Íte’s Lives and traditions also depict a prophet, a
healer, and an ascetic whose fasting is so rigorous that
an angel warns her to desist. As part of her ascetic
practices, according to the Martyrology of Óengus, she
allowed a stag-beetle to eat at her side. In fear, her
nuns killed it; Íte then prophesied that no nun would
succeed her. Íte seems to have been especially devoted
to the Trinity; as a young girl, she received a vision in
which an angel gave her three precious stones, signi-
fying the Trinity. Another holy woman once asked her
why she was esteemed more by God than any other
holy virgin; Íte replied that she lived in constant prayer
and devotion to the Trinity. Íte’s reputation was such
that high-ranking clerics and rulers sought her out. She
is called a “second Brigit” for her virtues. Her cult and
fame spread beyond Ireland; she is mentioned in a
poem on Irish saints by the English scholar Alcuin and
appears in English martyrologies.
DOROTHY ANN BRAY
References and Further Reading
Bray, Dorothy Ann. “Secunda Brigida: Saint Ita of Killeedy and
Brigidine Tradition.” In Celtic Languages and Celtic Peoples:
Proceedings of the Second North American Congress of Celtic
Studies, edited by Cyril F. Byrne, et al., 27–38. Halifax, Nova
Scotia: D’Arcy Mcgee Chair of Irish Studies, 1992.
Gwynn, Aubrey and R. Neville Hadcock. Medieval Religious
Houses: Ireland. Dublin: Irish Academic Press, 1970.
Harrington, Christina. Women in a Celtic Church: Ireland,
450–1150. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Kenney, James F. The Sources for the Early History of Ireland:
Ecclesiastical. New York: Columbia University Press, 1929.
Plummer, Charles, ed. “Vita sancte Ite Virginis.” (Life of the
Sainted Virgin Ite.) In Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (Lives of
the Irish Saints), edited by Charles Plummer, 2:116–130.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1910.
Sharpe, Richard. Medieval Irish Saints’ Lives. Oxford: Clarendon
Press, 1991.
Stokes, Whitley, ed. and trans. The Martyrology of Oengus.
London: Henry Bradshaw Society, 1905.
See also Brigit; Hagiography and Martyrologies;
NunsÍTE (d. 570 OR 577?)