Coffee & Saints

Born: 451 – Dundalk, Ireland
Died: 525 – Kildare, Ireland

What I appreciate about St. Brigid:
She came from a sad beginning and did not let that dictate her life or the woman she would become!

Coffee Order:
I think she was an easy person to talk to and would choose something simple when invited for coffee – so I see her having an iced mocha latte.

Our Saint for today had a little bit of sass to her which I very much appreciate. She was a woman who knew that she wanted to serve God with all of her heart and soul and would not let anyone tell her no. When picturing having coffee with Saint Brigid of Kildare, I think she would want to meet at a lively coffee shop. In my mind, she would have appreciated a place with lots of chatter and live performances from local artists. I can see a place with earthy touches: live plants, wood accents, and a neutral color palate. For her drink, I think she would order a simple iced mocha latte.

I come from a long line of Irish men and women on my mom’s side of the family, so meeting with an Irish Saint would be right up my alley! I would want to ask her about her childhood as it is very different from many other Saints of the Catholic Church. Saint Brigid was born out of wedlock by a pagan chieftain and his slave – not exactly a glamorous beginning. I would ask her about her years growing up. She was told to stay with her mother until she became older and then was to be sent back to the chieftain. This kind of dysfunctional childhood would truly affect a young person. Did she ever truly fit in? Did she feel as though she ever belonged? Was she in a constant state of anxiety knowing that she could be sent back to her father at any time?

Her mother hoped for the best of her daughter and had Brigid baptized Catholic as an infant. As Brigid grew, she found a special connection to our Lord. Amidst living in poverty as a slave, she found joy in the Scriptures and her prayer life. How beautiful! I would love to hear her tell me about this time in her life – being so young and yet so enthralled by the Lord.

Her life did not get any easier, sadly, as she grew. At the age of ten, she was forced to leave her mother behind and move in with her father and his wife. I cannot begin to imagine the heartache this child must have felt being thrown into a family that she did not know. On the surface, this sounds great! She would have moved into a nice house and been surrounded by wealth, like a Cinderella story. However, our Saint was not a fairytale – she was a young girl who was not even treated as the chieftain’s daughter; she was instead treated as a servant.

Being ten years old and put into such a tough situation could not have been easy. If I am to picture myself having been through this, I think I would have become a grumpy person. I would have understood if she was the type to throw tantrums or break rules for attention. Saint Brigid, who was clearly much smarter than I was as a child, did no such thing. She was so devoted to her faith that instead of getting angry and hurting others, she began to help the poor through charitable acts. She lived in a nice home with plenty of food that she would take to people who needed it. This, naturally, angered her father who was horrified at what the child was doing with his belongings. It got so bad that he threatened to sell her. I can picture her wiping a tear as she tells me this part of her story; how those words must have cut so deeply into her heart at such a young age.

Her father wanted to sell her to the King as a servant. He probably felt so sly in his decision to rid himself of the girl and see her suffer more. However; the plan backfired once the King met Brigid and recognized her charity as a Christian himself. He was so proud of Brigid for standing up for her Christian beliefs and told her father to free her.

God can work in all circumstances and with any heart which has a tiny opening to Him and His will. Saint Brigid was freed from being a servant and was told she was to be married. Saint Brigid knew that God wanted for her something different: religious life. When she told her father he got upset, telling her he had many suitors waiting to be chosen. The girl was so certain that God did not wish for her to be married that she disfigured her face, removing some of her beauty so no man would want her. Her father realized that she was willing to do anything for this choice of religious life and ended up giving her his permission and material things to set off on her own. This is huge! This was a pagan chieftain who did believe in the God whom the girl worshipped and yet he made it possible for her to follow God’s plan! God clearly found a tiny opening in that man’s heart and worked through him.

Saint Brigid, the young former slave girl born out of wedlock, is credited with organizing communal consecrated religious life for women in Ireland. What an accomplishment! I can picture the smile on her face as she tells me all about the different women and their personalities. She must have been so happy when Bishop Mel of Ardagh accepted her profession as a nun. I can see the joy in her eyes turn to wonder and awe as she describes how her disfigured face was miraculously healed as soon as she made those vows. Bishop Mel recognized something special in our Saint and became a mentor to her group. Oh, and bonus fact: he was the nephew of Saint Patrick! And another bonus fact: Saint Brigid and Saint Patrick became good friends!

I can see the smile of pride as she describes all of her hard work through the Lord. She started her life as a slave and then was forced to live with her father and his wife as their servant, not being seen as family. Despite all of it, she founded two Monastic Institutions, one for men, and the other for women, and a school of art. The man in charge of the school is also a Saint – Saint Conleth! This woman certainly rubbed elbows with important people!

The story that I would most love to hear from her is when she asked the King of Leinster for land to build a convent. This man laughed at our Saint and refused to give her any land. She did what any holy woman of God would do: she prayed for a softening of the King’s heart. She smiled (I picture a very mischievous smile) and asked if he would be willing to just give her as much land as her cloak would cover. The King, feeling all high and mighty, laughed some more and agreed to her silly request – telling her to lay the cloak on the ground.  Our Saint nodded and asked her four friends to hold a corner of the cloak and walk in opposite directions. Miraculously, her cloak grew immediately and began to cover many acres of land. I just picture the best smirk in the world, head tilted to the side, as she faces the King who probably had his jaw on the ground! The King, filled with awe of the Lord, promised her not only land, but money, food, and supplies.  After he converted he had a devotion to the poor. God truly had softened his heart!

I picture myself being able to sit with Saint Brigid for hours in that coffee shop as she tells me different stories of her life. There have been many miracles attributed to her while she was alive as well as after she passed away. She was a devoted nun who not only was friends with future Saints, she encouraged the faith of people who eventually became Saints too! Thanks to her drive and determination to follow the Lord, she helped bring the Glory of God to Ireland.

Her life is a beautiful reminder that Saints come from many circumstances. She was not born in a traditional Catholic family – she was born from a greedy man who impregnated his slave! God never faulted Brigid for any of this – seeing her only as His beautiful daughter who was destined to help Christianize Ireland. She kept her faith in the Lord during terrible circumstances and refused to allow the men on earth to tell her what her life should be. She stood firm in her beliefs and even had a little sass along the way! I am a huge fan of this Saint and pray that young women will look to her for intercession when they feel as though the culture is trying to dim their light.

Prayer:
Saint Brigid of Kildare, you were born into difficult circumstances that you did not choose. Instead of letting the world dictate your future, you sought to follow the promptings of your spouse – the Holy Spirit. We ask for your intercession that we, too, my always be looking for the Holy Spirit to guide us. We ask for you to pray for young girls, that the Lord will shine His light on them and help them to see that they are destined for great things. Amen.

I hope you enjoyed learning about this Saint! The artwork above was created using AI and my own imagination – this is how I picture what it would be like to sit with Saint Brigid of Kildare in a coffeeshop today. I would love for you to share your own thoughts in the comments. How do you picture Saint Brigid of Kildare? What do you think she would have ordered at a coffee shop? Let me know below!

Cheers! ☕
Maggie