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140 Saint Brigid's Day
19 Plays3 months ago
Brigid was an Irish-Portuguese slave girl born into a life of hardship and depravity in Fifth Century AD Ireland. But her life changed forever when she met Saint Patrick... and he introduced her to Jesus!
This is her story!
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Transcript
Introduction and Host Update
00:00:03
Speaker
Hello everybody and you're very very welcome to from Dublin to Cleveland. I am your host with my host Brendan Thomas Marrett. Logan is not here with us today. You will be disappointed to hear ah his grandfather is in hospital so please do keep the entirety of the Howard family in your prayers at this time. And if you would like to send him some well wishes, ah you can either find him on Instagram at bananaman17 or
00:00:37
Speaker
You can message that from Dublin to Cleveland at gmail.com.
St. Bridget of Kildare's Origins
00:00:43
Speaker
So today we are going to have a look at Saint Bridget of Fogart, also known as Bridget of Kildare. She is one of Ireland's three patron saints. So basically um from the heralding for the 400s,
00:01:04
Speaker
She was one of those prolific early Christians on this island who really did help to make Ireland the land of saints and scholars. So today I'd like to share with you some information about an amazing thing woman of God.
00:01:26
Speaker
All right, so her name, first and foremost, Bridget. Um, the old words in Guelga, Brigid, um, derives from Brig, meaning a strong and protective woman, which indeed she was. Um, but it's also from Briganti, meaning the high or exalted one. Um, so the historical Brigid was born in 451 AD.
00:02:02
Speaker
in Foggart, near Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland. County Louth is the smallest county in Ireland, that's where I live. and But although we're the smallest county, we do have the two biggest towns in the country, and Dundalk is one of the biggest towns. um To be honest, in the next decade or two, I could actually imagine it becoming a city, to be honest. um But for now, it's a town.
00:02:34
Speaker
So Bridget's parents were Bricksack and Dovetuck. Bricksack was born in Portugal and she was kidnapped by Irish pirates and brought to Ireland to work as a slave. Then there was Dovetuck, who's a pagan chieftain and Lannister. Ireland today has four provinces. Ulster is the top of the country. Lannister is in the east.
00:03:04
Speaker
Canucks is in the west, Munster is in the south. In the past, we had more. Today we've got four. And Leinster, the biggest one today. So you had the High King of Ireland who lived in Meade, which today is a county. In the past was also a province. But then you had smaller kings, High Kings of provinces.
00:03:29
Speaker
And then you had kinglets and chieftains below them over smaller regions and territories within the country. Dovetuck was the owner of Bricksec, and he actually got to her pregnant, and then he sold her into slavery. She became the slave of a druid while she was pregnant.
00:03:55
Speaker
If you're not familiar with what a druid is, a being a druid, is's it's typically seen as a manly profession. You could also be a woman druid that did exist. Effectively, they were sorcerers or occultist seers who were involved in all manner of pagan worship and divination.
00:04:17
Speaker
um Their word was law. They were over the judicial procedures of ancient Ireland. And if you are very, very naughty in their estimation, they could even banish you. um If you were to get on their bad side, they might curse you or your crops. But they weren't always viewed through, you know, such a fearful lens. They're also seen as very intelligent and very wise philosophers of the ancient world.
00:04:53
Speaker
Um, their instruction was often secret and took place in caves and forests, so away from the, um, watchful eye of your layman, Irishman, an Irish woman.
00:05:10
Speaker
Um, they would often kill people in order to satisfy or appease the demon gods that they worshiped. Um, and the sacrifices took place in the form of drowning.
00:05:25
Speaker
burning, hanging, and according to Roman Empire, the Wickermen, which was basically a humanoid structure made out of wood that people, perhaps prisoners and criminals, and were then locked in and they were set ablaze.
00:05:45
Speaker
Um, they also taught that a dead person's soul would later enter another living vessel. So not so much heaven and hell when you're dead, your life is done. Um, but actually, um,
00:06:03
Speaker
I suppose it's more of a, you associate more with Hindus today. Um, a kind of. and regeneration or the indwelling of a previous soul and a new host, Bazzi.
00:06:22
Speaker
Bricsack was pregnant when she was sold as a slave. But she had a baby girl, who she named Bridget. Now Bridget was the name of a powerful goddess in ancient pagan Ireland.
00:06:38
Speaker
um She was seen as the goddess of fire, and her manifestations were song, poetry, and craftsmanship, um which the ancient Irish considered to the flame of knowledge. um So when these things were apparent um or brought to the surface in a certain individual,
00:07:03
Speaker
It was like, oh, okay, the goddess has empowered you. She's in Dwell to You. She's enabled you to produce this kind of artwork.
00:07:14
Speaker
As for the historical version however, she was basically your classic Cinderella trope. Born into slavery, her formative years were very difficult. Shout out to, you know, coop, clean, um feed animals. She was a proper slave. She was born into a slave system and she had to work, work, work.
00:07:43
Speaker
Historical sources and historians differ here, um but somewhere between the ages of 10 and 18, she and her mother met St. Patrick and became Christ followers as a result. Amazingly, the Druid, who had been their slave owner, also was one for Jesus.
00:08:09
Speaker
And as a result, he decided no longer to keep Bricsec and Bridget as slaves, but rather to return them to Dovetuck.
Miracles and Defiance in Bridget's Life
00:08:25
Speaker
On things set free, Bridget and her mother returned to her father. He then tried to, hush! Bless me, good heavens. He then tried to marry her off.
00:08:39
Speaker
the king of Ulster, which was the king at the top of the country. However, Brigid decided rather than marrying a man of high station and great wealth, instead she would spend her life serving God by looking after the poor, the downtrodden, and the elderly.
00:09:04
Speaker
um One of the ways in which she looked after people was by giving away her family's possessions to them. Some people might say that was very, very cheeky of her. Her heart was in the right place.
00:09:18
Speaker
um And in one story, she gave away an entire storehouse's worth of butter and milk to the poor and needy. And then she thought, oh my goodness, my father is actually going to slay me alive. What the hell have I done? So she prayed to the Lord, God help. And um he replenished the entire supply So when her father came downstairs the next day, it was as though she had done nothing. Everything was returned miraculously, or rather doubled, should we say.
00:10:01
Speaker
But the thing about such incredible miracles is they don't tend to happen every single day. hey So there were still moments when she was giving away way too generously for her father's liking.
00:10:13
Speaker
And it did cause some friction between the two of them.
00:10:20
Speaker
But the most wonderful example of her generosity concerns the love that she showed to a leper. A man with a skin condition that caused his skin to rot and fall off and just to look absolutely horrid.
00:10:40
Speaker
Dovetalk figured that since the King of Ulster was not good enough for Brigid, he would try and try again just to get rid of her. Since Daddy brought her to the King of Leinster and just said, here it was, and will you just buy this girl? Please. but Give me some money. Just just take her. like I got rid of her before. She came back. I want to get rid of her again.
00:11:07
Speaker
But while her father and the King of Leinster were in conference, Brigid looked out the window and she saw a poor leper who was just, oh my goodness, at the end of himself, and her heart broke. So she turned around and thought, oh my goodness, what could I possibly give to this man? So, you know, she didn't have many possessions of her own, so she tended to give away her father's possessions.
00:11:36
Speaker
And he had happened to have left behind a beautiful jewel encrusted sword. And she said, that is exactly what this leopard needs. Not to defend himself, not to go hunting, but he can sell this for a great price. And then use the money to put a roof over his head and or food in his belly. The Giga Wednesday looked outside the window,
00:12:05
Speaker
and he saw what she was doing. Now her father then caught on to what she had done and he went nuts, absolutely bananas. um But just as he was about to strike her and knock the head off her shoulders, the king said, no, no, no, no, stop what you're doing right now. I absolve and release this girl from the burden of your parental control.
00:12:35
Speaker
for her merit before God is greater than ours. And he set Bridget free from a cruel father who despised her.
00:12:50
Speaker
Bridget then decided the time would come to just go all out for
Founding of Kildare Abbey
00:12:56
Speaker
Jesus. so So she founded many convents all over Ireland, the most famous one being in County Kildare, which is where I studied at university for four years, Maynooth, Kildare. It said that um the convent there, um at least the most prolific one, was built besides an oak tree. um So she went to the King of Leinster regarding this one, and she said, you know, since she was on such great terms with him,
00:13:28
Speaker
Apparently. um hi Listen, I would like to build a place where we can teach the Word of God and look after people, meet their needs, tend to the needs that are already in the community. Is it possible that I could have some land? And he said, not a chance.
00:13:55
Speaker
So, you know, undeterred, she said, okay, while I'm wearing a cloak, is it possible that I could have just as much land as my cloak could cover? And mockingly, he was like, all right, Jake, just as much as your cloak covers. That's that's fine. ah What he did not realize is that our Brigid was a wild one for cloak and God was on her side.
00:14:26
Speaker
So she took off her cloak, and she had four young women with her, who each grabbed one side, one corner of her cloak. And they began to step back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back, and back. And the cloak kept expanding. Just a miraculous move of God.
00:14:51
Speaker
And until it covered such a gigantic territory, um, the dark stinking lancer was like, what the heck is this? And all I could do was praise God. But but he had to be true to his word. Um, so according to that liver and norium in the 11th century, um, the cura, which was that plane and came to caldera was then given to her.
00:15:19
Speaker
am around 470 by the King of Leinster. And um yeah, she set up a double monastery. So one part for the women and one part for the men.
00:15:35
Speaker
So this was in what is now called County Kildare. Kill is the Irish word for church. And Dada is the Irish word for oak wood. So again, there were oak trees around there. So you put the two together, Kildada, you get Kildare, the anglicized version of the name. And it's the name of the county today.
00:16:09
Speaker
The Abbey of Kildare became one of the most prestigious monasteries in Ireland and also throughout the entire continent of Europe. One monk came along in the 600s AD and he described the wooden church that Brigid built as being of such awesome height tearing upwards adorned with painted pictures.
00:16:38
Speaker
and And another early visitor referred to it as a vanished metropolitan center and the safest city of refuge in the whole land of the Irish for all fugitives and the treasures of kings are kept there.
00:16:57
Speaker
You can just imagine the absolute incredible wealth this brought in. Indeed, Christianity did bring in the Golden Age of Ireland, even if you go to the National History or Archaeology Museum i am in Dublin, city centre. Oh my goodness. Whenever I go in,
00:17:20
Speaker
I cannot help but admire the incredible beauteous golden artifacts and that were produced during Ireland's golden age. And the world transfer that God ushered in was just and incredible.
00:17:40
Speaker
So today There is a cathedral of Kildare. This one is made of stone. It's not same bridges, but it is built where hers had been. Hers was made of wood. This one is made of rock.
00:17:58
Speaker
um But they didn't only just teach the word of God, they also founded a school that taught metalwork and illumination. They just created such wonderful, beauteous, artistic designs and books and paintings. It was phenomenal.
00:18:22
Speaker
Perhaps the most famous of them all, which sadly has been lost in time, and although it's been heavily written about over and the centuries, is the Book of Caudere.
00:18:34
Speaker
This was seen and marvelled at even by the Roman, not Roman, Norman, the Norman scribe, a Geraldus Combrensis, when he came to Ireland in 1185,
00:18:52
Speaker
um a few years after the Normans invasion by invitation. Thanks to Dermis, King of Leinster.
00:19:04
Speaker
which I've spoken about before on this channel. And here's the account of his book of Kildare, sorry, of that book of Kildare, as written in the book, Topographia Hibernae, because Ireland used to be called Hibernia over 800 years ago.
00:19:26
Speaker
He wrote, among all the miracles of Kultair, nothing seems to be more miraculous. Keep that word in mind. He uses it on purpose. And the wonderful book, which they say was written, listen to this, people, at the dictation of an angel during the lifetime of the Virgin. That's Bridget. This book contains the concordance of the four Gospels.
00:19:54
Speaker
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, according to Saint Jerome, with almost as many drawings as pages and all of them in marvelous colors. Here you can look upon the face of the divine majesty drawn in a miraculous way. Here too upon the mystical representations of the evangelists, now having six, now four, now two wings,
00:20:24
Speaker
Here you will see the eagle, there the calf, here the face of a man, there that of a lion.
00:20:33
Speaker
And there are almost innumerable other drawings. If you look at them carelessly and casually, and not too closely, you may judge them to be mere dobs rather than careful compositions. You'll see nothing subtle, where everything is subtle.
00:20:53
Speaker
But if you take the trouble to look very closely and penetrate with your eyes to the secrets of the artistry, you will notice such intricacies, so delicate and subtle, so close together and well knitted, so involved and bound together, and so fresh, still in their colourings.
00:21:16
Speaker
that you will not hesitate to declare that all these things must have been the result of the work, not of man, but of angels." So effectively he's saying here, human hands put them together, but by angelic instruction. Angels even said, oh, do this, oh, do that, oh, use this, oh, here here'd be a good metaphor, oh, here's an inspiration.
00:21:45
Speaker
And to be honest with you, this book is not the only time that that's written of the ancient saints in Ireland. um We have 80 islands around Ireland, where the early monks, basically pastors and teachers, would sometimes go just to it chill out, to spend time with the Lord when they're off the clock.
00:22:11
Speaker
But they weren't just sitting on an island all by themselves, really, really bored. They worked hard. They would build incredible staircases and beehive huts in which to dwell. um It was um a lonely place, a quiet place, but a tranquil, peaceful place just to hear from the Lord.
00:22:36
Speaker
but even their ancient writings saying that angels helped them to construct those staircases and hots. So um ah quite honestly, I believe.
00:22:49
Speaker
um We know from the Word of God that angels are helping us all the time um behind the scenes, not drawing attention to themselves per se, but I believe that angelic encounters are going to become absolutely off the charts, normal and publicized in the days ahead. I really, really do. The Word tells us that there's nothing new under the sun, that what has been and is what will be is. God called the past to account. So basically, history exists in a cycle, in a loop. And in the 400s, the Roman Empire was, well, it was collapsing around its own ears. ah It was falling apart, um largely due to its own
00:23:47
Speaker
um misdeeds and internal struggles and the likes. And in the same way, doesn't it feel like the world is on the brink of civilizational collapse? Hello. I'm not saying it will. I believe God is so good that he will be merciful to us. But we are living in days where there are great similarities between the Roman Empire and ourselves.
00:24:15
Speaker
So in the same way that angels were appearing to people and helping them back then, I do believe we can expect a return to that today. And also the way God used women so incredibly back then. Women of God, I anticipate you being very, very busy in the days ahead. Let's see what else Gerald has had to share. On the night before the day in which the scribe was to begin the book,
00:24:42
Speaker
An angel stood beside him in his sleep and showed him a drawing made in a tablet which he carried in his hand and said to him, Do you think you can make this drawing on the first page of the book that you're about to begin? Describe not feeling that he was capable of an art so subtle, and rusting little in his knowledge of something almost unknown and very unusual replied,
00:25:09
Speaker
No, that's just a very long way of saying, the scribe said no. The angel said to him, tomorrow tell your lady, Brigid, so that she may pour forth prayers for you to the Lord, that he may open both your bodily and mental eyes, so as to see the more keenly, and understand thee more subtly,
00:25:38
Speaker
And may I direct your hands and draw correctly? My goodness, these angels spoke in long sentences. All this was done. And then the following night the angel came again and held before him the same. And many other drawings. By the help of the divine grace, gods, their scribe,
00:26:04
Speaker
taking a particular notice of them all and faithfully committing them to his memory, was able to reproduce them exactly in the suitable places in the book. So basically we've got Angel showing up saying, hey, look at this. You see this? God wants you to make this. Can you do it? No, that's okay. I'll teach you. I'll help you out. And they would wake up.
00:26:31
Speaker
And they would create exactly what they had seen, replicas, because how many of you know that things happen in the spirit realm before they happen on the earth? And so many of the great things on earth actually began in heaven and were dropped into people's brains um and spirits in ah different moments of divine inspiration. But it didn't come from the person, it came from the Lord. Amen.
00:27:02
Speaker
And so with the angel indicating the designs, Bridget praying and the scribe imitating that book was completed.
00:27:16
Speaker
But Bridget is not only known um for enabling scribes to produce phenomenal artwork, but also for multiplication miracles as well.
Bridget's Miracles and Legacy
00:27:31
Speaker
One of them was alcohol. Now I know some Christians are like, you can't say that, drinking's a sin. That doesn't fly in this country, but just saying. But actually, alcohol in ancient Ireland was largely used actually um as as a cleaning agent, um you know, for for for bathing and washing away germs.
00:27:59
Speaker
um So there was one particular instance where a leper colony wanted beer for the purpose of washing. Bridget prayed and a barrel of water turned into beer.
00:28:19
Speaker
And then we have another similar and instance, which has been written about extensively where there was a single barrel of beer that produced enough alcohol for 18 churches.
00:28:38
Speaker
But the most iconic symbol of St. Brigid's in Ireland is the St. Brigid's Cross. and It is as iconic for her as the Shamrock is for St. Patrick. So on one occasion, there was a pagan chieftain who was on his deathbed. He was absolutely flithered with a fever. He couldn't think straight. So Bridget was asked to go and pray for him. So she came and prayed, but the fever remained. Now there were wreaths on the ground,
00:29:18
Speaker
So she picked up a few reeds and began to fashion them into a cross and suddenly his fever broke. And she held up this reed cross and she spoke about the life of Jesus, the death of Jesus, his resurrection power and said, this can be yours. You can come alive on the inside in Jesus name. He said, yes.
00:29:48
Speaker
He put his faith for the forgiveness of his sins in the finished work of the cross. And then he died. But not really, because he actually stepped out of his physical body, went into the world of heaven, and was more alive than he'd ever been on the earth.
00:30:11
Speaker
Brigid continued to serve the Lord as long as she lived, and she died in 500 And 25, I have B-C with mistake here, M-A-D.
00:30:30
Speaker
Um, so yeah, Brigid is one of our patron saints. Um, she's very loved by a lot of people. Um, even those who would not describe themselves as being religious absolutely adore her. Um, because we get a bank holiday.
00:30:53
Speaker
Meaning if it's a Brigid's Day on a Saturday or Sunday like it was this year, we get the Monday off work, which is always fabulous. and But also um for a lot of Irish women, um they love hearing these stories about a woman who just gave her all for Jesus. Amen.
00:31:18
Speaker
So that you've enjoyed learning a bit about Ireland today, ah Logan will hopefully be back very
Upcoming Topics and Teasers
00:31:24
Speaker
soon. Just do remember to keep the entire of the Howard family in your prayers. And in our next video, ah Logan, and if he's here, and I are going to start talking about why the left would probably call conspiracy theories. What non-Christians would call conspiracy theories. But what, as God's kids, hopefully it'll be very, very clear to you. um You can say, okay, there have been patterns of evil, and the enemy has had big, bad evil designs for a very, very long time. And we're gonna start connecting some dots. Yeah.
00:32:15
Speaker
um Obviously the world went nuts in 2020, it's gotten maybe a little bit better since Donald Trump came back into office in the USA, but there is a very definite sense of dread around the world and expectation that the enemy has something wicked planned for this year, beginning with P-A-N and ending in Demick. Hello.
00:32:40
Speaker
um And we're going to look at the relationship between the demonic, politics, the entertainment industry, the media, etc. And see just how coincidental all these things really are, or if indeed certain people have been in cahoots with one another and actually trying to take over the world once and for all.
00:33:10
Speaker
It's gonna be very different, a very different kind of feel to our show, very different vibe. Do let us know if you like it though. If you don't, I'll just make the videos for my own channel. But um I do think it's important that the body of Christ be watchful, be alert, and I'm not afraid to expose evil, and then to resist evil. Because loving what's good,
00:33:39
Speaker
Hating, resisting, and exposing evil is part of our job as believers. Yes, we're ambassadors for Christ, whose job it is um to reach the lost and reconcile them to Jesus. so But in the day to day, resisting the wicked one is our job.
00:34:00
Speaker
but a lot of Christians fall under deception to the wicked one because they're afraid of actually seeing just how wicked he really is. But we're going to look at the relationship between all these different institutions and see just how well orchestrated and coordinated the forces of evil are. Not to glorify them, not to terrify the body of Christ, not to make you feel despondent or like it's a battle we've already lost.
00:34:30
Speaker
but to make you more vigilant so that you will know, okay, a holy separation's required here, but we can do it. We can push back the darkness in our time and see the greatest move of God this world has ever seen. In Jesus' name, amen, amen, and amen. Love you lots like Jelly Tots, friends. Have the best day. Bye-bye.