ONE of my favourite paintings is by the Scottish artist John Duncan.

Painted just a century ago, Duncan drew on ancient artistic techniques that would have been familiar to monks working on ancient illuminated manuscripts.

Tempera uses that most basic of natural materials, the yolk of an egg. Mixed with pigments, it produces colours of stunning luminosity which retain their potency across centuries.

Duncan’s choice of tempera, oil and gold leaf, fitted his subject perfectly. It depicts St Bride – Brigid – being carried by angels to Bethlehem from the holy island of Iona in the Inner Hebrides.

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It is said that St Brigid attended the birth of Jesus, some feat given she lived 500 years after that event. But who am I to doubt it? There is much in this world I do not understand.

Her feast day was Sunday. February 1 marks the beginning of the Irish spring (Spring? With the cold and rain it’s as difficult to believe as Brigid’s attendance at the Nativity, I know).

Alongside Patrick and Columba, she is one of the most important Irish saints. Yet you would be hard-pressed to know it.

Alongside Patrick and Columba, Brigid is one of the most important Irish saints. Yet you........

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