Mary of the Gael Brigid and the remaking of the saints

I’ve been spending a lot of time these past few months with St Brigid of Kildare. Last year, my priest asked me to take on the intimidating task of writing an Akathist hymn for her. An Akathist is a long hymn of praise dedicated to a particular saint, the formula for which is long-established, traceable as it is to 6th-century Byzantium. There are not many Akathists to Western saints, given how new the Eastern Orthodox tradition is here, and since St Brigid is one of Ireland’s three patron saints, it seemed about time to give her her own Akathist hymn, to be sung on her patron day - which is today. I can’t say how well I did at this endeavour, but I like a challenge, and when a saint prods you in this way, it is not right - maybe it is not possible - to refuse. (If any Orthodox people out there would like a copy of the Akathist to St Brigid, drop me a line and I will send you a copy: please write ‘Akathist’ in the subject line.) Regardless of the result though, this project meant that I had to go back to the sources for the life of St Brigid, which gave me an interesting insight not only into what the life of this early Irish saint may have involved, but also of how it was seen by others - then and now. You don’t have to read many lives of early Christian saints, be they in Ireland, Egypt or anywhere else, to notice some themes emerging. These ‘lives’ are not biographies in the modern sense; rather they are stories of spiritual warfare. They are an attempt to demonstrate the holiness and importance of the saint in question, and through them the truth of the Christian faith. Sometimes this spiritual warfare is spoken of in terms of the inner struggle, but more often - overwhelmingly so in the life of St Brigid - they manifest externally as tales of miracles and magic. Brigid was a Christian nun, Abbess and, interestingly, Bishop (at least technically, if not in practice) who founded a monastery at Kildare in Ireland in the sixth century, and was an influential figure in the Irish Christianity of the time. There are several sources for her life, the most comprehensive of which is the Vita Sanctae Brigitae, written by a monk named Cogitosus around the year 650, about 125 years after her death. The Vita tells of Brigid’s early life: she was, we learn, the symbolically-intriguing daughter of a slave and a king, adopted and raised by a druid, who prophesied her future greatness. A saintly figure from a young age, her love of Christ led her early into the monastic life (she refused several offers of marriage, going so far as to pluck her own eyes out when one suitor told her how beautiful they were) and set out instead on a monastic life. As a nun and Abbess, Brigid became renowned for giving everything she had (and sometimes things that other people had) to the poor. This was a pattern begun in childhood, when she had given her mother’s entire store of butter to a poor family and her father’s jewel-encrusted sword to a beggar. She once said she would give the whole of the Kingdom of Leinster to the poor if she could. The force of her personality, her love for the weak and the work done by the monastery she founded had her considered a saint in her own lifetime, as did her miracles, of which my favourite is the turning of water into beer: a very northern European version of Jesus’s wedding gift. After her death, the ‘Mary of the Gael’ became the centre of a cult across Ireland and further afield. Her miraculous help with childbirth, her protection of flocks and herds, and the healing power of her wells testified - still, in fact, testify - to her continued presence in the landscape. That, at any rate, is the Christian version of her life. But there is a neo-pagan version too, which is gaining in popularity as Irish Christianity withers. This has it that St Brigid - if she even existed - was a Christianisation of the pre-Christian ‘Celtic’ goddess Brigid, said to have been the goddess of fire, smithwork and poetry, amongst other things. St Brigid’s Day is, we are told, the same date as the old pre-Christian festival of ‘Imbolc’, which was reworked by the Church as a means of suppressing or appropriating the old religion. Mother goddesses are more fashionable these days than Christian saints, and so it goes with the grain of the times to tell a tale of a female goddess displaced by a male God... Subscribe to The Abbey of Misrule to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives. © 2024 Paul Kingsnorth 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104

The Monthly Salon: January Conversations, news and ephemera PAUL KINGSNORTH JAN 24

Eye in the Sky, County Galway, 24th January 2024 January is a hard month around here. We’ve just sat through two Atlantic storms in a row, which flooded roads, brought down trees aplenty and knocked out the power grid in our rural townland for nearly 24 hours. Not that we found that part hard. In fact, it was a joy to be relieved of the Internet for a day, and to have to light candles and lamps instead of flicking switches. Suddenly time opened up again, and the day operated on the kind of rhythm I remember from childhood. If you’re my age or older, you might remember the concept of ‘boredom.’ It’s a state both relaxing and inducive to creativity, and it used to come about when there was nothing to do. These days, the phone on your hip will always give you something to do, and you will thus be so agitated and entertained that you will never be creative again. That 24 hours without power convinced me of the case that philosopher Jeremy Naydler has made, that the coming of electricity marked a shift in our relationship with reality that changed everything, and not for the better. I wrote about that in this essay last year. Anyway. January is wet and windy, and yet rarely cold enough to entirely stop the cycles of nature. The trees are budding out there and the first crocuses appearing. This ought to offer hope and light, but in fact it just induces stress, because I have so much hedge cutting and bramble hacking to do before the birds begin nesting, which will be soon, and I am behind again because of all this writing and reading. But there are always compensations. Tonight I stepped out of my back door to see a giant halo around the moon on this still and silent night. An owl passed over, hooting softly as I took this photo. Earlier I had surprised a badger trotting heavily along the road. This is the stuff of life. It will outlive the fragile grid. I am currently on a deadline for the book I am putting together of all my essays on the Machine - which of course is another source of stress. No writer should complain about being able to publish a book, of course. Still, I have to get it done by April, and that means that the Abbey will be moving slower than usual for the next couple of months. I’m sorry about that, but I will not leave you bereft, and I’ll keep you updated with my progress. After that, I have a lot of ideas backed up. I hope you’ll stick around for them. In the meantime, it is time for the monthly open floor, in which readers set the agenda. You can say whatever you like about whatever you like. Talk about moons or badgers or storms, or anything else at all. Here are a few things that have piqued my interest recently: An article about the ‘cosmic racism’ of H. P. Lovecraft, a writer I have been gripped by for a couple of decades now, long before he became a meme bandied about by Internet edgelords. H.P’s moment seems to have come, though this may not be a good thing, given the world he created. But what a world. I think my favourite of his stories is ‘The Whisperer in Darkness’. Feel free to tell me why I’m wrong. More on literature, as John Duggan writes for First Things about the recent Irish Booker-winning novel ‘Prophet Song’, and why its premise - the wokest country in Europe suddenly becoming a fascist dictatorship - does not convince. A new friend of mine, Canadian trucker and benevolent troublemaker Gord Magill, writes for Newsweek about the recent Canadian high court ruling that Justin Trudeau’s persecution of his political opponents during covid was unlawful. Two years too late, but I suppose it’s better than nothing. Speaking of unlawful persecutions, satirist C. J. Hopkins, who wrote some of the most blistering attacks on covid authoritarianism to be found on Substack, was recently prosecuted in Germany for comparing the regime to Hitler’s. Yes - actually prosecuted. For satire. In more good news, he has just been acquitted. You can read his powerful statement to the court here. Finally, for some extra January cheer, I note that the ‘Doomsday Clock’ has just been set at 90 secords to midnight - the closest to doom ever, apparently - due to a combination of threats, including old favourites (nuclear war), relative newcomers (climate change) and radical new entries (AI.) Best to go out and just look at the moon. The floor is yours, my friends. The Abbey of Misrule is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The Abbey of Misrule © 2024 Paul Kingsnorth 548 Market Street PMB 72296, San Francisco, CA 94104

If it were possible to break into the WEF confab in Davos

If it were possible to break into the WEF confab in Davos, and take the podium, this is what we'd say May this satiric bit be as PROPHETIC as it is enjoyable! MARK CRISPIN MILLER JAN 18 https://rumble.com/v47f50r-new-wef-participant-crashes-2024-davos-meeting.html A (NOT) So Random Walk on Wall Street. From Greg M GREGORY MANNARINO JAN 18 The Sound of Wings Lives of the Wild Saints #3 PAUL KINGSNORTH JAN 18 ∙ The rain, the rain. It is steady, but it is light. The rain is not the worst. The worst is the cold, which severs the fingers, severs the toes from the body, which builds the uncontrollable shiver that penetrates the heart. The cold is a beast which tears at the skin. But is it the worst? Or is the worst the wind, which bends the trunk like the planks of a galleon, beats at it as if the sea were straining in from all sides, as if the world itself were rolling beneath? Yes, the wind is the worst, I think. The heat, the cold, the rain: at least they do not make me sick. All things are to the glory of God. I thank Him for the wind especially. At night, the tree seems to speak. Even on the stillest of nights, when the moon is a blade in the midnight meadow, there are groans and sighs in her trunk. She moves. I have taken to believing that the tree is womanlike. She bears me up and protects me, as she bears almonds in the late summer, as she is beautifully adorned with pale blossoms in the spring. The tree is home to the birds who feed here and sleep often with me in these branches at night. From her crown can be seen a view newly entire of the world below, from which the Theotokos bore Him who spoke the birds and the branches and all of his children into life. I loved and I hated the tree, at the beginning. Now, nearly three years have passed since my feet touched the earth. Could I walk again if I descended now? Sometimes it seems it would be easier to fly, with the birds who alight here with me, and often now on me. With the birds who bring me bread and sing to me when the sun approaches. One day I will fly home... Did US Public Health Institutions Usher In a ‘1984’-Style Regime? The Epoch Times Words That Matter Jan-19-2024 George Orwell’s “1984”—the 20th century novel that envisioned a world without the freedom to speak, think, or love—can also show us how to fight to keep our country free. Dr. Scott Atlas speaks with Lee Smith about how the official response to COVID gave us a glimpse of a future that’s in our power to avoid. Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and guests, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times. Stay connected with us on social media for more exciting clips and book readings! ⭕️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wtm_leesmith ⭕️ Truth: https://truthsocial.com/@OverTheTargetLee ⭕️ Gettr: https://gettr.com/user/overthetarget_ ⭕️ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wordsthatmatterwithLee/ Popular Vax Propaganda Enters New Phase Amid ‘Wild’ Call for Unvaxed Blood Jun 06 • 4.8K 430 EXCLUSIVE: US Intelligence Says Chinese Military Units Are Crossing Southern Border Sep 28 • 1.7K 237 What’s Happening at the WEF’s Annual Meeting of Globalist Elites? Jan 20 • 1K 234 Hillary Clinton Associates Confirm She Defrauded US Electorate May 24 • 2.3K 181