Brigit Music on Bandcamp

 

There are some lovely Brigit inspired or Brigit directed pieces of music on Bandcamp, an app where you get to listen to and support artists directly. This is what I found. Let me know if you find something else! Or upload something else!

Some of these link to the songs, some to the albums. And SOME of these songs don’t really fall into the “lovely” category...

Brigid’s Birds by Margaret McLarty

Gabhaim Molta Bride (Prayer for St. Brigid) by Gabdaw and Krimmel 

Ode to Bridget (Gabhaim Molta Bríghde, with Nóirín Ní Riain on vocals) by Paul Winter 

Songs to Brigid by memoriata 

Welcome Brigid by Katy Taylor 

Celia Farran - Brigid Songs

Brigid by Mists of Serenity

St. Bridget’s Mantle by Magical Strings 

Prayer for St. Bridget/Gabriel’s Message by Winter Harp 

Kusnacht/St. Brigid’s Day by Seasons 

The Well of St. Brigid by Trish Flanagan 

St Brigid’s Coracle by Margot Krimmel 

St Brigid by the Armagh Rhymers 

Brigid by Madeleine Smyth 

St. Bridget’s Cross by The Sparklers 

St. Brigid’s Day by Eamonn Flynn 

Brigid’s Cradle by redbrd

Invocation to St Bridget by Culture Vannin 

St Brigid Cross by Aaron J. Burke 

St. Brigid’s Day by Desert Golfer 

St. Bridget’s Bathwater by Chucky Arla & the Petrol Bombers 

Air for St. Brigid by Nessa Music 

Hymn to St. Brigid by Darren Brereton ALSO Acoustic version

Brigid - of the night by Wykan

St Brigid’s Feast Day by Jordan Klassen

Song of Brigid (St. Brigid) by Laura Ash

Tears of St. Brigid by Joesf Glaude 

Tears of St. Brigid by Joesf Glaude and James Ruggles

Brigid’s Air by Loren Connors 

The Vision of St Bridget by Meschplan 

Brigid the Dark, Brigid the Light (St Brigid of Kildare) by Awen (Communion of Saints by Various Artists) 

S/T by St. Brigid (Er, this one is just really a band named for her that doesn’t seem to have anything about her.)

Enjoy!

Image:  Cover of Brigid - of the night by Wykan: a cartoon of a scantily clad woman holding two torches as if they were smoking guns. There is wild dancing around a bonfire behind her.

 

 

 

 

"Brigid's Land" Fundraising Song for Tearmainn Women's Refuge

 

This is Col Patterson's latest single, Brigid's Land, it's a really beautiful and uplifting song.

The song had been released as a charity single for Teach Tearmainn Women's Refuge in Kildare town, a hugely important facility, and who are really struggling for funds at the moment.

Col approached Claire Patterson to create a video for the song.

The single is getting great support, and is currently riding at no 6 in the RTE 1 playlist charts... ahead of Bruce Springsteen no less, which is fantastic news!

The donations page for the single is open until October 23rd, and we're really hoping to attract as much support as we can. We're currently just a little over €1,500, and would love to see this rise.

Naturally we realise it's a tough time financially for a lot of people, but even to get the message of the song out there as far as possible helps too.

We'd really appreciate you sharing the song, video, and donations page with your communities if you feel comfortable doing so. I will follow up again on Facebook, and connect you with the posts there too.

The song and video are available here: https://vimeo.com/465831955

And the fundraising page is available here.

Copied from the Brigid's Way Facebook page.

Image: "Brigid's Land" video image.

Padraigín Ní Uallacháin Sings " BEANNÚ" - Blessing

Thanks so much to Sharon for sharing this beautiful song with her fellow Daughters of the Flame, with the words:

I hope this enchants you as much as it does me! 

It certainly does, Sharon. My heart just lifts to hear Padraigín Ní Uallacháin sing these joyous words.



She writes:

BEANNÚ is a new song with Steve Cooney, Dónal O'Connor & Macdara Ó. Graham. Free to share. Translation below.

'Beannú' is the act of blessing or salutation, and the song is a form of appeasement or incantation to nineteen, mainly forgotten, deities and mythological goddesses of pre Christian Ireland. In Ireland rivers, mountains, waves, streams, wells, and sacred sites, are named after them, and indeed Ireland is named from Ériú, and her sisters Fódhla and Banba were synonymous with Éire; festivals and rituals, wars and seasonal feasts were once celebrated in their name and great offerings were made in their honour. Some of them were later christianised, such as Brigid, the Great Mother goddess of them all.

Time to remember and call them in again. That I should invoke 19 of these female deities during the 2020 pandemic of Covid19, is purely coincidental 🙂

www.irishsong.com
www.orielarts.com

Translation
May the bright moon and sun bless us,
May east bless us and west bless us,
May north and south bless us,
May Great Brigid at the heart centre of life bless us;
May Eriú bless us,
May Fódhla bless us,
May Banba bless us,
May Bóann bless us,
May Méadhbh bless us,
May Morrigú bless,
May Great Brigid at the heart centre of life bless us;
May Tailtiú bless us,
May Téa bless us,
May Carman bless us,
May Áine bless us,
May Aoibheall bless us,
May Clíodhna bless us,
May Great Brigid at the heart centre of life bless us;
May Mór bless us,
May Macha bless us,
May Bodhbh bless us,
May Anú bless us,
May Eibhliú bless us,
May Eithne bless us,
May Great Brigid at the heart centre of life bless us;
May the bright moon and sun bless us,
May east bless us and west bless us,
May north and south bless us,
May great Brigid at the heart centre of life bless us,

You can visit Padraigín's website to purchase a download of the mp3, the lyrics in Irish, and the lyrics in English, for one pound:

Pádraigín Ní Uallacháin - Irish Song and Music – Official website

Online Brigid Class by Amy Panetta

Amy leading Sunday worship at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Estrie, Quebec, Canada26 January 2020

Online Brigid Class +  Can You Help?

While I give a number of in-person talks and work- -shops, many people feel disappointed that they  cannot make it due to their location and schedul- ing conflicts (or even the weather!).   So!  I have created an Online Brigid Class: The Music of Brigid,  Ireland's Patroness  It is 50 minutes and includes: A blessing - Farewell to the darkest part of  the year (Samhain) and Greeting to the new  season of early springtime (Imbolc). Background on Brigid, the pre-Christian  goddess, and Brigid the saint. Short film on Brigid's celebration in Ireland  and about the music that is featured. Info on some of the earth-based music  written in dedication to Brigid. Me teaching you how to sing one of the  most popular songs dedicated to Brigid,  Gabhaim Molta Bhride in Irish Gaelic.   This Online class can be accessed for  $15.  Are you interested?  If so, just email me at  apanettamusic@gmail.com, and I'll get  back to you with the details ASAP!   With your payment for this online class, I will  put the money to use directly on the work I do  for the Celtic Feminine Podcast.  Currently, the website for the  podcast does not have its own domain name  and I have not paid for a hosting service.   Right now, the site is free, but it has unsightly  ads on it.  So, the money from this online  class will go towards purchasing a domain  name and for the hosting service.   Thank you very much for your consideration!

Washington DC: Saint Brigid and the Medieval Sacred Music of Ireland

I received an exciting email last night from Allison Mondel of the musical ensemble, Eya. She wrote of a "re-envisioning [of] the music in a 'contemporary matins' program, with music, poems, prayers, and stories (spoken in English) and a volunteer women’s ensemble, Brigid’s Circle, formed especially for this performance." The music, taken from two manuscripts at Trinity College Dublin, was first recorded in more traditional form by the Scottish vocal group Canty a number of years ago. (For more on the out-of-print CD and the music itself, see my 2008 blog post. For a taste of Eya's music, go here.) All of the events of the program are free of charge, and no reservations are necessary.

How I envy those of you living near enough to attend! Fingers crossed that this one day comes out on CD.

Eya is thrilled to partner with Georgetown University in presenting Saint Brigid and the Medieval Sacred Music of Ireland. This music festival will feature:

•    Chant workshop led by Eya's music director, Allison Mondel
•    Women's ensemble, Brigid's Circle, featured in performance with Eya
•    Concert performance of new program, Brigid, presented by Eya with Brigid's Circle

This festival project is co-sponsored by several departments at Georgetown University, including Campus Ministries, Global Irish Studies, the Department of Theology, and the Department of Performing Arts. Eya is also thrilled to partner with The Amra Project, an international collaborative project centered at Trinity College Dublin and founded by Dr. Ann Buckley. As a performing ensemble associated with the project, we aim to bring this rare body of music to a wider audience in the United States.

​The Amra Project was founded in order to illuminate the medieval music and sources of Gregorian chant devoted to Irish saints, found in Irish sources and beyond. This presentation is a launching point for future collaborations with Eya, Trinity College Dublin, and Georgetown University, further exploring the connection of sacred medieval music and Ireland.

​WITH GUEST ARTIST
Cynthia Cathcart
​clàrsach (wire-strung harp)

SCHEDULE
​Saturday, February 1, 2020                          Led by Allison Mondel:

4-5:30pm  ​McNeir Auditorium (New North Building) MAP

Irish Chant Workshop  RSVP WORKSHOP

​​7-9pm  Dahlgren Chapel MAP

​Concert Performance: Brigid Eya with Brigid's Circle

All events take place at Georgetown University and are free of charge. No tickets or reservations required.

---

PHOTO: Saint Brigid's Cathedral, Kildare, Ireland (Allison Mondel)

Webinar Available to Support Solas Bhride Center in Kildare, Ireland

The following is from Amy Panetta's website:

Last year, in 2017, so many people were so generous to support me in my crowdfunding campaign to go to Ireland to continue my research in the music that is written and performed in dedication to Brigid.  This research was later shared at The Celtic Studies of North America Conference in Vancouver, British Columbia in April of 2017 and is continually shared on The Celtic Feminine Podcast.  With the money raised from the original crowdfunding campaign, I was able to get a flight and lodging in Ireland!  In addition, it was my pleasure to be able to present a 150€ donation in person to the Solas Bhride Centre in Kildare Ireland.

This year, in honor of St. Brigid's Feast Day, I would like to have a fundraiser to donate most of the funds to the Solas Bhride Centre for the excellent work that they do in promoting St. Brigid's values of peace, justice, and compassion.  Solas Bhride Centre and Hermitages is a Spirituality Centre dedicated to St. Brigid of Kildare, Patroness of Ireland. The centre caters to the large number of pilgrims and visitors, local, national and international, interested in the traditions, values and customs associated with Brigid of Kildare.  Please visit http://www.solasbhride.ie for more information.  

I have created a webinar that I would love to send you as a gift donation.  The webinar is about 50 minutes long and is like a class I would give in person where I offer a few words to center us in the season, share my story in how I came to be inspired by Brigid, discuss the life of Brigid the Saint and Goddess, show a short video clip of the variety of music dedicated to Brigid, and teach you the song, Gabhaim Molta Bride!  

Click here to donate.  Any amount, big or small, is a big help!  Once I get the notification of your donation, I will send you the link to the webinar!

A small percentage of donations will be used to offset costs to produce The Celtic Feminine Podcast and ongoing research projects dedicated to Brigid.

Amy Interviews Mael Brigde: Brigit Music, Daughters of the Flame, & More!

Well, that was lovely.

I just had a long conversation with Amy Panetta, who found me through this blog a few years ago (although I wasn't really aware of it until she approached me recently on Facebook). Amy is an energetic and very curious young woman—curious about things, that is, not curious in herself—and has combined her musical skills and love of Brigit in a number of projects.

Her main focus is Brigidine music, especially that composed in the last decades, and we got together today to talk about it, and about my love of writing songs to and about Brigit. Somewhere between the time we made the plan to talk and the talk itself, Amy asked me if we could do it as an interview, thinking she might use it in her podcast-to-be. I agreed and off we went.

I have been interviewed on paper, or asked to write some reflections on my connection to Brigit, but I have never been interviewed aloud on these matters and some of things she asked about I had never spoken discussed with another. So it was an interesting and fun experience for me, where I got to let my thoughts stretch and my chin wag. (I'm usually more the listener—believe it or not, those who know me.)

Amy is an excellent interviewer, with clear questions, a relaxed style, and adding enough of her own thoughts to make it a conversation instead of a monologue. I didn't feel like I was alone and honking, but at ease and chatting with a friend.

Who knows if this will ever be used as a podcast, but it was a good experience, helping me to think in new ways about a subject that is dear to my heart.

I look forward to meeting Amy in the flesh when she comes to Vancouver in a couple of weeks for the CSANA 2017 Conference, (27–30 April 2017, the Celtic Studies Association of North America), where she will be presenting her topic "The Feminine Face of God: Vocal Music Dedicated to Bridget, the Pre-Christian Celtic Goddess and Saint".

This is not an expensive conference, and it runs for several days, so there will be much to bend your minds with if you are able to get to Vancouver, Canada for it.




Image: Croghan Hill (Bog of Allen County Offaly Ireland) by Sarah777. This is the image I looked at throughout our conversation, since we were talking on the computer without video, and it was weird staring at my desktop and all those annoying reminders of things to do.

Brigit Music Downloads

Passing the time in iTunes (always a dangerous course of action, I understand) I popped "Brigit" in the search field and discovered fellow Canadian Bruce Mitchell's album New Earth Goddess, with its track, "Brigit". A sample tells me this is a rich and rumbling instrumental track. You can find it in various places besides iTunes, but I will give you that link and if you want CDBaby (which is down at the moment) or some other thing you will find it there, too. $0.99 will get you the song. For a review of the album by New Age Music World, pop over here.

For a lighter and more skipping instrumental track by the same name, try Ruaidhri's "Brigit" on his album Celtic Goddess. Also $0.99,

In a much gravellier, grittier vein, the song "Brigit's Cross" by Steve Von Till on his The Grave is a Grim Horse doesn't have a huge amount to do with Brigit but it does protest the primacy of the pre-Christian religion. I liked it. Here is a link to a YouTube rendering, and below are the lyrics. It, too, is $0.99 on iTunes.

Enjoy!

Artist: Steve Von Till

Album: A Grave Is a Grim Horse

Steve Von Till – Brigit's Cross

Holy man,

Don’t waste your breath on me

I don’t seek what you lost

We don’t need your superstition

Keep your poison out of our well

It’s bitter to the taste

We’ve been drinkin’ here

For thousands of years

I left my blessing

On the Brigit’s cross

Our old ways are as snakes

That live deep in the clay

No man with a crooked stick

Can drive them away

He drove our gods into the sea

At least so they say

Let me tell you friend

We’ve given up your ghost

I left my blessing

On the Brigit’s cross

I live my days by the quartered wheel

Woven from the straw

Harvest gold

Reflects the sun

I left my blessing

On the Brigit’s cross

Fund-Raiser for Brigit Music Research by Amy Panetta

Music Dedicated to Brigid, Ireland's Patroness

 

Amy Panetta, Organizer

Back in 2006, I was completely inspired by the story of Brigid, who is a pre-Christian goddess and saint, and a remarkable figure important to Irish culture and Celtic heritage.  I was going through a time in my life when it seemed that Brigid revealed herself to me through a very interesting series of synchronicities.  I was so taken by her that I read as much as I could about her, and ended up going to Ireland in 2008 for my own pilgrimage.  I was still enraptured by her story long after I returned to the US.  Brigid and the beautiful emerald Isle of Ireland was calling to me, so much so that I took a year-long break from teaching music to study ethnomusicology at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick in Ireland.  My masters thesis was entitled: The Feminine Face of God: Spiritual Vocal Music Dedicated to the Pre-Christian Celtic Goddess and Irish Saint, which discussed the phenomenon since the early 1990s, of songs being written dedicated to Brigid.  I was able to go to her week-long festival around her feast day on February 1st 2010 called the Féile Bríde, to participate and sing songs in the candlelit ritual on Brigid's Eve and attend all of the events dedicated to her that week, including lectures, concerts, and a peace and justice conference.  Since graduating with my masters degree, I have been giving classes to a variety of different types of groups, such as adults, fellow faculty members, and students, about who Brigid is and the songs written about her.  I continue to do academic research and have submitted proposals to speak at conferences.     

I am running this indiegogo campaign, starting on All Souls' Day, November 1, 2016 and ending on Winter Solstice, December 21, 2016, because I intend to raise funds for a research trip to Ireland for the 2017 Féile Bríde festival in Kildare, Ireland.  

By going to this festival, it will help me to continue to do research about songwriters and the songs they write about Brigid.  In addition, this trip will help me to continue to share the beautiful story of Brigid as pre-Christian Goddess and Saint that has already touched the lives, captured the imagination of so many people, and is so important to Irish and Celtic culture and heritage.   

How will my trip benefit others?

• I will provide information through articles I publish to my own research blog that can be accessible by all people with internet access, as well as in future academic journal articles.  
• The information gained will be used in the classes and professional lectures that I give about Brigid.
• This trip will help inspire me to compose my own songs dedicated to Brigid in a songbook that will be due out by February 1st, 2018!  I want to provide others with songs dedicated to Brigid to provide music for individuals and groups to use in their own spiritual practices. 
• ​Some proceeds from this campaign will be given directly to the Brigidine order of sisters in Kildare to continue to support the hermitage that they just built and finished, as well as their great work of hosting pilgrimages, events, and promoting peace, justice, generosity, and compassion, as well as Irish and Celtic heritage.  

 I thank you so much for your help in this project!  It is my dear intention that this project will inspire a new connection for both you and I!  I am excited to announce that there are several donation levels and rewards that are currently offered that will provide something of value to you, such as classes, academic lectures, and other things!  Check back often to see new rewards offered.  If you are interested in a class, they can be arranged for February or another month that works for both of our schedules.  

Please visit http://worldspiritmusic.wordpress.com for more information.

Click here to get to Amy's fundraising page.

What is Generosity? 
Read our mission statement.

Dance of Bride - Jana Runnalls

I have mentioned before the CD "Songs of Bride" which was produced by the Friends of Bride's Mound as a fund-raiser. Here is one of the tracks, an instrumental by Jana Runnalls called 'Dance of Bride'. The image used in the video is by Kat Brown, and is from Jana's website.



You can learn more about Jana Runnalls at http://www.sacredhome.co.uk.
To buy the CD, click here.

Hymn to Brigit & Brigit Candle Cross-Stitch

The original version of this hymn is a prayer to God, not Brigit, collected by Alexander Carmichael in the Carmina Gadelica. I came across it in Esther de Waal's book on Celtic Christianity, Every Earthly Blessing, and was much moved by the text. In my efforts to memorize my modified version to use as a prayer on rising each morning, a tune began to attach itself to the phrases. I offer it to you now with a collection of images, mostly from old postcards and archival photos, but also including:

• images from the website of the Brigidine sisters of Australia
• hearth drawings by E. Estyn Evans
• the Solas Bhride hearth (photo by Erynn Laurie)
• Judy Chicago's Saint Bridget plate from The Dinner Party
• my own very humble clay crèche of Brigit, her cow, and the triple flame
• a Brigit candle cross-stitch design by Donna Amaral of the Daughters of the Flame
• a painting of a Renaissance woman blacksmith by Francesca Miller
• a photo of friends drumming around the fire in Haiti
• Mayra Gomez carrying Brigit's flame (from the AFRI website)
• a woman blacksmith in Sulawesi

I include Donna Amaral's cross-stitch pattern here. Please credit her wherever you may use it. Donna was an early and dedicated member of the Daughters of the Flame whose generosity and joy were a great inspiration and support to all who knew her. Her death was a great loss to us all.

I will kindle my fire (Brigit Song)

I will kindle my fire this morning

in the presence of Brigit and her holy women.
Brigit kindle in my heart within
a flame of love to my neighbour
to my foe, to my friend, to my kindred all
to the brave, to the knave, to the thrall.
Without malice, without jealousy
without envy, without fear
without terror of anyone under the sun.

For the original words, collected by Alexander Carmichael, see the Comment section below.

Listening Once More to "Welcome Brigid"

Welcome Brigid: mystical and celtic chant and song to the divine feminine, by Katy Taylor, with Amy Fradon and Lynn Margileth.

I mentioned this CD three years ago, with a link to the CD Baby site where you can preview it. But I have just spent a quiet hour listening to it, not as background music as I bop through my day, but really listening to every word. (Though not understanding all--Taylor sings in Irish and Latin as well as in English.)

I just want to tell you again--it is beautiful, prayerful, joyful, wonderful. Both Mary and Brigid are honoured here, with a mixture of traditional and original lyrics, rhythmic chant and high voice. If you haven't encountered it, please follow this link and you will soon learn more.

Song and Image: A Beautiful Rendition of "Song to Brighid"

Shaman Light by Amanda Clark

A lovely circumambulation:

I was doing a "Brigit" search a few minutes ago and found a YouTube video of Lisa Thiel's "Song to Brighid", from her album Invocation of the Graces. I wasn't mad about the video portion but I wanted to add the video to Brigit's Sparkling Flame, realizing I had listed it before but never shown it. So I went searching for a version I liked better.

Before I tell you what I found, a bit about Lisa from her
webpage:

Brighid by Lisa Thiel

"Lisa is a priestess of Brighid and Kuan Yin in the Fellowship of Isis and honors the old Celtic Wheel of the year. She is also an accomplished astrologer, tarot reader and interpreter of dreams. 'My work is inspired by my dreams and visions that come from my spirit, my sacred dreams. My music and art are the gifts of the encounters with my soul.'"

I am happy to share her Brighid song with you.

To my delight Boudicca17368 had put together the song with some amazing imagery, all by the same woman: one Amanda Clark.

I must see more of this Amanda's art, said I! A quick search (Brigit bless the internet), and I was at her blog: earth angels art. (See also her website.)

According to her Fine Art America profile, "Amanda Clark lives in a country village in England UK. She is mainly a self-taught artist and comes from an artist family. She...gained a National Diploma in ceramics and surface pattern in the early 1990's...and is inspired by folklore and myths and the peacefulness of beautiful landscapes with a twist of fairytale and magic. She paints in acrylic and watercolour creating depth and pattern to the beautiful colours in her creations. She has also illustrated four books and is currently painting and line drawing for her 5th book about magical herbs."

There is a little surprise in all of this, though.

When I found Amanda's blog and went to see her pictures there, I discovered that an hour previously she had listed Brigit's Sparkling Flame, specifically the post "Goddess of Smithcraft (with emphasis on Blacksmithing)", on her own blog! Round and round the garden with our teddy bears! And she had done this only moments after I posted it.

A little more digging around revealed that Amanda is a follower of this blog. (Hi, Amanda!) And interestingly, when doing my Amanda search, I discovered another Amanda Clark in my own country of Canada who is...a metalsmith. (I'm getting a little dizzy now.)

So! On to the video.

Brigit Hymn Made From Traditional Irish Song

American musician Craig Olson has done a slightly altered version of the traditional Irish song "Brigid O'Malley" in honour of the goddess Brigit. Nicely done, though the links to his website are maddening.

This is one of my all-time favourite Irish songs, so I will follow this version with a couple of traditional ones, first in Irish, then in English.

In its original state, a love song to a woman and not a goddess, here is the Irish band, The Corrs, with Brid Og Ni Mhaille (Gaelige):

And the Scottish band Silly Wizard's English language version, still traditional, still beautiful:

Songs of Bride: Fundraising CD for Friends of Bride's Mound

"Songs of Bride" arrived today. I was afraid I wouldn't like it -- a lot of pagan music is rockier than I enjoy. But saving Bride's Mound is a worthwhile project and I'm happy to kick in a little now and then to help pay off the bank loan, which is what earnings from this CD are meant to do. (Though regular old donations probably do still more in that regard. Or membership sales.)

I was pleasantly surprised. The music is good, well performed and well presented, and appeals to me (as a bonus). The cover is graced with lovely artwork, and the words are included. Very pleased to have these love songs to Brigit.

From the Friends of Bride's Mound website:

Songs of Bride: CD of music honouring Bride by various artists including Jana Runnalls, Julie Felix, Silver on the Tree, Triskelian... Cover art by Dorrie Joy and sleeve art by Jill Smith. This CD has been produced to raise funds for the Friends of Bride's Mound and all the tracks have been donated free of charge by the artists.

Hello and Welcome to Friends of Bride's Mound TM Bride's Mound is a mound to the West of Glastonbury, just near the foot of Wearyall Hill (on the right in the photo). Small it may be, but its history is great, being known as the western gateway to Avalon where pilgrims would stay in vigil through the night before passing on up the processional way to Avalon proper - and to the Tor. The mound appears to have served this function through a seamless transition into the Christian period, as this is the legendary site of a pre-Christian bruga - a Druidic hostel/college. Such an established spritual community would have been a fertile source of recruitment for monks at the fledgeling abbey. Later, King Arthur is said to have had a vision of the Virgin Mary and the Christ Child here, and that St. Brigid of Kildare (Brighde) stayed here in 488 AD. Two stone chapels were dedicated to her and built, consecutively, on the same site where, as legend would have it, stood a much earlier wooden structure - the Shrine of Saint Mary Magdalene- during Brigid's time. As so often happens on the Isle of Avalon, the results of archaeological investigations turn out to be remarkably consistant with ancient legend. Download our January 2008 Newsletter Here (pdf file)