When she was of marriageable age her father tried to arrange a marriage for her, but Brigit refused all suitors, being determined to become a nun.
She received her nun’s veil from St Macaille at Mag Telach near Croghan and was professed by St Mel of Ardagh.
She settled with seven virgins at the foot of Croghan Hill. Then in 468 she followed St Mel into Meath. Two years later she founded a monastery at Cill Dara (Church of the Oak).
She approached Conleth to gain the approval and services of a Bishop and so the dual monastery, a centre of learning and of spirituality came into being.
Bridget also founded a school of art, including metalwork and illumination af Cill Dara (Kildare). From the Kildare scriptorium came the Book of Kildare, a book of the gospels, which was highly praised. It disappeared at the time of the Reformation.
… more later …