Hymn to Saint Brigid

Philomena Breslin

I've found a lovely rendition (if you like "High Voice", which I do) of a hymn sung by many Irish schoolchildren in earlier times--twentieth century, and if I read things right, nineteenth century as well. (I wonder if it is ever sung in schools there now.) 

It is sung by Philomena Breslin on her album My Wild Irish Rose, and can be purchased on iTunes for $0.99 CDN (or similar in your local monetary dialect). You can preview the song to get the tune and see if you like it. This is (I blush to say) my very first purchase on iTunes. For a more folky version, turn to Michael Connolly on YouTube.

Called here "Hymn to Saint Brigid", the song is also known as "Far Above Enthroned in Glory", and was written by Brigidine Mother Cecilia Sinnott of Goresbridge, a village in County Kilkenny in northern Leinster. The Australian Sisters have the words on their site:

Hymn to St. Brigid

Words by Mother Cecilia, Brigidine Convent, Goresbridge. Circa 1911.
Music by Sinnott (1863-1902)
Music by M.S.

Far above enthroned in glory
Sweetest Saint of Erin’s Isle
See thy children kneel before thee
Turn on us a Mother’s smile.

Sancta Mater, hear our pleading
Faith and hope and holy love
Sweet St. Brigid, Spouse of Jesus,
Sent to us from Heaven above.

Sweet St. Brigid, Erin’s children,
Far and near o’er land and sea
In the world and in the cloister
Fondly turn with love to thee.

Sancta Mater, sooth the mourner
Shield the weary tempted soul
Sweet St. Brigid, guide thy children
To thy bright and happy home.

Marcella, of Trias Thaumaturga, offers the Irish language version of the text, collected by Douglas Hyde. She says of it, " I much prefer the Irish version as the lyrics don't convey the rather twee Victorian-parlour sentimentality of the English."

Twee or not, Philomena's singing and the familiar-sounding melody are pleasant to my old-fashioned ears. 

I am a tad puzzled by the dates given on the Sisters' site, though. If Mother Cecilia died in 1902, I am unsure how she could have written this in 1911. But Saint Brigit is known for her miracles. Maybe this is another such.

Remember Marcella

When looking for well researched and illustrated posts on Irish saints, particularly the three primary saints of Ireland, Columba, Patrick, and Brigid, you could do a lot worse than to turn to Marcella, who describes herself thus:

"I am an Irishwoman interested in the lives of our native saints. I am not a professional scholar in this field but attempt to keep up with the work of those who are. I am particularly interested in the many obscure Irish saints whose names fill the pages of our Martyrologies."

Once the force behind Under the Oak, Marcella now maintains Trias Thaumaturga and Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae. To get a sense of her interest in Brigid, have a look at the posts about her in February 2012:

• Vignettes from the Lives of the Irish Saints: Sain...
• The Life of Brigit of Kildare in the Castilian Ley...
• A Commentary on the Life of Saint Brigid by Donatu...
• Prologue to The Life of Saint Brigid by Donatus of...
• Colgan's Lives of Saint Brigid
• The Oak of Kildare
• An Analysis of the Perpetual Fire at Kildare
• Gerald of Wales and the Perpetual Fire at Kildare
• Brigid the Fire Goddess?
• Saint Brigid and Imbolc
• Is Saint Brigid Really a Celtic Goddess?
• Devotion to Saint Brigid in Wales
• Saint Brigid and Glastonbury
• Another traditional hymn to Saint Brigid
• Duan Bhríde - Dearc Anuas
• Traditional Hymn to Saint Brigid
• The Hymn in Praise of Saint Brigid by Saint Ultan
• The Hymn in Praise of Saint Brigid of Brogan-Cloen...
• A Miracle of Saint Brigid at the Church of Kildare...
• The Tombs of Saints Brigid and Conleth at Kildare
• Earlier Relics of Saint Brigid
• A 17th-Century View of Saint Brigid: Brigida Thaum...
• A Fleeting Glimpse of the Historic Brigit
• The Church at Kildare - a lost reality?
• Patrons in Poetry: Brigid, the Daughter of Duffy
• Patrons in Poetry: Saint Brigid Passes
• Patrons in Poetry: Saint Brigid by Michael Walsh
• A Legend of Saint Brigid
• Saint Brigid the Saint of Agricultural Life
• The Feast of Saint Brigid in the Scottish Calendar...
• The Feast of Saint Brigid on the Irish and Contine...
• The Feast of Saint Brigid in the Martyrology of Ch...
• The Feast of Saint Brigid in the Martyrology of Do...
• The Feast of Saint Brigid in the Martyrology of Oe...
• The Office of Saint Brigid from the Roman Breviary...
• A Homily for Saint Brigid's Day
• A Meditation for Saint Brigid's Day
• Homily from the Leabhar Breac - Conclusion
• On the Life of Saint Brigid - a Homily from the L...
• Adest Dies Leticie - This is the Day of Rejoicing
• Lauds for the Feast of Saint Brigid

The Hymn to Saint Brigid of Brogan-Cloen (Broccan's Hymn)

I like to reread the Lives of Saint Brigit from time to time, and other ancient writings such as prayers dedicated to her. Even more, I like to be read to. So I have recorded a couple and listen to them from time to time, and am always delighted by bits I had forgotten.

To further that end, today I recorded Broccan's Hymn, and in my zeal decided to add a visual aspect (still images of the manuscript and an icon of Saint Brigit) so that I could upload it as a video. I still don't know how to simply upload a sound file to the blog, or I'd do that.

Here is the "video", for those who are interested. Apologies for any fumbling of the Latin and Irish. Most of it is English and I manage that fairly well.

For a writeup on the hymn and the translation that I have used (by Whitley Stokes) please visit the excellent blog Trias Thaumaturga, which is dedicated to the three patron saints of Ireland.

Broccan's Hymn is mostly a poetic summing up of many of the tales from the earliest Life of Saint Brigit, by Cogitosus. If it doesn't make complete sense to you it will if you read that Life.

Well, I'll be darned. I can't find a free download of it online. I do have a pdf, so if you want a copy leave your email address in the comments (I won't publish it) and I'll email it to you.

"We put trust in my Brige — may she be a protection to our host !

May her patronage work with me ! may we all deserve escape !"

Saint Conleth of Kildare, May 3

The redoubtable Marcella, once of Under the Oak, now of Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae and Trias Thaumaturga, reminds us that 3 May is the feast day of Brigit's first bishop, Saint Conleth of Kildare. She has drawn together various notes about him on Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae:

On May 3 we celebrate the feast of Saint Conleth, first Bishop of Kildare. The following account of his life has been distilled from Canon O'Hanlon's Lives of the Irish Saints, Volume 5, pages 69-95.  A post on the description by Cogitosus of the tombs of Saint Brigid and Saint Conleth at Kildare can be found at my other blog Trias Thaumaturga here.   

ST. CONLETH, OR CONLAID, BISHOP AND PATRON OF KILDARE DIOCESE. [FIFTH AND SIXTH CENTURIES.]

     

To read the full posting, click here.

Moving Out from Under the Oak (& Brigida Thaumaturga)

A very interesting blog on Irish saints has recently been deleted: Under the Oak, by Brigit, "an Irishwoman interested in the history of the early Irish church and the lives of our native saints". It is not findable by the Internet Archive Way Back Machine. It is gone.

Brigid has begun two new blogs, where some of the old material will be revised and represented, and new material will arrive as well. The new blogs are: Omnium Sanctorum Hiberniae, where she will "carry on blogging about the Irish saints", and Trias Thaumaturga, "dedicated to the three patron saints of Ireland. There you will find most of the posts on Saint Patrick, Saint Brigid and Saint Colum Cille which were published" at Under the Oak.

Shortly before the deletion, I happened to do a search of the site and kept a few of her Brigit posts open in a tab to eventually share with you. Here is a little of what she had there: (Note: if you read the comment section below you'll see that the Brigit posts have been largely reposted. The link on the title of the article will take you to its position on the new site.)

A 17th-Century View of Saint Brigid: Brigida Thaumaturga

Brigida Thaumaturga, Brigid the Wonderworker, is the title of a 17th-century treatise on Saint Brigid written by David Rothe, Bishop of Ossory (1568-1650) and published in Paris in 1620. The full title is Brigida Thaumaturga sive Dissertatio partim encomiastica in laudem ipsius sanctae, partim archaica, ex sacra et antiqua historia ecclesiastica, partim etiam parenetica ad alumnos Collegiorum, in qua elucidatur prodigium ligni aridi reviriscantis ex attractu B. Brigidae Virginis, et symbolico sensu accommodatur ad antiquam quod intercesserat commercium inter Galliam et Hiberniam in rebus sacris, literariis, et civilibus, habita in Collegio Hibernorum Parisiense, Kalendis Februarii, die festo ejusdem sanctae. Parisiis apud Sebastianum Cramois sub ciconiis, via Jacobaea. M.D.C.XX.', Brigid the wonder-worker; or a dissertation partly laudatory, in praise of the Saint, partly archaeological drawn from sacred and from ecclesiastical history, and partly also hortatory, addressed to the students of the (Irish) Colleges. In it the miracle of the wood growing green again at the touch of the Virgin Brigid is explained; and symbolically applied to the ancient inter-course between France and Ireland, in things sacred, literary and civil. Delivered in the Irish College in Paris on February I, Feast of the Saint. Published by Sebastian Cramois, under the Sign of the Storks. Rue Saint-Jacques, 1620.' Now, that's what I call a title! Jason Harris of the Centre for Neo-Latin Studies, University College Cork, has made an online edition of the Latin text available here. I don't know of any English translation, but the 1911 paper below, written by Father Patrick Boyle (1849-1933), offers a summary of its contents and a biography of its author. Note that the title contains a reference to the miracle of the wood growing green again at Saint Brigid's touch, this miracle is noted in one of the lessons for the saint's office in the Roman Breviary as well in the Sarum-rite office. Also worth looking out for in the paper is the hymn which Bishop Rothe wrote in praise of Saint Brigid when her intercession delivered him from shipwreck. I have transferred the translation of this from the footnotes into the main text beneath the Latin original. It is most interesting to read of this 17th-century view of Saint Brigid, one which appears to be grounded in hagiographical tradition, for the Bishop sees his patroness as the wonderworking head of Irish nuns, distinguished for her faith and charity, a figure far removed from the goddess, social worker or environmental activist of our own times.