Saint Who?
Saints Who Exemplify Devotion
to the Christ Child
Saint Ita
Abbess († c. 570) Feast: January 15
“All is a lie save Infant Jesus.” Ita (or Íte), dubbed “the Foster Mother of the Irish Saints,” was born to Irish nobility in the 5th century. Drawn to the religious life, she established a school and a convent in Killeedy in County Limerick. Her institutions were guided by the dictum: “True faith in God with purity of heart; simplicity of life with religion; generosity with love.” Thus guided, she raised many saints at her school.
Most famous among these was Saint Brendan of Clonfort, whom (according to some sources) she cared for while he was a little boy. Once grown, he often returned to visit his foster mother. It is said he asked her what things God loved best. She told him, “Faith in God with a pure heart, a simple life with a religious spirit, and openhandedness inspired by love.” Conversely, God most detested “a scowling face, obstinacy in wrongdoing, and too great a confidence in the power of money.”
Ita’s motherly heart is illustrated in a lullaby attributed to her, Ísucán, in which she describes her longing for a special gift: that she might care for the Infant Jesus. Her request granted, she cradles and consoles him all night. One translation concludes thus: “When morning grew/ Far in the East and the world woke from rest,/ The King of Stars was quiet on my breast.” Ita died around 570.
Infant Jesus, through the prayers of Saint Ita,
bless all mothers with wisdom and tenderness.
