SOME SAINTS COMMEMORATED IN FEBRUARY
1 February St Brigit of Kildare (451-525)
There are variations of the name of Brigit, especially Bridget and Bride. The
nickname of the Saint is Mary of the Gael. She is one of Ireland’s patron saints
along with St Patrick and St Columba. She was an early Christian nun, abbess
and founder of several monasteries. St Brigit’s Day, or Imboic in Gaelic, marks
one of the quarter days in the pagan year, which marked the beginning of spring,
of lambing and lactation in cattle. St Brigit is one of the few saints which stand
between pagan mythology, Druidism and Christian spirituality, she is sometimes
confused with the Celtic goddess Brigid, venerated by the Brigantes in Northern
England, a goddess of harvest and births.
St Brigit is the most famous female leader of the early Celtic church and the
patron saint of Learning. She was born in County Louth. Her parents were
possibly a pagan chieftain, also known as a Druid and wizard, and Brocca, a
Pictish slave, baptised by St Patrick. St Brigit is venerated for her generosity to
the poor, she also founded a school of art and metalwork, the scriptorium there
produced the Book of Kildare. Brigit died leaving a cathedral city and school
famous all over Europe. Most of her miracles are related to healing and domestic
tasks -. Hundreds of Place- names in her honour are found in Scotland and
Ireland, including Kilbride and Bridewell.
14 February St Valentine (died probably AD 270)
Latin Valentinus, this is the name of several martyred saints of ancient Rome,
the name is derived from Valens= worthy, strong. Nothing is known of the life of
the saint whose feast day is the 14 February, except his name and that he was
buried at the Via Flaminia North of
Rome. The Feast Day was
established in 496 by Pope Gelasius
I, he appears to have been a priest
in Rome, or a bishop in Terni, Italy.
A first picture of the Saint appeared
in the Nuremberg Chronicle (1493).
The text there states that Valentine
was a Roman priest, martyred
during the reign of Claudius II, also
known as Claudius Gothicus, dates vary: 260. 270, 273. He was to have been
arrested and imprisoned because he married Christian couples and assisted
Christians in general, while they were persecuted in Rome. He was beheaded
outside the Flaminian Gate. St Valentine’s Day has various traditions, Chaucer
suggests this was the day birds chose their mates, but it may have been a
Christian takeover of the Roman feast of Lupercalia. Some Relics were
exhumed in 1836 and identified as St Valentine’s, the casket was taken to
12