Darlugdach (Der Lugdach)
Darlugdach is represented as a protégée of the patroness of Leinster in the ‘Vita Prima’ of St Brigit (qv), in which she is portrayed as a model of chastity. In one episode (§97), it is related that she filled her wooden shoes with hot coals in order to banish worldly desires. Subsequently, she is represented as an intermediary in Brigit's miraculous healing of a mute girl. It is claimed that, when Brigit was approaching death, Darlugdach wished to depart this life in the company of her mentor, but was instead accorded the privilege of dying on the first anniversary of Brigit's death.
It is generally accepted that Darlugdach succeeded Brigit at Kildare. Her own successors are not documented; the first historical record of a Kildare abbess is that of Gnáthnat (d. 690), although Comnat and Tuilelaith, noted in the later martyrologies at 1 and 6 January respectively, may have held that office during the preceding century. It is alleged by Nennius that Darlugdach was present at the court of Nechtan, king of the Picts, when the latter donated Abernethy to the familia of Kildare. If the same individual is intended, there is confusion regarding her chronology, as King Nechtan flourished in the early seventh century. Darlugdach of Kildare is commemorated in the Irish martyrologies on 1 February; her cult, as John Colgan (qv) and James Ussher (qv) both observed, was carried to Freising in Bavaria.