Paper: "Making St Brigit real in the early middle ages” by Elva Johnston

 

This post links to a page containing the downloadable PDF of the paper by Elva Johnston.

From the paper:

Making St Brigit real in the early middle ages (1)  

Elva Johnston* 

School of History, University College Dublin 

[Accepted 6 December 2023. Published 1 February 2024.] 

Abstract

 Brigit of Kildare is the first Irish saint to be celebrated in detail by Irish writers. Her cult enjoyed great depth and popularity. Nevertheless, Brigit’s very existence has been doubted; she has been recast as a pre-Christian goddess despite an overwhelming disparity in evidence. This paper reframes our approaches to the origins of her cult through examining how the earliest writers understood her and made her real for their audiences, real through shaping her sanctity, her historicity and her family relationships. They placed Brigit along a gender continuum where sanctity intersected biology. Yet, Brigit has been treated differently to Irish male saints, becoming a secondary character in her own biographies, reductively overshadowed by a barely attested goddess. It is time for a revitalised appreciation of Brigit as an actual woman, depicted by her first hagiographers as pushing against the grain of an elitist and patriarchal society. 

Keywords: 

saint, goddess, Cogitosus, Vita Prima, Fothairt, Kildare 

Note: Found as part of Project Muse in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy: Archaeology, Culture, History, Literature. It is in Volume 124C, 2024.

"St Brigit 1500—who was she?” History Ireland podcast

This post links to an excellent talk about the historical woman, Saint Brigit, and her ever-changing cult, given as part of the year of events in Ireland and abroad celebrating and investigating Brigit of Ireland, Brigid 1500. 

From the History Ireland webpage:

"Recorded on the 1 Feb  2024, at the National Library of Ireland, Kildare Street.

"Join History Ireland editor, Tommy Graham, to mark the 1500th anniversary of the passing of St Brigit, Ireland’s most notable female saint. But who was she?—a figure of history or of myth and legend?—a goddess and/or a feminist icon? With Edel Breathnach, Elva Johnston, Bairbre Ní Fhloinn and Niamh Wycherley.

"This Hedge School is supported by the National Library of Ireland."

Link to the webpage and podcast here. The podcast can also be found on Apple podcasts, and perhaps others.