“Differing in Status, but one in Spirit”: Renegotiating the Boundaries of St. Brigit’s Double Monastery at Kildare

Abstract

Abstract The double monastery at Kildare, Ireland, developed from a confluence of holy sites and legends associated with St. Brigit into a major metropolitan center in the seventh century. One of the most interesting sources for this development’s apex remains Cogitosus’s Life of Saint Brigit, a collection of miracle stories immersed in the local landscape that reflect her community’s interests. A reassessment of the last three chapters of his Life, in conjunction with surviving material evidence in the landscape, will emphasize the ways in which hagiographical boundaries shaped Kildare’s development into a City of Refuge. It will argue that Cogitosus did not use ekphrasis, but delineated liminal boundaries functional to the dichotomies that Kildare was negotiating (male and female; lay and consecrated; community and pilgrims; Irish and Roman). Cogitosus’s Life provides a lens through which to view Kildare’s development into a major pilgrimage center.