The most famous Irish female spiritual leader, after Bridget, is Ita of Killeedy, Limerick, though some northerners might claim it is Moninna of Killeavy, near Newry.
I had already been to Killeavy so, passing Killeedy, I felt I should pay my respects.
What is there to see? A quiet place, nothing spectacular. Dignified graves around a church ruin and a small shrine. Only an explanatory board indicates something exceptional.
It struck me that this was never a busy community (like Bridget’s Kildare or Moninna’s Killeavy) with hospices, schools and libraries but a place where people came (or were brought) for a purpose, adults at a decisive moment in their lives or children taking their first steps.
Who was this person, born in 480?
She came from a distinguished family in County Waterford and baptised Deirdre. To avoid a prestigious marriage she fled at the age of sixteen to Cluain Credhail, later to be known as Killeedy (the Cell of Ita). There she was to spend the rest of her life and acquire the title ‘Foster-Mother of the Saints of Ireland’.
What prepared her for this role? The only person that could have influenced her was ‘an aged priest she had known from childhood’, Declan of Ardmore.
She ‘received the veil from him’ and on dedicating herself to serving God and others she took the name ‘Ita’, meaning ‘Thirst’. Later, when asked what this meant to her, she replied, ‘True faith in God with a pure heart, a simple life with a religious spirit and an open hand inspired by charity.’
She was to get the title ‘Foster-mother of the Irish Saints’. Fostering young children in the old Celtic tradition was a feature of her life. One of those she raised from the age of one to six was Brendan the Navigator, later to be known for his voyages around Europe and beyond. Another was her nephew Mochoemoc and also Sts Cumian of Down and Facheran of Cork.
Fostering had a deep meaning for her. An early Irish poem ‘Isucan’ (Little Jesus), attributed to her, begins: ‘Little Jesus, be fostered by me in my little hermitage. To be more welcoming to a cleric or a person of abundance would be a lie. I would choose little Jesus above them all.’
Men and women from across Ireland came to her for guidance impressed by her life of prayer, fasts, vigils and care for others through guidance in their search and healing in their suffering.
Today in Killeedy there is little to show of Ita’s story but she is still remembered by people in Munster and many women there share her name.
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