We've almost made it through yet another week of heart-stopping, saintly thrills and spills. Two more votes to cast before we're given a chance to catch our collective breaths/suffer from the weekend malaise that is LMW (Lent Madness Withdrawal).
After today's matchup, only two battles remain in the Round of the Saintly Sixteen. Tomorrow Bernard Mizeki will face Jackson Kemper and on Monday it's Egeria vs. Thomas Ken. Then it's on to the Elate Eight!
But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's focus on a tricky pairing between a beloved Irish saint and a bishop who served amid the trials of persecution. Brigid of Kildare faces Dionysius the Great as we continue to get to know our saintly souls through Quirks and Quotes.
Yesterday, Francis of Assisi trounced Cecilia 69% to 31% and will face off against Thecla in the next round.
Brigid of Kildare
Brigid is the most-beloved Irish saint, alongside Patrick, in the hearts of the Irish people.
Known as Mary of the Gael, she is said to have miraculous powers over beer: both changing a bathtub full of water to beer to feed a starving family, and causing a single barrel of her monastery’s brew to last from Christmas straight through to Pentecost.
However, she didn’t limit her exploits to mass beer production — Brigid was a shrewd leader as well. Her double monastery was the first of its kind. When she went to the king, to request land to build her abbey, she explained that she had just the right spot picked out: it had trees, access to water, good for building, a lovely view, etc. The king flatly refused. Undeterred, Brigid suggested the king give to her just enough land as her cloak covered. The king, eyeing the small garment wrapped around her shoulders, shrugged and agreed. Brigid spread out her cloak, handing each corner to a different nun, and they started walked in opposite directions. Suddenly, the cloak grew larger and larger, until the king, annoyed, threw up his hands, and gave her the original parcel she had wanted. The idea of Brigid’s cloak became very important, and to this day, a popular Irish blessing asks for St. Brigid to shelter you under her cloak.
On a slightly more practical note, when St. Mel of Armaugh performed her installation as abbess of Kildare, he reported seeing a column of fire descend from the heavens and alight upon Brigid’s head. This vision convinced him, on the spur of the moment to just go ahead and ordain her a bishop. (Columns of fire from heaven are not to be trifled with). Vision or no, Brigid is considered by many to be the first functioning female bishop, and is depicted holding a bishop’s crozier in many icons.
Her ministry, in Kildare and beyond, was based on translating the incoming Christian faith into the language of the people’s traditional customs and practices, until it became something they could relate to.
The monastery at Kildare was founded on a site that had been traditionally used for Druid worship of a pagan goddess. Worship of this goddess involved the kindling and tending of an eternal flame. Once Brigid decided to set up her monastery there, she elected to continue to let the flame burn — only she explained it as the light of Christ, shining in the world, and coming to Ireland to bring wisdom, peace, and justice. Each day, a different nun would tend the light, and on the 20th day, Brigid herself took a turn. So the flame burned continuously, as it had in pre-Christian days, until Henry VIII destroyed the monasteries.
However, in 1993, the order Brigid founded relit the flame in Kildare, and it is again shining continuously as a beacon of Christ’s love in Ireland.
Dionysius the Great
Dionysius the Great, as he would come to be called, was an agent of reconciliation in a time of heated dispute. As Bishop of Alexandria, the chief episcopal see in the third century, Dionysius saw his flock subjected to the horrors of the Decian persecutions and is remembered especially for his role in the question of how to treat those Christians who had lapsed during the persecutions.
Many fled Alexandria seeking safety, others went to their reward loyal to the faith, and yet others gave in to the pressures of the Roman Empire and apostatized. Dionysius himself was furious when he was not allowed to go to his martyrdom after he was kidnapped by supporters who could not bear to see him become a victim.
Once the persecutions came to an end, there were many who were of the opinion that there was no possibility for re-admission to Communion and the Church after such apostasies. Dionysius, however, offered a way toward reconciliation. He said that, after a period of penance and without re-baptism, those who had succumbed to pressure should be welcomed back. He wrote, “Let us then not repel those who return, but gladly welcome them and number them with those who have not strayed…”
He said of those who would bar those who apostatized from the Communion of the Church that they had “introduced the most unholy teaching about God and accuse the most gracious Jesus Christ our Lord of being without pity.”
Dionysius reinforced the teaching that the Sacraments of the Church are of Divine origin and that the flawed nature of the Church’s ministers does not undermine their efficacy. He combated with great vigor those who maintained that if a heretic baptized an individual then said Baptism might be considered invalid. Dionysius taught that Baptism in the name of the Trinity should always be regarded as valid no matter the failings of the minister.
Dionysius maintained a moderate tone and appealed to scripture, tradition, and reason in holding that the unity of the Church rests on the validity of her Sacraments despite the flaws, divisions, and animosities of the Church.
One man who had taken in with heretics for a time came to Dionysius full of contrition and afraid to receive Communion without being re-baptized. About this Dionysius wrote, “For as he had heard the Giving of Thanks (Eucharist), and joined in saying the Amen, and stood at the Table, and stretched forth his hands to receive the holy Food, and had taken it and partaken of the Body and Blood of our Lord Jesus Christ for a considerable period, I should not venture to put him back to the beginning once more.”
Dionysius was a writer, thinker, and teacher who, at a time of bitter controversy, labored for the unity of the Church and rested his hope on the mercy and charity of Christ.
Vote!
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168 comments on “Brigid of Kildare vs. Dionysius the Great”
I have to support the female bishop.
BRIGID OF IRELAND » SAINT BRIGID'S PRAYER
SAINT BRIGID'S PRAYER
(10th century Poem attributed to Brigid herself)
I'd like to give a lake of beer to God.
I'd love the heavenly
Host to be tippling there
For all eternity.
I'd love the men of Heaven to live with me,
To dance and sing.
If they wanted, I'd put at their disposal
Vats of suffering.
White cups of love I'd give them
With a heart and a half;
Sweet pitchers of mercy I'd offer
To every man.
I'd make Heaven a cheerful spot
Because the happy heart is true.
I'd make the men contented for their own sake.
I'd like Jesus to love me too.
I'd like the people of heaven to gather
From all the parishes around.
I'd give a special welcome to the women,
The three Marys of great renown.
I'd sit with the men, the women and God
There by the lake of beer.
We'd be drinking good health forever
And every drop would be a prayer.
LOL! There's no way an abbess wrote that!
🙂
wonderful!!
No kidding, Margaret! I am struggling with these two wonderful folks from antiquity today. What to do, what to do!! Oliver, I need some 7-year-old wisdom!
I voted for both in the first round so it'll be hard to see either of them defeated in this round. I love Brigid for translating the faith so the people could relate and I love Dionysius for the reconciliation work. So I am voting for Brigid because you have to have a faith first. Perhaps I will wear a cape today.
Dionysius sought reconciliation. Brigid won personal freedom through serving God.
The history of each is fascinating, but Brigid wins my vote today.
How to make St. Brigid's cross:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eDUXepmNLY
Thank you so much for the video. Just watching it this morning felt like an act of devotion to this Mc-.
lovely thanks Kim !
Thanks for that video!
Many people commented yesterday on the research going into St. Cecilia's Quirks and Quotes. But I'd like to commend Megan Castellan today for a simply beautiful discourse on St. Brigid.
I thought both CBs did a great job today ~ I loved what Megan wrote & was also impressed that Robert read the comments from the first round and filled in the blanks! Great work!
As much as I liked Brigid, the idea of reconciliation is so important today. Dionysius got my vote.
Great story behind each, but the Beer won me over
Despite having an active group of beer makers (the Hebrews) in our church...literally brewing in the church...Dionysious wins my vote for being willing to stand up for reconciliation and love when then as now it seems so much easier to condemn and exclude. However, it is nice to know our brewers have a woman for their patron saint!
Gotta support perhaps the original female bishop. It's taken a while to get back to the beginning. Voting for Brigid in honor of my friend, the Rt. Reverend Diane Jardine Bruce in the diocese of Los Angeles.
This was easy…a bunch of myths and legends versus a real person dealing with real issues. Dionysius words and actions are still guidelines for the Church today. Even a lake of beer wouldn't last that long - especially in Ireland. Dionysius deserves to be The Great among The Elate!
Kim, I'm still undecided, but I've just got to ask--how do you know whether or not Brigid was a real person?
There are those who argue St. Brigid is just a Christianization of the Irish goddess of the same name. I personally believe she is real, even if several of the legends associated with her are not, though I'm highly biased.
Now this is a tough one. A saint who is obviously filled with the fire of the Holy Spirit and one who practices ultimate forgiveness, and is truly right that we ministers can and do fail administering God's Word and Sacraments. Not sure I can chose today.
Busting my own bracket again! Have to go with "a writer, thinker, and teacher who, at a time of bitter controversy, labored for the unity of the Church and rested his hope on the mercy and charity of Christ."
I blame the Sub-Dean.
Since I'm Irish and a woman, I felt that I must vote for St. Brigid, but from what I know of St. Dionysius, he continues to stand forth as a beacon of Christ's mercy in a church that too often sides with the liturgical Nazis.
Gee, and I thought I had made up the term liturgical Nazi.
Ha!
Brigid breaks the glass ceiling!
Irish though I be, I could never not vote for a person who defends inclusion of all in the partaking of the Gifts of God.
St. Brigid, also known as St. Bride, is the patron saint of those with fertility issues and problem pregnancies. Not only was my first call to St. Brides church, but this saint also gave me comfort through my triplet pregnancy. Gotta give my vote to bishop brigid.
While St. Dionysius worked to hold the church together with many others, St. Brigid stands for opening the church up - there must have been many women worthy of the crozier then, and now in denominations where men still hold control.
Last fall I spent a day in Kildare with three Brigidine sisters. They taught our group of pilgrims about Brigid, took us to visit the cathedral and also the modern parish church which contains the icon at the beginning of the post today. We then went to two healing wells and received blessings there. The current sisters continue to embody the spirit of Brigid and keep the flame burning. See more at http://solasbhride.ie/ and may Brigid's cloak protect you.
In the history of the church there are stories and there are historical narratives. I tend to weigh in favor of historical narrative and so voted for Dionysius. Cloaks that stretch beyond measure, bathubs of beer and columns of flame from above just don't get me. But a real controversy with real threats to people's lives and spirits has my attention. Thank be to Dionysius for proclaiming love for all, including those of us who are broken.
Argh! Do I, as an ordained woman, vote for the first woman bishop?
Or do I, as a person who had concerns about my confirmation (after the Bishop who performed it suddenly and very publicly was revealed to be as human and fallible as any of the rest of us), vote for the Bishop who assures me that the sacrament is still valid?
Tough decision!
"Dionysius reinforced the teaching that the Sacraments of the Church are of Divine origin and that the flawed nature of the Church’s ministers does not undermine their efficacy. He combated with great vigor those who maintained that if a heretic baptized an individual then said Baptism might be considered invalid. Dionysius taught that Baptism in the name of the Trinity should always be regarded as valid no matter the failings of the minister." Love my irish peeps and saints, including the fiery Brigid, and yet....thank God for Dionysius!
I don't know if I voted for Brigid or for Megan's wonderful essay. I must confess to a flexible bracket. I think Dionysius was right; while there is life there is forgiveness. He is a wonderful saint. But fire, beer, and an expanding cloak to confound a king - wow. What can I say? Busted my own bracket.
Yes, Megan certainly knows her audience! Start of with the beer! (It swayed me, and made me thirsty before noon!)
I meant "start OFF with the beer!" Darn autocorrect.
I agree! As well, Dionysius helped establish and keep doctrine that has lasted through the centuries.
Bathtubs of beer notwithstanding, we need forgiveness and reconciliation now more than ever. Dionysus gets my vote.
Well said.
Had to vote for Dionysius for his love and compassion, but will lift a Killian's Irish Red this evening in honor of Brigid.
I agree, too!
I agree with you, Cynthia, that we need Dionysius today, but I can't not vote for an early woman bishop. Difficult choice.
Really tough choice. I voted before for the healing power of his words and teachings that Dionysius had. This time I seem compelled to vote for Brigid (perhaps it's those Irish saints pouring their love out this week!). She found a way to teach her people with kindness and to enhance their understanding of Christ. What a Bishop!
Voted for Dionysus last time for his welcoming and forgiving stance. But this time...
co-ed monastery, outwitting a king, "go ahead and ordain her a bishop", inclusion and reinterpretation of familiar customs, re-kindled flame after a few centuries...gotta go with Brigid.
And don't forget the beer--high in B vitamins.
Bathtub full of beer? Ugh! Wine maybe...
But I went for Dionysius because of the great need for reconciliation in the church and his reliance on the Sacraments and the three-legged stool...scripture, tradition, reason.
Two strong candidates today. Excellent commentaries as usual. I voted for the one I thought needed my vote. I was way wrong in that conclusion.
Brigid has my vote in this round because the more extravagant details in her Vitae are prophetic of the Church in our time. A woman bishop? It's about time. A broad cloak--er, tent--ditto that. A gentle leading toward the light of Christ shining in the darkness by meeting folks where they are rather than, say, using state power to compel them to enter (by allowing sectarian prayer in public schools)? A no brainer. Turning beer to water? This is to follow Jesus so closely that her footprints are swallowed up in His. Dear, holy Brigid, pray for us!
In honor of my own granddaughter Bridgette, I again voted for Brigid. I loved the video how- to of Brigid's Cross and the story of her cloak.