Ireland’s public holiday in honour of the feast of St Brigid has been given a secular spin, with the Irish Government reimagining the patron saint as a pre-Christian goddess. Source: CNA.
In Ireland, February marks the beginning of spring and the celebration of “Lá Fhéile Bríde” – St Brigid’s Day.
For Irish Catholics, the day has always been significant, as St Brigid is one of Ireland’s three patron saints alongside St Patrick and St Colmcille.
Since 2023, the feast day has been a public holiday in the Republic of Ireland, branded by the Irish government as “St Brigid’s Day/Imbolc bank holiday”. Imbolc was a pagan festival that marked the arrival of spring.
The day has been used to promote the successes of Irish women and generated a variety of celebrations of St Brigid, typically reimagined as a pre-Christian goddess.
In a January 30 statement, government minister Patrick O’Donovan encouraged members of the public to participate in a series of events, omitting any reference to Christianity or Catholicism.
It is not uncommon of the Irish government to diminish the faith today, but the secular appropriation of the story of St Brigid has caused some reaction.
The government information pointedly ignored the Christian St Brigid, asserting: “With roots in the ancient Celtic festival of Imbolc, which marked the arrival of spring, St Brigid’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate growth, renewal, and light. In Celtic mythology, Brigid was a triple goddess – of healing, fire, and of poetry.”
Catholic commentator Fr Owen O’Gorman said, “It’s a real problem with the secularisation of the feast days; it’s not just St Brigid – St Patrick’s Day has obviously become quite secularised. The onus is then on the Church to enable people to connect with the real St Patrick rather than the plastic St Patrick.”
“St Brigid is the spiritual mother of our nation; we honour her by praying through her intercession by spreading the cult of St Brigid, her devotion, imitating her virtues, her spirit of hospitality, her spirit of generosity, and her love of Christ.”
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Ireland’s spiritual mother faces secular reinterpretation (By Patrick J. Passmore, CNA)
