ST. BRIDGET OF THE SHORES 



I HAVE heard many names of St. Bridget, most 

 beloved of Gaelic saints, with whom the month 

 of February is identified . . . the month of 

 'Bride min, gentle St. Bride' . . . Brighid 

 boidheach Muime Chriosd, Bride the Beautiful, 

 Christ's Foster Mother . . . but there are 

 three so less common that many even of my 

 readers familiar with the Highland West may 

 not know them. These are ' the Fair Woman 

 of February,' ' St. Bride of the Kindly Fire,' 

 and 'St. Bride (or Bridget) of the Shores.' 

 They are of the Isles, and may be heard in 

 some of the sgeulachdan gaidhealach, or Gaelic 

 tales, still told among seafaring and hill folk, 

 where the curse of cheap ignoble periodicals 

 is unknown and books are rare. True, in 

 several of the isles . . . Colonsay, Tiree, the 

 Outer Hebrides . . . St. Bride of the Shores ' 

 is not infrequent in songs and seasonal hymns, 

 for when her signals are seen along the grey 



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