A new radio documentary The Bones of Brigid sheds light on the 600-year link to the Church of St John the Baptist in Lumiar, just outside Lisbon, and learns how the local people have reverently protected the memory of the Patroness of Ireland and her fragile skull bone.
Orla Riordan, who produced, researched and presented the documentary, told the Irish Independent that there are St Brigid’s crosses all over the Portuguese church. “This weekend is as big for them as it is for us,” she said.
“When I visited, there was about 300 people in the church and afterwards we all sat outside talking. These elegant older Portuguese ladies were telling me that their names were Brigid, Briege or Brigitta.
“And yet most Irish people don’t even know that part of St Brigid’s skull exists and that it is in Lumiar. It is kept in a bulletproof box in the wall of the church in a beautiful reliquary. The Franciscan friars who run the church took the skull out of the box for me and allowed me to sit with these fragile remains.”
“I was absolutely overcome with emotion. The hairs were standing up on my arms because I had spent a year researching Brigid (c.451-c.525), talking about her, thinking about her, and here she was. It was wonderful to be there in her presence.”
The documentary, , reveals how the relic of Brigid’s skull arrived in Portugal through three Irish knights on their way to the crusades in the 13th century.
“Something happened the knights when they got to Portugal because they are buried there; I stood by their tombs. There may have been a battle and they were killed in it.”
A commemorative inscription in the church reads: “Here in these three tombs lie the three Irish knights who brought the head of St Brigid, Virgin, a native of Ireland, whose relic is preserved in this chapel. In memory of which, the officials of the Altar of the same Saint caused this to be done in January AD 1283.”
Ms Riordan said the priest in St John’s church told here that only a couple of hundred Irish people visit every year, mostly those on a pilgrimage and some groups of walkers.
The documentary tracks Bishop Denis Nulty’s quest to bring the skull to Kildare for the 1,500th anniversary of the death of St Brigid in last year and his realisation that the relic was far too fragile to travel.
That was when the Brigidine Sisters in Tullow revealed that they in fact had a relic of St Brigid and were happy to give it to the people of Kildare. “They are amazing women – the keepers of the flame,” Orla Riordan enthused.
The programme visits St Brigid’s Cathedral in Kildare and speaks to Dean Isobel Jackson.
“The Cathedral’s location is where St Brigid’s monastery was built originally. The building isn’t the original monastery building, but inside there are tiles built into the wall that are from the original monastery.
“Bridget could have walked on those. It makes it so real, this is what people like, the fact that she is relatable.”
Other contributors to the programme include former Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who as Minister for Trade and Enterprise in 2022 signed into law the provision for the new bank holiday.
He attended Scoil Bhríd primary school in Blanchardstown and explained that for him, the fact that the new bank holiday honoured a woman was really important and the aim of the holiday is to represent all the women of Ireland.
Speaking to members of the public for the documentary, Orla Riordan said she thought St Brigid had been forgotten, but learned instead that she has not been forgotten among the women of Ireland.
“They told me that it is wonderful to see a woman honoured with the bank holiday, a female saint, considering how hard women have fought in Ireland to get where they are today. That is exactly what Brigid would have wanted.
“Her message is one of compassion and kindness and looking out for each other and minding each other. When we think of what the world is going through at the moment, her message as important, if not more important, now as it ever was when she walked the Curragh.”
Ms Riordan’s advice this St Bridget’s bank holiday is to “rejoice in your mother, your grandmothers, your sisters, your aunties, your female friends. Be with them and reflect on the women of Ireland and how wonderful they all are.”
The Bones of Brigid is broadcast on Kildare’s KFM Radio at 6pm on Monday, and will also be available on Spotify later this week