The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1890-11-15
St. lBrigid Of Ireland.

St. Brigid Of Ireland.
In recent contribution from Rosa
Mulholland in the Boston Pilot SHE
| refers to the new life of ST. Bridget by
! Mrs. Atkinson. and which is one of the
! series of the lives Of Irish saints sent
cut by the Catholic Truth society OF
! London. She says:
Brlgid, or Brehide (Bride). was hal.
lowed name in Ireland. even before
Patrick landed on our shores with the
banner of the Cross. DARCY Magee
writes in his "Anclent Celtic race"::~-
| Bride was their queen of song. and unto her
! They prayed with fire touched lips
To this mystic queen of song of the
poetry worshipping Celtic pagans, ST.
Brigid probably owed her name. though
at the time Of her birth the fire touched
lips" Of her countrymen prayed not to
the goddess, but to the true Almighty
God. OF the saint the writer of the
present Life SAYS:
No sceptred queen welded greater
power, no tender mother attracted
greater love and trust. The tribesmen
to whom the yelled virgin who drives
over the Curragh was a familiar and
beautiful sight. came to her in every
sorrow, difficulty, and need; and she
responded to their appeals in her own
great hearted wav, praying for them.
fasting for them. working heaven and
earth to save them and make them
happy. We find her 50 often gong
about doing good, that we almost won.
der how she had time for her religious
exercises. We can hardly
picture her in the Scriptorium spending
undisturbed hours in composing trea
tise in prose, or giving voice to a poem,
but we can easily fancy that in the
pastoral quiet of the sheep walk, with
the blue mountains on the horizon, the
dark forests in view, and the breeze
chasing cloud shadows over the grassy
plains, she might we'll clothe in words
her pious thoughts, set free the ,1magi-
nation. and hymn the praises OF the
great Creator.
We feel thankful that the author of
this charming biography has made it a
real biography, full of natural touches
of character rather than dry historical
record. or mystical treatise Of being
beyond our everyday sympathies.
That the Abbess Of Kildare. even she
who burned the sacred fire in Kildare's
holy fame. was a large souled, big heart
ed woman, with smiles on her face, and
laughter often in her voice, as ready to
help her poor. neighbor with her own
strong though delicate hands, as to
storm heaven with prayer on his behalf.
is not to be doubted by any one who
reads Mrs. Atkinson's biography Of her
sanctitied fellow countrymen. The
simplest and homeliest, as we'll as the
most poetic, legend has been treasured
by this author as precious in iIlustra-
tion of the virtues or human loYable-
ness Of the subject Of her memoir. Not
every writer has treated the saints with
so much humane consideration, ana
nothing is more rare than the life of a
saint put for tn in an attractive manner.
Buffers lives are found by MANY
unreadable,- series of dry, hard,
uncompromising statements shorn Of
all the grace of poetry and legend,
though often sufficiently extraordinary
to be difficult of belief, Of late some
very delightful exceptions to the rule Of
unattractiveness IN this kind Of lltera-
ture are Mrs. ELEPHANTS Life Of St.
Francis of Assist; Miss French's Life
OF St. Teresa, Hlstoire de st. Francois
d'Asslse, par l'Abbe Leon Lemomer,
Cure dc st. ferdinand des Ternes
Barring Could 81 Lives are charming, but
they are very short, and deal almost
exclusively with the legendary or poetic
side Of the histories Of the specially
loved children OF God. Others to be
read with real pleasure are Miss Drane's
st. Catherine of Sienna; st. COLUMBIA,
by Montalem and St. Elizabeth of
Hungary by the same. All the above
mentioned writer's remember that the
legendary matter connected with their
heroes and heroines is the poetry Of
religion, and, even though its suggest
[iveness as poetry, the most imp ortant
part Of evidence oncerDing obscure and
far OH saints. showing what was be-
lieYed at them il their day. Or. HeaIy's