St. Brigid of Kildare

Last week, I listened to a homily concerning the second of the three patron saints of Ireland.  As this was given by an American Episcopal priest, the undercurrent of this discussion is about as obvious as Pinocchio’s nose.  After a brief rendering of all of the groups over which she is the patron saint, it was mentioned that St. Brigid was consecrated as bishop, and she was indeed the only woman to hold that title in the church until recently.  This enticed me to look into this matter and here is what I discovered.

St. Brigid of Kildare

There are a number of interesting facts about St. Brigid.  First, she very well may have been raised in a druid household although her mother had her Baptized.  Her mother may have been a slave of her father who sold her just before she was born to a Druid.  This is not the only story of her birth I found, but there does seem to be some druid connection to her upbringing.  It is thought that she heard St. Patrick preach and that she may actually have met him while she was young.  She became a nun at a young age.  The legend is that St. Maccaille was bishop and was going to refuse her and seven of her friends due to their young age, but then when they were presented at church, a column of fire seemed to appear and stand on Brigid’s head.  Afterwards, all eight of the girls were accepted as nuns.

Her final vows were given by St. Mel of Ardagh, who was a nephew of St. Patrick.  After much traveling and establishing of numerous convents over many years, she settled finally in what is now Kildare.  The community that she founded was unusual in that it consisted of a combination of nuns and monks.  This meant that there needed to be both and abbess and a bishop, as only a bishop could ordain priests.  The legend is that St. Mel was elderly and a “bit doddery” so that when he was pronouncing her for abbess, he inadvertently read the orders for bishop.  The other version is that he had a divine vision concerning making her bishop.  Whichever was true, she remained bishop in authority if not in title even after the first male bishop of Kildare was consecrated. 

The point of this is that St. Brigid really was consecrated with the orders of bishop.  Whether this was intentional or accidental by St. Mel, it is clear that he did it on his own, without the approval of Rome.  It is also clear that the sort of micromanagement of ordination that is possible today was not possible in that era; therefore, it is unlikely that many outside of Ireland were aware of the issue for years.  All this is to say that, while it is true that St. Brigid was a bishop, begging the question of Biblical instruction concerning the ordination and consecration of women, in regards to passages like these in 1 Corinthians, 1 Timothy and Titus, is probably not in order.  Clearly there are examples of extraordinary women in the history of the Church.  I am not sure that the evidence of this one case justifies the practice as it is now held in a number of denominations.  This is also not intended to defend either side of the debate, but rather to throw a wet blanket on St. Brigid as an example that holds much theological capital.  Let's remember that St. Brigid was a remarkable Christian woman and perhaps focus a little less on the peculiar nature of her installment as abbess and bishop.

--Ogre--