BRIDGET, St, one of the patron saints of Ireland, who lived during the 6th century, was a daughter of one of the princes of Ulster, and took the monastic vow at a very early age. Her cell, the first in Ireland, was erected under a large oak tree, whence the place was called Kil-dara, the cell of the oak. The city of Kildare is supposed to derive its name from St Bridget’s cell. A whole collection of miraculous stories have clustered round her name, and her reputation was not confined to Ireland, for St Bride was a favourite saint in England and in Scotland.
BRIDGET, St, of Sweden, was born about the year 1302. She was descended from a family of royal blood, and at the age of sixteen was married to Alpho, prince of Nericia. The husband and wife were equally devoted to works of piety, and undertook together a pilgrimage to the shrine of St Jago de Compostella. On their return both embraced the monastic life, and after the death of Alpho, his wife founded a new kind of monastery for monks and nuns. She then went on a pilgrimage to Rome, where she founded a house for Swedish pilgrims and students, and composed her Revelationes. After another pilgrimage to Jerusalem, she died at Rome in 1373. She was canonized in 1391. The order of St Bridget flourished for some time; they had one house in Britain.
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