De sancta Brigida
The Miraculous Life of Saint Brigid
Saint Brigid dedicates her life to God and performs numerous miracles of healing and provision for the poor and sick.
Saint Brigid, a religious virgin, seeing that the time for her betrothal was approaching, asked the Lord to send her some deformity so that she might at least avoid the pressure of marriage in this way; then one of her eyes burst and melted in her head, and having received the sacred veil, Brigid lived in the town of Mide with other virgins who were consecrated and devoted to God, where the Lord deigned to perform many miracles through her prayers, and she had a guest named Mark. She healed a man by name, and from a single bushel of beer, she provided enough for eighteen churches from Maundy Thursday until the end of Easter. When a leper asked for milk and she had none, she offered him cold water, but the water turned into milk; when he drank it, a girl was healed. She then cured a leper and gave sight to two blind men. It happened that, while she was traveling because of some pressing need, she fell into a river ford, and her head was broken and blood flowed out, by which two mute women were anointed and regained their speech; after this, a precious vessel of the king fell from a rustic's hand and shattered, and so that the rustic would not be condemned, it was restored whole by Brigid. And when a certain woman refused apples to a leper, at Brigid's prayers the orchard withered to its roots and the apples that had been left inside vanished completely; later, while traveling in a carriage, she saw a poor man with his family carrying wood with great sweat, and taking pity on him, she gave him her horses; and she sat down with her girls by the road and said, 'Dig under the nearby turf so that water may gush forth for the travelers'; soon, after the turf was removed, a springing fountain flowed out; after this was done, a duke passing by gave two horses to Brigid; as Easter day approached, Brigid said to her girls, 'Who will wash our sick sisters?' When they all refused because they were young, Brigid went in, washed them herself, and healed their infirmities. One was paralyzed, another possessed, and another leprous. While Saint Brigid was staying in a stranger's house, everyone went out. Some people came asking for bread, and Brigid, looking around, said to a boy lying nearby who was paralyzed and mute—though she didn't know it—"Boy, do you know where the key is?" And he answered, 'I know.' Brigid said to him, 'Rise and serve them.' And it happened just so; in one house she cured twelve sick people. In a great council, a woman accused a bishop of fathering her child, when the blessed Brigid... Brigid had signed the woman's mouth with the sign of the cross, and she trembled from head to toe, yet she still didn't confess the truth. Brigid said, "Tell me, little child, who is your father?"
Acts of Charity and Divine Justice
Brigid demonstrates divine discernment in judgment and continues her life of radical generosity toward the needy.
And he replied, "The bishop is not my father, but some man at the very back of the council, the last one, and he is base and vile." In those days, a virgin came to Saint Brigid asking for alms, and Brigid said to her, "Take my cow and lead it away." She replied, "The cow is of no use to me; thieves will come and take it from me." Brigid said, "Take my belt, and go with it." By sprinkling it, she will heal the sick. Having taken it, she went away happy and gained from those she healed. Many things. She contracted and... She distributed to the poor of Christ. In a time of famine, Brigid went to the bishop of the Ibori to ask him for grain. .
Lenten Discipline and Final Departure
Brigid maintains strict monastic discipline during Lent and eventually passes into the presence of the Lord.
During Lent, when she had nothing else, she served hard bread with lard, and she ate it with the bishop. However, two of her maids, wanting to eat meat, hid some away, but it turned into two snakes; because of this, they were severely rebuked by Brigid in the presence of the bishop. Then, as they prayed in repentance, the snakes were changed back into bread. After many such wonders, Brigid departed to the Lord.
Read the original Latin
Sancta Brigida virgo religiosa, videns sibi instare tempus desponsalionis, dominum rogavit, ut aliquam deformitatem sibi iminitteret, ut saltem hoc modo proconun instantiam vitaret, "Tunc unus oculus ejus crepuit et liquefactus est in capite suo, Accepto ergo sacro velamine Brigida cum aliis virginibus sacris velatis et Deo devotis iu oppido Medi exstitit, ubi dominus ejus oratione plurima dignatus est facere miracula, Hospitem quendam Marcum. nomine sanavit, decem et octo ecclesiis de uno modio cerevisiam a coena domini usque in finem paschae sufficienter ministravit, leproso cuidam petenti lac, cum non haberet, aquam frigidam porrexit, sed in lac aqua conversa est eoque hausto puella quaedam sanata est, Deinde leprosun curavit, duos caecos illuminavit. Contigit, ut causa cogente iter faciens in vadum fluvii laberetur, et fracto capite sanguis emanavit, quo mulieres duae inutae linitae vocem receperunt, Post hoc vas pretiosum regis a manu rustici lapsum dissiluit et, ne rusticus damnaretur, a Brigida integrum restitutum est. Cumque mulier quaedam leproso poma negaret, Brigidae precibus pomarium funditus exaruit et poma noviter intus relicta penitus evanuerunt, Hinc iler faciens in curru vidit pauperem quendam cum familia sua multo sudore ligna ferentem et miserta dedit illi equos suos, Et illa cum puellis suis juxta viam consedit et ait: fodite sub cespite propinquo, ut aqua prormmnpat propler peregrinantes; mox cespite ejecto fons prosiliens emanavit, Hoc facto dux inde transiens Drigidae dnos equos dedit, Appropinquante die paschae dixit Brigida puellis suis: quae lavabit infirmas nostras sorores? Cumque illae utpote juvenculae omnes recusarent, Brigida intravit imrnibus illas lavans et ab iufrmitate sanavit: quarum una erat paralitica, alia daemoniaca, alia leprosa, qin domo quadam aliena sancta Brigida manente contigit, ut omnes exirent, et venerunt quidam petentes panem et Brigida circumspiciens dixit puero prope cubanti paralitico et innto, quod tamen ipsa ignorabat: puer, scis, ubi sit clavis? Et ille respondit: scio, Dixit ei Brigida: surge et ministra illis, Et faclum est ita, In domo una XII infirmos curavit. 1n concilio magno mulier quaedam uni episcopo crimen sui partus imposuit, cum beata. Brigida os signo crucis signasset, illa intnmmit a vertice capitis usque ad plantam pedis nec tamen veritatem confessa est, Dixit: dic, infantule, quis est pater tuns?
Et ille respondit: episcopus paler mens non est, sed quidam iu extrema parte concilii ultimus et turpis et vilis. In diebus illis venit ad sanctam Brigidam quaedam virgo quaerens elemosinam ab illa, Cui Brigida dixit: accipe vaccam meam et abduc. Cui illa respondit: vacca mihi nihil prodest, venient ergo latrones et auferent eam mihi, Brigida dixit: accipe cingulum meum, et eo aqua. inlinclo spargens, et sanabit infirmos, Quo arrepto laeta abiit et ab infirmis sanatis lucra. multa. contraxit et. pauperibus Christi distribuit, In tempore famis Brigida perrexil ad episcopum I1borum, ut ab eo peteret rnges. .
Hle tempore quadragesimae cum alium non haberet, panem durum cun lardo proposui el illa cum episcopo comedit, Duae autem illius puellae volentes carnes comedere absconderunt, sed illae versae sunt 3n duos serpentes, unde graviter a Brigida coram episcopo increpalae sunt, Tuno is poenitentibus illis orantibus serpentes mutati sunt in panem, Post mulla talin adıniranda Brigida migravit ad dominum.
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