personal maid, Muireen. “The queen summons you immediately,” Muireen announces. “Bishop Patrick is due to arrive.”
Brigid rises from her knoll. As she hurriedly walks back to the
rath
, she is careful to brush off the dust and grass from her cloak and smooth her hair into neat plaits. She does not want her second meeting with Bishop Patrick to commence as her first did. Too much may depend upon it.
She pushes through the gate and, from the state of the
cashel
, sees that Patrick has yet to appear. Relieved, she walks to her quarters to further refine her appearance. As she thinks on which gown to wear and with which pin to fasten it, she walks by her parents’ rooms. She is surprised to hear her father’s voice from behind the closed door; he is rarely found within the
cashel
during the busy daylight hours.
Slowing nearly to a stop, Brigid hears her father say, “Broicsech, I have made myself abundantly clear on this point. I will not play host to a mass baptismal rite for a personal aim of Patrick’s.” He pauses and then spits out, “Or whatever master he serves, the bastard Britons with their Saxon mercenaries or the Roman government with its unquenching desire to conquer our lands.”
“Dubtach, do not speak such heresy. You know that Patrick has allegiance to neither Britannia nor the Roman government. In fact, he has made enemies of both Britannia and the Roman government ineven coming to minister to us in Gael. He had to convince the Romans that we were worthy of conversion, and he made himself suspect in Britannia by desiring to minister to the Gaels at all. Patrick’s fealty is to the Roman Church—and to God in the purest sense.”
“Are you so certain that the Roman Church and the Roman government are not one and the same? Or that the Roman Church is so separate from the church and government of our enemies in Britannia? I do not trust him, and I will not be used for his schemes.”
“Please, Dubtach, I beseech you. Bishop Patrick has asked to baptize us before our people, and I believe it is our Christian duty to honor that request.”
“I am a king, first and foremost. I must protect my cattle, my land, and my people and heed their needs. Not Patrick.”
Her mother’s voice sounds horrified. “What do you mean, Dubtach? As king, the leader of your
tuath
, you are charged with the care of your people’s souls. As a Christian king, you should guide them toward the true faith.”
Brigid smiles. Her mother is using the same tactic with Dubtach that Patrick had used on her.
“My role is practical leadership, not religious conversion. The people must choose their own spiritual guides, and if they do not feel compelled by our God, I will not drive them from theirs.”
Brigid’s smile fades. It seems that Broicsech will experience less success with the
tuath
strategy than Patrick had with her. Brigid strains but can hear no more from the chambers. After a long moment, she hears Broicsech ask in a small voice, “What of Brigid?”
“What do you mean?”
“Will you allow her to be baptized by Patrick?”
Her father is quiet for a time. In the stillness, Brigid saddens at the thought of her otherwise intimidating mother having to beg her father for permission. She wonders whether women’s subservience to men will grow more common with the infiltration of Roman and barbarian notions of women. Then Dubtach responds: “You may have her baptized—in private. I do not want Brigid’s religious status to become known and jeopardize any plans we might form for her. She must be preserved for the role in which she can serve us best—as a wife.”
x
GAEL
A.D . 457
BRIGID: A LIFE
Brigid is slow and deliberate in her preparations. She selects a gown of unblemished white linen and closes it at her shoulder with her simplest silver pin, shunning all other ornamentation. Drawing her redgold hair back from her face, she braids it into three layers of plaits. She washes her face and hands,
Brigid rises from her knoll. As she hurriedly walks back to the
rath
, she is careful to brush off the dust and grass from her cloak and smooth her hair into neat plaits. She does not want her second meeting with Bishop Patrick to commence as her first did. Too much may depend upon it.
She pushes through the gate and, from the state of the
cashel
, sees that Patrick has yet to appear. Relieved, she walks to her quarters to further refine her appearance. As she thinks on which gown to wear and with which pin to fasten it, she walks by her parents’ rooms. She is surprised to hear her father’s voice from behind the closed door; he is rarely found within the
cashel
during the busy daylight hours.
Slowing nearly to a stop, Brigid hears her father say, “Broicsech, I have made myself abundantly clear on this point. I will not play host to a mass baptismal rite for a personal aim of Patrick’s.” He pauses and then spits out, “Or whatever master he serves, the bastard Britons with their Saxon mercenaries or the Roman government with its unquenching desire to conquer our lands.”
“Dubtach, do not speak such heresy. You know that Patrick has allegiance to neither Britannia nor the Roman government. In fact, he has made enemies of both Britannia and the Roman government ineven coming to minister to us in Gael. He had to convince the Romans that we were worthy of conversion, and he made himself suspect in Britannia by desiring to minister to the Gaels at all. Patrick’s fealty is to the Roman Church—and to God in the purest sense.”
“Are you so certain that the Roman Church and the Roman government are not one and the same? Or that the Roman Church is so separate from the church and government of our enemies in Britannia? I do not trust him, and I will not be used for his schemes.”
“Please, Dubtach, I beseech you. Bishop Patrick has asked to baptize us before our people, and I believe it is our Christian duty to honor that request.”
“I am a king, first and foremost. I must protect my cattle, my land, and my people and heed their needs. Not Patrick.”
Her mother’s voice sounds horrified. “What do you mean, Dubtach? As king, the leader of your
tuath
, you are charged with the care of your people’s souls. As a Christian king, you should guide them toward the true faith.”
Brigid smiles. Her mother is using the same tactic with Dubtach that Patrick had used on her.
“My role is practical leadership, not religious conversion. The people must choose their own spiritual guides, and if they do not feel compelled by our God, I will not drive them from theirs.”
Brigid’s smile fades. It seems that Broicsech will experience less success with the
tuath
strategy than Patrick had with her. Brigid strains but can hear no more from the chambers. After a long moment, she hears Broicsech ask in a small voice, “What of Brigid?”
“What do you mean?”
“Will you allow her to be baptized by Patrick?”
Her father is quiet for a time. In the stillness, Brigid saddens at the thought of her otherwise intimidating mother having to beg her father for permission. She wonders whether women’s subservience to men will grow more common with the infiltration of Roman and barbarian notions of women. Then Dubtach responds: “You may have her baptized—in private. I do not want Brigid’s religious status to become known and jeopardize any plans we might form for her. She must be preserved for the role in which she can serve us best—as a wife.”
x
GAEL
A.D . 457
BRIGID: A LIFE
Brigid is slow and deliberate in her preparations. She selects a gown of unblemished white linen and closes it at her shoulder with her simplest silver pin, shunning all other ornamentation. Drawing her redgold hair back from her face, she braids it into three layers of plaits. She washes her face and hands,
Similar Books
