Saint Who?
Saints Who Performed Great Miracles
Saint Brigid
Religious († c. 525)Feast: February 1
Saint Brigid, patroness of Ireland, is said to have been the daughter of an Irish chieftain and his Christian slave. Brigid grew up tending flocks on her father’s lands. As a child she often gave away butter from the family dairy, but it would be miraculously replenished in answer to her prayers. When questioned once about her generosity she responded: “I find it hard to deny Christ his own food.”
Brigid became a nun and gained a reputation as a miracle worker. Different accounts tell how she made animals appear, which she gave to the poor, or how she turned a cup of water into milk (then considered very healthful and a luxury of sorts) to heal a sick woman.
Her wounds, like Christ’s, brought healing. There was a family that had lost many children in miscarriage and infant death. The only survivors, twins, were unable to speak. Brigid took a bad fall and hit her head on a rock. The blood from the wound healed the twins. Moreover, Brigid foretold, the parents would have an abundance of offspring. She died around the age of seventy and is buried with Saint Patrick.
Compassionate Father, through the prayers
of Saint Brigid, console those who grieve
for their children.
