Wednesday 2 February 2011

Brigid's Well


This is St. Brigid's Day, to commemorate a saint who built a learned and peaceful community here as the Roman Empire was experiencing its own Long Emergency. Her church was supposedly built under a great oak, so Cill (temple) + Dara (oak) = Kildare. Brigid's Well, not far from us, has drawn penitents for perhaps thousands of years, and the branches of the surrounding trees are thick with rosaries, flowers, photos of loved ones and other signs of devotion.

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