{"id":102,"date":"2015-02-07T01:42:24","date_gmt":"2015-02-07T01:42:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/?p=102"},"modified":"2015-03-18T01:32:15","modified_gmt":"2015-03-18T01:32:15","slug":"st-brigids-lake-of-beer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/2015\/02\/07\/st-brigids-lake-of-beer\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Brigid’s Lake of Beer"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Feb 1 is the feast day of St. Brigit of Kildare, Ireland (453-523). \u00a0She is controversial (some scholars believe that she didn\u2019t really exist, but is a Christianization of the pagan goddess named \u201cBrigid\u201d; though she is well attested by numerous sources). \u00a0She is believed to have born into\u00a0slavery to a druid, but was returned to her parents around age 10. \u00a0She was an abbess, who founded several monasteries, including in about 480 AD the \u201ccell dara\u201d (Kildare), the \u201cchurch of the oak hill\u201d. \u00a0 This foundation became a center of learning, and eventually a cathedral city. She is said to have been\u00a0generous toward the poor and to women.<\/p>\n

There is an amusing but touching prayer attributed to St. Brigid (probably written later):<\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to give a lake of beer to God.<\/em>
\n I\u2019d love the heavenly<\/em>
\n Host to be tippling there<\/em>
\n For all eternity.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d love the men of Heaven to live with me,<\/em>
\nTo dance and sing.<\/em>
\n If they wanted, I\u2019d put at their disposal<\/em>
\n Vats of suffering.<\/em><\/p>\n

White cups of love I\u2019d give them<\/em>
\n With a heart and a half;<\/em>
\n Sweet pitchers of mercy I\u2019d offer<\/em>
\n To every man.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d make Heaven a cheerful spot<\/em>
\n Because the happy heart is true.<\/em>
\n I\u2019d make the men contented for their own sake.<\/em>
\nI\u2019d like Jesus to love me too.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like the people of heaven to gather<\/em>
\n From all the parishes around.<\/em>
\n I\u2019d give a special welcome to the women,<\/em>
\n The three Marys of great renown.<\/em><\/p>\n

I\u2019d sit with the men, the women and God<\/em>
\n There by the lake of beer.<\/em>
\n We\u2019d be drinking good health forever<\/em>
\n And every drop would be a prayer.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"image\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I am not sure of the source but one website notes that this is from\u00a0an 11th<\/sup><\/span> century Irish poem attributed to St Brigit taken from a manuscript in the Burgundian Library, Brussels and edited and translated by O\u2019Curry. \u00a0From\u00a0http:\/\/www.brigitsforge.co.uk\/st_ffraid.htm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Well, I agree with the sentiment. \u00a0And next time I pick up a glass, I\u2019ll think of St. Brigid and her Irish homeland.<\/p>\n

<\/body><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Feb 1 is the feast day of St. Brigit of Kildare, Ireland (453-523). \u00a0She is controversial (some scholars believe that she didn\u2019t really exist, but is a Christianization of the pagan goddess named \u201cBrigid\u201d; though she is well attested by numerous sources). \u00a0She is believed to have born into\u00a0slavery to a druid, but was returned […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,31,99],"tags":[63,64,61,62],"class_list":["post-102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-history","category-prayers","category-heroes-of-the-faith","tag-beer","tag-ireland","tag-saints","tag-st-brigid-of-kildare"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":106,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102\/revisions\/106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/theundergroundchurch.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}