The relics of St. Brigid are to be returned to Co Kildare after nearly a millennium in absence.
The return of the saints items will see a procession accompany the relics from their current location in the Solas Bhride Centre in Tully to St. Brigid's Parish Church in Kildare Town.
The objects will be taken into the church by the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Bishop Denis Nulty who will celebrate a special mass, with a large number of spectators expected for the occasion.
David Mongey, The Chairman of Into Kildare, the Kildare Tourism Board said:
"This year is the 1500th year of the passing of the saint and what could be more special than to bring St. Brigid’s relics home, where she belongs? She built her church in Kildare and her legacy as a peace maker and a protector of nature is still as relevant today as ever"
It is believed that Brigid died in 524 AD and was buried beside the main altar in her monastic church in Kildare that then became an attraction for pilgrims throughout Ireland and Europe.
In the eighth century, shrines were built for the saint which were adorned with gold, silver, and precious stones.
In anticipation of a Viking attack, the body of St. Brigid was then moved to Downpatrick in Northern Ireland where she was buried in a grave beside St. Patrick and St. Columba. The grave, which was unmarked for protection and kept in a secret location, was gradually lost and forgotten.
Over three hundred years later, the the burial location was rediscovered and the body of St Brigid was properly enshrined in 1186 where it remained for the next 400 years until the shrine was destroyed by Lord Leonard Grey, an appointee of King Henry VIII.
However, Brigid’s remains were saved and secretly transported to the continent. Tradition says Irish knights took a bone fragment from her head to Lumiar, a small town outside Lisbon in Portugal in the 13th century.
The relic is still venerated in the church of St. John the Baptist in Lumiar and an inscription outside the church attests to this.
Then in the 1930s, the Brigidine Sisters in Tullow procured a portion of the Lumiar relic and brought it back to Ireland.
The relics of St. Brigid are now being returned to Kildare Town where they will be placed on permanent display inside the church.