Jackie tells a story about two Celtic Nuns.

Blue Mountains, Australia

The UK’s first gay church wedding is thought to have taken place in 2014 in Bournemouth, but there are still sections of Christianity that are unwelcoming to the LGBTQ community. Despite the resistance of some faith groups to accept all sexualities equally, Christianity in fact has its own saint who is widely thought to have been a lesbian. Brigid of Kildare, one of the most famous female Irish saints, was not always a Christian, and her sexual politics reflect Celtic culture at the time she converted to Christianity.

Anam Cara

The understanding of love in the Celtic tradition is based around the idea of soul-love or anam cara, which translates as ‘soul friend’ in Gaelic. The phrase originally referred to someone with whom you shared a confession, revealing hidden details about yourself. With anam cara, your relationship transcended convention, and you were joined eternally, no matter your identity or background. The idea of anam cara lives on today, with eternal friendship and everlasting love often celebrated through traditional Celtic gifts like love spoons, Celtic jewellery and symbolic carvings.

Around 435AD in Ireland, Christianity began to move in, overhauling traditional Celtic marriage, which was more fluid and less monogamous than the Christian concept of marriage. At this time non-procreative sex was frowned upon, and the Christian ideology of marriage was pushed. However, the tradition of anam cara lived on and the Celtic saying, “A person without a soul friend is like a body without a head” was still going strong.

Abbess Of Kildare

Brigid, at this time, left a society dominated by men for Kildare, where she was joined by a group of women and ordained to become the Abbess of Kildare. There are many stories surrounding her, and some connect her closely with the Celtic goddess of the same name, who is said to have torn out the eye of a male suitor to discourage his advances. One story commonly told is that Brigid shared a bed with Darlughdach, a young nun living with the group. Darlughdach is regarded as Brigid’s anam cara, and Brigid believed that every person needs a soul friend in order to fully discover God. Although the sexual nature of their relationship is rarely discussed, Brigid and Darlughdach are often said to be lesbian saints.

A Shared Feast

St Brigid’s Day is celebrated on February 1 by Christians and pagans alike, often by weaving ‘Brigid’s Cross’ to welcome the spring. Some churches also use the cross to represent LGBT history month, recognising that the love between Brigid and Darlughdach resonates in LGBTQ+ communities in the modern world. Each relationship, no matter the identities of the parties involved, is recognised as a symbol of God’s love and hospitality, and Brigid’s Cross reflects this.

February 1 marks the date of Brigid’s death in 525AD. Darlughdach had longed for the pair to die together, but Brigid had said she would go on to take over as Abbess of Kildare and join her in heaven a year later. Indeed, Darlughdach died exactly one year later on February 1, so they share a feast day, further enriching the symbolism of their relationship.

Christianity welcomes the LGBTQ+ community, and many church groups recognise this. However, there are still some sections of the religion that remain hostile, despite the history of St Brigid and Darlughdach. The idea of a soul-friend transcends all cultural and societal restrictions – indeed, it is even more powerful than space and time. True love doesn’t care about gender, identity or labels, and St Brigid and Darlughdach are a powerful representation of this.

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About the Author

Jackie writes for MySoCalledGayLife.co.uk sporadically about everything between the topics of health and travel.