E06130: Cogitosus' Life of *Brigit (abbess of Kildare, ob. c. 525, S01885) recounts the saint's foundation of Kildare and appointment of *Conleth (bishop of Kildare, ob. c. 518/20, S02259); her miracles; and describes her death, posthumous cult, and feast-day. Written in Latin, probably at Kildare, c. 675/80.
Creators: name: Bsavill
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2018
Subjects: History

description: Cogitosus, Life of Brigit (BHL 1457) <br><br>Summary (using chapter divisions from Connolly and Picard):<br><br>Preface<br>The author states that he has been asked by the brethren to compose a life of the virgin Brigit, who 'built her monastery on the plains of Mag Liffe on the firm foundation of faith. It is the head of almost all the Irish churches with supremacy (culmen praecellens) over all the monasteries of the Irish and its parochia extends over the whole land of Ireland, reaching from sea to sea.' She appointed Conleth as 'high priest' (summus sacerdos) there, 'a famous man and a hermit ... through whom God wrought many miracles' (illustrem virum et solitarium ... per que Deus virtutes operatus est plurimas). Together they ruled their 'primatial Church' (principalem ecclesiam) as bishop and abbess, and their successors have ruled as 'archbishop of the bishops of Ireland and the abbess whom all the abbesses of the Irish revere' (archiepiscopus Hibernesium episcoporum, et abbatissa, quam omnes abbatissȩ Scottorum venerantur).<br><br>Life<br>(1.) Brigit's birth in Ireland to 'Christian and noble parents'; her chastity and restraint from childhood; and a miracle of her youth whereupon the butter she had given away to the poor was replenished. <br><br>(2.) Her veiling as a virgin by Bishop Mac Caille, and how the wooden base of the altar she touched 'flourishes fresh and green to the present day.' <br><br>(3.) Further miracles worked through Brigit during her lifetime, involving: bacon, which miraculously replenished after being given to a dog; (4.) a dry harvest on a rainy day; (5.) a cow milked thrice in one day; (6.) the hanging of clothes on a sunbeam; (7.) sheep; (8.) water turned into beer; (9.) a nun whose pregnancy was reversed; (10.) a stone turned into salt; (11.) the curing of a blind man; (12.) the curing of a speechless girl; (13.) bacon, which was miraculously left uneaten by a dog; (14.) raw meat which did not stain her clothes; (15.) a cow and a calf; (16.) cows saved from thieves; (17.) her chariot, pulled by only one horse; (18.) a tamed boar; (19.) wolves who acted as swineherds; (20.) a fox, temporarily tamed to placate a king and free an enslaved family; (21.) obedient birds; (22.) nine wicked men, fooled into murdering an apparition, who then repented; (23.) a man cured of gluttony; (24.) the moving of a very heavy tree; (25.) a lost brooch, found in a fish, which saved a woman's chastity; (26.) a burnt loom and cooked calf, miraculously restored; (27.) a silver vessel, divided equally into three parts; (28.) Bishop Conleth's vestments, miraculously replaced after she had given them away to the poor; (29.) honey found beneath the floor of a house; (30.) a river which changed course.<br><br>(31.) Brigit's posthumous miracles: how a millstone was hurled down a mountain without becoming damaged; how the same millstone would not mill the grain of a pagan; and how the same millstone was later saved when the mill burnt down, and then placed at the doorway of the monastery [in Kildare], where it has since healed those who touch it. <br><br>(32.) On the restoration of the church, where the 'glorious bodies' of Conleth and Brigit rest in tombs to the right and left of the altar (gloriosa... corpora, a dextris et a sinistris altaris decorati, in monumentis posita): how, after the workmen had prayed, a door that did not fit into its new frame expanded in size. The church is now 'the safest city of refuge in the whole of Ireland for all fugitives ... the treasures of kings are kept there' (civitas est refugii tutissima... in tota Scotorum terra omnibus fugitivis. In qua thesauri servantur regum), and many visit for the feast of Brigit on 1 February.<br><br>Epilogue<br>Cogitosus apologises for his rustic speech, and for only recounting a few of Brigit's miracles. He asks the reader to pray for him.<br><br><br>Text: AASS, Feb. I, 135-41. Translation: Connolly and Picard 1987. Summary: B. Savill.