Confusion with
a pre-Christian Pagan Goddess
Firstly, the
existence of a Celtic (pagan) pre-Christian
goddess who had the same name has contributed to
a misunderstanding of her provenance. This
pre-Christian goddess's Cult was followed from
India in the east, where she was known as
Brammam, to Scotland in the west where she was
called Breganta, and to the north as far as The
Dnepper where she was called Bragan. In all of
these places she was associated with sacred
wells (this was extended to fertility in
Ireland).
This cult was
imported into Ireland from southern Scotland or
northern England by followers of Breganta who
settled in the north of the province of Leinster
circa 250BC.
To go between
the book of Lismore and the
narrative………..
Secular
historians have confused and imposed the pagan
goddess on the Christian St Brigit. This
explains how some of the rituals have been
transferred from the former to the
latter.
This
misunderstanding was reported by historians and
this has given rise to a situation where the
true identity of St. Brigit is lost in the
ensuing confusion. Historians have failed to
identify that this has indeed happened on many
occasions during early Christianity without any
detriment to the saint or the God they
served.
Undermining
Influence of the Byzantine Church
The church in
Rome, from the 4th to the 8th century, was
overshadowed and seconded by the church in
Byzantium. Byzantium at this time had a powerful
Emperor and related church. The Emperor
exercised full political, economic, and
ecclesiastical control over Rome. The Patriarch
of Byzantium was for all of this time the
undisputed head of Christendom.
The church in
England and Ireland regarded the Bishop of Rome
as the head of their church. Most of the Celtic
Bishops were appointed locally which resulted in
the church in Rome continuously putting secular
and ecclesiastical pressure on the Celtic church
to conform to the authority of the Bishop of
Rome. In addition, the Celtic Clergy were
allowed to marry and women were ordained both as
priests and bishops. This was totally
unacceptable to Rome but continued in the Celtic
church until 1200AD. Another difficulty was all
monies collected by the Celtic church were kept
at home, this was completely rejected in Rome.
The Celtic Church was periodically, from
400-800AD and even as late as 1700AD, after the
2nd Treaty of Limerick (when the pope sent a
letter of congratulations to William II of
Orange on his defeat of the Celtic heretics)
under threat of excommunication.
Thus, during
this time the Church in Rome brought pressure to
bear on practices in the Celtic Church, which
were inconsistent with the administration of the
Church.
There are two
main accounts of St. Brigit, these are contained
in The Book of Lismore and The Life Of St.
Brigit by Cogitotus - circa 680AD.
Cogitotus gives
a misleading account of St. Brigit in his book,
The Life of St Brigit. While he was writing this
book about her, it was either censored or
dictated by an official from Rome who would not
allow any acknowledgment or glorification of the
Celtic Church. The account of St. Brigit by
Cogitotus was deliberately downgraded with his
full knowledge.
The most
reliable source of information regarding the
life of St Brigit is recorded in the Tertia
Vita. It is known that the Tertia Vita predates
The Life of St. Brigit written by Cogitosus
circa 680AD which implies that it (Tertia Vita)
was written in very early Irish Christian
times.
In 1814AD during
the repair of Lismore castle Co. Waterford, a
walled up section was opened up by mistake. The
workmen discovered a wooden box containing a
Crosier and an old text copied in vellum with
some pages missing and others damaged. This
so-called book of Lismore (written in Gaelic)
gave an account of the lives of the early Irish
Saints. The book appeared to have been arranged
from the Lost Book of Monesterboice of the early
15th century. The section dealing with St.
Brigit is contemporaneous with Tertia Vita and
Lebar Brec that were published in 1877. In 1890
an edited version of these manuscripts was
published as 'The Lives of the
Saints'.
