Saint Brigid: 'as practical in citizenship as she was mystic in religion'

There is another name which was closely associated with that of Patrick but which needed no such distinguished affiliation to enable it to endure in history. That is the name of Brigid which was held by the premier member of Ireland's early saintly womanhood. Her memory is as much part and parcel of the national and ecclesiastical tradition as is that of Patrick himself. Interest and pride in her glory is confined within no provincial limitations but maintain an equal hold upon every section of the country. Her name when borne by a woman is regarded in foreign parts as distinct a badge of Irish origin as is that of the national apostle when its honours a man.

A potent reason for this universal esteem for Brigid is the fact that though wedded to Heaven she was never divorced from Ireland. She was not that type of saint whose celestial tendencies make mental absentees from the ordinary life of earth. She was as practical in citizenship as she was mystic in religion.

James F. Cassidy, The Women of the Gael(Boston, 1922), 59-60.

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