Brigidines

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BRIGIDINES

Popular name for the Congregation of St. Brigid (CSB, Official Catholic Directory #3735), a community of women religious with papal approval (1845, 1907), founded at Tullow, County Carlow (Ireland), in 1807 by Daniel Delaney (17471814), bishop of Kildare and Leighlin. The sisters profess simple perpetual vows and devote themselves to Christian education. Bishop Delaney, aware of Ireland's educational deficiencies, and himself a "graduate" of that country's famous "hedge schools," formed the congregation with a group of six catechists whom he trained in the religious life, based on the Rule of St. Augustine. The community adopted the episcopal motto, Fortiter et suaviter. In the U.S., the congregation established its first community in 1953, where it is involved in education, youth ministry, counseling, and the pastoral care of immigrants. The U.S. provincial headquarters is in San Antonio, Tex.

Bibliography: m. m. dunne, Watching for the Dawn (Dublin 1963).

[m. v. dobson/eds.]