Every February 1st, Orthodox bloggers are abuzz about our love for St. Brigid*, but even though she’s pre-schism, there haven’t been a lot of Orthodox books about her.

Jane G. Meyer (a fellow California Basque girl) has rectified this situation with the absolutely delightful children’s book The Life of St. Brigid: Abbess of Kildare**. Told in a beautifully simple prose, we meet the young girl who loved Christ and who even from a young age lived a truly Christian life. After her adulthood, she goes to her Chieftain father’s house, where he tires of her almsgiving and decides to marry her off. Instead, she becomes a nun and gives her love of Christ and almsgiving to the people of Ireland. It is a lovely tale of hospitality and of Ireland’s very Christian (and Orthodox) heritage. It is a delightful read, and one that I encourage you to share with the children in your life.

The text is printed in a beautiful Celtic font , which may prove to be slightly difficult for the earliest readers to read, but it will be a great read aloud book until they get past that age. The illustrations*** incorporate traditional Celtic designs and Christian symbols and add a beautiful layer to this book. I cannot recommend the book highly enough.

*we actually have a cat named Brigid. Later we found out you aren’t supposed to give animals saint’s names, but she was well named by that point.
**Full disclosure: I was sent a pre-release copy to review. Thank you ever so kindly.
***Proving once again the smallness of the Orthodox world, the illustrator (and author of a book about St. Patrick) came into Orthodoxy in a church whose pastor came into Orthodoxy in my parish. We are practically family, although we’ve never met.

Photo from the Conciliar Press site.