ST. BRIDGET
were possible. Bridget’s interest in things of beauty
of all kinds because they were joys forever, would
account for the initiation of the tradition of the
making of these marvelous manuscripts with their
precious illumination, as well as for the artistic
metal work at Kildare, with regard to which histori-
cal evidence is ample and authoritative.
Giraldus was most enthusiastic about the manu-
script which he had had the chance to study carefully
at Kildare. Almost needless to say for anyone who
knows Gerald the Welshman even a very little, it
was rather difficult for him to become enthusiastic
about anything Irish. He had the chauvinistic
jealousy that is so likely to develop when people
are closely related in origin. The sight of this
illuminated manuscript however which Gerald seems
to have been told came from Bridget’s time, though
of course it was only due to the persistence of the
influence which she had evoked at Kildare long after
her death, had quite taken away his breath. He was
just rapt in admiration. As a result his guard of
chauvinism dropped and so he declared that this
book seemed to him to be the work of angels rather
than of men. Hence his expression:
“Of all the beautiful things at Kildare, I have
found nothing more wonderful than the marvelous
book written in the time of St. Bridget and as they
say by the hands of an angel. The book contains the
Concordance of the Gospels according to St. Jerome,
and every page is filled with divers figures most
accurately marked out with various colors. Here
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