St. Brigid: Patron of Ireland, Students and Saint for House-Blessing; Handmade Statue

Description

I design, carve, and cast the pieces myself. I cast them in modified gypsum with bronze powder. The pieces come boxed, can stand or hang (there's a hook on the back. which is flat and unpainted), and can go outside. Each piece comes with a history card stating: "Stories about St. Brigid (ca. 450–525) are a mix of pre-Christian legends and traditional Christian narratives. One part of her story says that she opened Ireland’s first Christian school. For this reason she is the patron of students. This small statue of Brigid incorporates two symbols associated with her. First, between her arms she holds St. Brigid’s cross. Brigid, so the story goes, made the original out of reeds in order to teach a dying man about the basics of her faith. There is a long-standing tradition of making one of the crosses and then, on St. Brigid’s feast day, placing the new cross in one’s house in order to bless and protect it. A prayer is then said: “May Brigid bless the house wherein you dwell. Bless every fireside, every wall and door.... Bless every foot that walks through its portals. May Brigid bless the house that shelters you.” Second, at the base of the statue burns St. Brigid’s flame. The story here is that in the pre-Christian era a sacred flame was tended year-round by Druids on a hill near Kildare. When St. Brigid built her church and monastery at Kildare, she kept the tradition and the flame alive, saying that the flame represented the new hope offered by Christianity." Dimensions: 9 x 4 x 2 inches.