Wonder Woman of the Week: Brigid of Kildare

This week's Wonder Woman hails from 5th Century Ireland during a rapidly changing time in the Emerald Isle. Brigid was the daughter of one of the converts of St. Patrick who brought a new religion to the island and who would inspire a young woman who would become Ireland's only female patron saint. At the time of Brigid's birth in Medieval Ireland, hunger and war swept the country and the young child was already performing miracles by feeding the poor and healing the sick. At one point, an angry warlord kidnapped the young girl to sell her as a slave to his king, but when Brigid pick-pocketed the warlord's sword and gave it to a beggar as a means of selling it for food, the king recognized Brigid's holy kindness and freed her immediately.

As a young woman, Brigid committed herself to religious studies. At the time, not even aristocratic women learned how to read, but nuns had to learn to read and write scripture- making Brigid one of the few literate women of her time. In 480, Brigid even founded her own monastery in Kildare and the site became a beacon for Irish women in search of sanctuary from abusive families. Brigid also founded an art school and a metallurgy- and would eventually become a patron saint of blacksmiths, artists, Irish women, dairy farmers, victims of household abuse, travellers, and several other groups of people.

Brigid died some time in the 6th Century (several different accounts show different dates of death, but most agree the eventual saint died in her 70's). In life, the saint was known as an expert dairy farmer and beer brewer- leading her to be a patron saint of brewing as well. Brigid's monastery served as a safe shelter for women seeking safety from abuse and Brigid even worked as a matchmaker to find brides for honorable male suitors. After her death, Irish followers of the saint created a type of cross in her honor known as Brigid's Cross which is now a symbol of Catholicism in the country.