BRIGHID (c. 454–c. 524) was an early medieval Irish Christian saint celebrated as a virgin and miracle worker and the founder of an important monastic community at Kildare. According to early annals, she died in 524 CE at the age of seventy. However, that date is best understood as evidence of the tradition that holds Brighid to be a younger contemporary of Saint Patrick rather than as a precise record. Although Brighid has always been associated with the province of Leinster, in southeastern Ireland, she was also, from at least as early as the seventh century, revered along with Saint Patrick and Colmcille as one of the principal patrons of all Ireland. With the movement of Irish monks in the eighth and ninth centuries, the cult of Brighid spread throughout much of Europe. The spelling Brighid is the Middle Irish form of the Old Irish Brigit, the modern Irish Br...