Tending Brigid's Flame by Lunaea Weatherstone

Author:Lunaea Weatherstone [Weatherstone, Lunaea]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: bridgid, tending bridgid's flame, tending brigids flame, brigid's flame, brigids flame, lunae weatherstone, lunaea weatherstone, celtic, irish, pagan
Publisher: Llewellyn Worldwide, LTD.
Published: 2015-09-30T23:00:00+00:00

Brigidine Sisters

From ancient days, women have gathered to tend Brigid’s perpetual fire and to do good works inspired by her example. First as priestesses, then as nuns, and now again as priestesses, these sisters persevered through many hardships to follow in her footsteps and serve the world through sacred vocation. We’ve already talked about Saint Brigid and the monastery she founded at Kildare. In the twelfth century, the monastery was destroyed, and from then until 1807, we don’t know for sure what happened to the women who worshiped Brigid. In times of oppression, religious communities often go underground, continuing to live and work together in secret. Surely the flame did not go out within the hearts of those who loved Brigid, and when the time was right, she called her daughters forth again.

On Imbolc 1807, in Tullow, County Carlow, six women became the first Sisters of Saint Brigid and took up residence at the house their priest-sponsor had found for them. The sisters declared that this wasn’t a new congregation but a reestablishing of the Order of St. Brigid of Kildare. This is where our thread of continuity picks up. The priestesses who tended the holy flame of Brigid at Kildare and the nuns who took up that flame in the fifth century were now linked in spirit with these first six women who called themselves Brigidines. Let us bless their memories: Eleanor Tallon, Bridget Brien, Judith Whelan, Margaret Kinsella, Eleanor Dawson, and Catherine Doyle.

Though the sisters were nearly illiterate, their enthusiasm was boundless, and they opened a school soon after their founding. An oak sapling was brought from Kildare which the sisters ceremonially planted on the convent grounds. As the tree grew, so did the nuns’ community. The sisters educated themselves as they taught others. It was a life of austerity and discipline, long hours and few comforts, but the women persevered and more joined them.

Over the next decades, the Brigidines branched out with as much vigor as their now well-established oak tree. They founded new convents, took in orphans, started a button factory to earn money to fund their projects, and created two boarding schools. Educated women joined the sisterhood, as did accomplished musicians and artisans. The reputation of the sisters for educational excellence grew, and the congregation was given formal approval by the Vatican as a religious order.

In 1883, six Brigidine sisters set sail for Australia to found a school and convent. They were greeted with cheers and bells, an auspicious beginning, but their life there was hugely challenging and five of the women died young within a few years. Nevertheless, more foundations were made in Australia, then in New Zealand, and then in locations around the world, including the United States. Today, in addition to teaching, the sisters run retreats, do counseling work in prisons, and work with indigenous and special-needs children. The spirit of Brigid is evident in their passionate involvement in human rights activism and environmentalism worldwide. The Brigidine motto, Fortiter et Suaviter, “Strength and Gentleness,” affirms the power of women to change the world.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.