abbot Diarmit, a professor of Kildare and a man of uncommon erudition

Cloncurry Friary (Walsh)

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xlviii, at p. 480-1:

Cloncurry in the barony of Bteath and Onghterany John Roche founded a Carmelite friary in this place AD 1347 under the invocation of the Virgin Mary having obtained the royal license to do so January 18th thirty fifth of Henry VIII this abbey with ten acres of land in Cloncurry was granted forever in capite to William Dickson at the annual rent of 8d Irish money and again in the 8th of queen Elizabeth this friary with one messuage one cottage twenty eight acres of arable land and seven of pasture adjoining the same was granted to Richard Hayne for the term of twenty one years at the yearly rent of 16s In 1618 Andrew Forrester died seized of this monastery with a church hall and dormitory ten acres of land thereunto belonging all of which were held of the king in capite by military service namely the twentieth part of a knight's fee

Commandery of Tully (Walsh)

 

The Remains of the Commandery of Tully

Known locally as 'The Black Abbey'

 

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xlviii, at p. 491: 

 

Tully about a mile south of Kildare. A commandery of knights hospitallers.

AD 1293 Thomas was prior.

AD 1326 a chapter of the order was held here.

AD 1337 Richard de Bran was preceptor. A chapter held here. Four others held.

Sir Henry Harrington and his heirs obtained a grant of its possessions three hundred acres of land at the annual rent of £21 6s 8d. The commandery is now always held by the [Anglican] bishop of Kildare in commendam.

Annual Mass for Deceased Members

https://saintlaurencescatholicheritage.blogspot.ie/2017/11/radio-maria-broadcast.html

Clane Abbey (Walsh)

The following is from Fr. Thomas Walsh's History of the Irish Hierarchy, published in New York in 1854, chapter xlviii, at p. 479 and following:

The Ruins of Clane Abbey

Clane gives its name to the barony. Saint Ailbe of Emly is said to have presented St. Sinell senior with a cell in which he had lived himself for some time at Clane. Sinell was the son of Kinfinnain and grandson of Imchad of the royal blood of Leinster. It is not known how long Sinell remained at Clane nor is the year of the donation by Ailbe of Emly ascertained. It may have been about the year 500. As Clane was not then a permanent establishment, Sinell moved to Killeigh where he established a monastery which in course of time became very celebrated. St. Sinell, the friend of the great Ailbe, is styled senior to distinguish him from Sinell who was a relative of his and a priest and who lived with him at his monastery of Killeigh. Having lived to a good old ago he died on the 26th of March AD 549.

Franciscan Friary was erected in Clane some time before the year 1266 by, it is said, Gerald Fitzmaurice, lord Offaley.

AD 1546 a provincial chapter was held here.

In the 24th of Henry VIII this abbey was given with its possessions forever to Robert Eustace and John Trevors at the annual rent of 2s 4d.

O'Sullivan relates that Eustace saw, as if in a vision, some one threatening him and foreboding destruction to himself and to his family should he consent to accept of church property. Be this as it may, James Eustace, the son and heir of the viscount Roland, was driven by the English from his patrimony and died in exile. Some Irish peers accepted of grants of property belonging to the church but generally they did not convert it to their own use. The annals of the four Masters in praise of Pierce Butler observe that he did not possess one penny of the property of the church of God by right of Pope or Prince.

In the parliament held AD 1556 the grants of church property made to laics during and after the reign of Henry VIII are confirmed and with the approbation of Pope Paul IV. Fourteen abbots sat in that parliament. Six or seven heads of religious orders are stated to have assented to the act.

Pilgrimage to Rome 2017 (8) - Day 2 Continued

Once we had paid our respects at the Chiesa Nuova, we crossed the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, the wide street driven through the heart of Medieval Rome from the Church of the Gesù to the Tiber. We walked up the Vicolo Cellini and onto the old Via dei Banchi Vecchi. Before turning towards the Piazza Farnese, we stopped at the Oratory of the Gonfalone Confraternity, one of the many Confraternity Chapels in the city.

Looking back to the Chiesa Nuova

Oratory of the Gonfalone

The old Medieval road splits between the Via del Pellegrino and the Via di Monserrato. Pilgrims, though we may have been, we took the latter. We passed the Piazza Ricci, where the Palazzo Ricci was under restoration. Then we visited the Spanish National Church of Santa Maria di Monserrato, where Popes Callixtus III Borgia (1378 – 1458) and his nephew Alexander VI Borgia (1431-1503) are buried.

Piazza Ricci

Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli

The small Piazza di Santa Catharina della Rota contains two beautiful little Churches, the eponymous Santa Catharina, home of the Confraternity of Sant'Anna dei Palafrenieri exiled from their Church at the Borgo gate to the Vatican and famed for its wooden coffered ceiling, and the Church of San Girolamo della Carità, said to be on the site where St. Jerome lived while he was secretary to Pope Damasus I, and which is now part of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, of which more on Friday. Also on the Piazza is the side of the Church of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, the Church attached to the Venerable English College.

Piazza di Santa Catharina della Rota

San Girolamo della Carità

The Church of Brigitte of Sweden, where the Saint lived while in Rome and where the Congregation of Brigittines founded by her still reside, is on the Piazza Farnese, which is just a few steps away.

Santa Brigida and the view towards Sant'Ivo

Pilgrimage to Rome 2017 (7) - Day 2

After Mass in the Church of Sant'Eustachio for the feast of All Saints, our pilgrims made their way up the Via della Dogana Vecchia to the Church of San Luigi dei Franchesi. This is another of the National Churches of Rome that we visited on the feast of All Saints. Having passed across the Piazza Navona we visited Santa Maria dell'Anima of the Germans and San Nicola dei Lorenesi and then passed down the Vicolo della Pace to enter the Teatro of Santa Maria della Pace, built under our friend Pope Sixtus IV della Rovere and completed under our dear friend Pope Alexander VII Chigi. Santa Maria dell'Anima

Santa Maria della Pace

We made our way down the way of Peace to the Via del Governo Vecchio, part of the old Via Papale, the main thoroughfare of Papal Rome, and down to the Chiesa Nuova, the new Church of Santa Maria in Vallicella, the home of the Oratorians and the tomb of St. Philip Neri.