St. Brigid is pictured as a shepherdess due to many of her attributed miracles involving agricultural animals, and her posture depicts her reputation as a humble woman of prayer. St. Patrick is surrounded by pigs to recall his early enslavement as a swineherd after he was captured from his native England and carried off to Ireland. The Virgin Mary is painted as emerging fom the stunning Irish countryside of lakes and mountains to connect her to the country and people of lreland; her arms are in the orans pose of prayer.

This large, delicate painting was an arresting statement at its installation in the midst of Belfast's factory center and wartime devastation. St. Patrick's parishioners of the time mostly worked in the mills. Lavery desired the painting to reflect the importance of the church as the pride and identity of the community and their collective effort to push forward after the war.