Ireland’s greatest female saint

St Brigid is one of Ireland’s three Patron Saints, along with St Patrick and St Colmcille. She, like St Patrick, was born into slavery in Dundalk in the year 451 and is known to have helped spread Christianity in Ireland. She would go on to establish a monastery and a convent in Kildare Town. She also founded a school that taught art, metalwork, and illumination, and the monastery at Kildare developed to become one of the most prestigious in all of Christian Europe. Kildare’s original cathedral was built in 1230 and has grown over the years. Inside you can see many interesting artifacts including carved cross-slabs, grave slabs, and effigies. There is also the tomb chest of Walter Wellesley, the former bishop of Kildare, and a carving of a ‘female exhibitionist’ that resembles a Sheela-na-gig!.