Also known as St. Brigid of Ireland. The Book of Armagh, an eighth century manuscript says that "Between St. Patrick and St. Brigid, the columns of the Irish, there was so great a friendship of charity that they had but one heart and one mind."
Born in the mid-fifth century in Ireland, her mother was a slave in her father's court. She became a nun, and then an abbess—although there is a legend that she was mistakenly made a bishop. She founded several monastic communities, a convent at Kildare, as well as an art school.
Brigid was also the name of a pagan goddess, and the many legends about Brigid had an easy resonance with the attributes of her pagan namesake. One of the most famous stories about her was that she converted a pagan chieftain by weaving a cross out of rushes.