Female Saints | Female Catholic Saints

The Irish language is a descendant of Common Celtic, an early stage of a branch of the Indo-European language family in which features specific to later Celtic languages became apparent. The Celts come to light in the first millennium BC and are known from two main archaeological strands: the Hallstatt Culture (c 800-450 BC) from Austria and the La Tène Culture (c 450-100 BC) from Switzerland. The earliest linguistic remains of Celtic are to be found in inscriptions from Gaul and the Iberian peninsula. The forms of Celtic which developed on the British Isles from the first few centuries BC onwards can be divided into P-Celtic (later Welsh, Cornish, Breton) and Q-Celtic (later Irish, Scottish Gaelic, Manx). In Britain, varieties of Celtic – called Brythonic – were spoken throughout the entire island (including the north as can be seen from names like Cumbria). These came under pressure after the Roman invasion in 55 BC and later on after the Germanic invasions which began in 449AD, according to historical tradition.

For those interested in the Indo-European family, the Celtic languages form an interesting subbranch. They developed means of compensating for the loss of inherited inflections from the proto-language. In Celtic, low-level phonetic changes at the beginning of words came to be functionalised and signalled such essential grammatical categories as number and gender with nouns as well as tenses and mood with verbs. These changes are known as initial mutations. Furthermore, the etymologies in Irish vocabulary are interesting as they are a mixture of inherited Indo-European items and clearly non-Indo-European ones. There has been much speculation about the possible sources of the latter and linguists are still not agreed about these.

The Irish language is the oldest vernacular, i.e. not Latin or Greek, to be found in northern Europe from the first centuries AD. Up to this most writing was done by monks who wrote in Latin. The very first forms of Irish are found as interlinear glosses in manuscripts written on the continent of Europe (chiefly in the regions which were later part of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and northern Italy). The Irish words were translations of Latin written into holy texts. These texts are called after the places where the manuscripts were probably compiled, e.g. the St. Gallen or the Würzburg Glosses. Later secular poetry came to be written in Irish, the most famous short piece is probably Pangur Bán, a tribute by an early monk to a cat.

There are a number of Old Irish law tracts from the 7th to 9th centuries which have been brought together as the Corpus Iuris Hibernici ‘Corpus of Irish Law’. These cover issues of inheritance and family status/liability. They also deal with questions of honour and retribution for crimes committed where the status of the injured parties was crucial. Celtic Ireland was divided into many small kingdoms which were usually dominated by single families. Genealogy was thus important for questions of succession and ownership of land. In the pre-Norman era the genealogies of great Irish families were traced back to the origins of the Gaels (a subject matter found in the Lebor Gabála ‘Book of Invasions’) and later manuscript collections from the late 14th and early 15th centuries such as The Book of Ballymote and The Yellow Book of Lecan contain important genealogical information.

Writing lives of saints – hagiography from Greek hagios ‘saint’ – constitutes an important part of early Irish writing. Lives were written of the two foremost male and female Irish saints: there are two lives of Saint Patrick in The Book of Armagh and there is a life of St. Brigid (late 5th / early 6th century) – Vita Brigitae – by the Kildare monk Cogitosus. Another famous life is that of St Colum Cille by Admonán (7th century monk and abbot on Iona), the Vita Columbae. Because these lives were written by monks, they are generally in Latin but are there versions or parts in Old Irish, e.g. a life of St. Brigid.

The history of Irish, from the 7th century onwards, is accompanied by varied literature, both fictional and non-fictional. From the Middle Ages there is religious and visionary literature along with poetry, some of this by people of Old English (Anglo-Norman) stock such as Gearóid Iarla ‘Gerald the Rhymer’, the Third Earl of Desmond (1338-1398).

Later on, in the early modern period, literature appears which is concerned with portraying native Irish culture and defending it against hostile English views. Above all one should mention here Foras Feasa ar Éirinn ‘Foundation of knowledge about Ireland’ by (Geoffrey Keating / Seathrún Céitinn, c 1580-1644) and Annála Ríoghachta Éireann ‘Annals of the Kingdoms of Ireland’ by Micheál Ó Cléirigh (1575-1643). Later the latter work came to be known as Annals of the Four Masters because of the three scholars who assisted Ó Cléirigh.

The early modern period is known for single works like Cúirt an Mheán-Oíche (‘The midnight court’, c 1780) by Brian Merriman (?1745-1805) and the Lament for Art O’Leary written by the widow of the individual in the poem’s title. There was also much quality poetry by many different authors, chiefly from the south-west of Ireland. There are also bilingual works from Dublin such as Stair Éamuinn Uí Chléire ‘The story of Eamonn O’Cleary’ (c 1715) by Seán Ó Neachtain (?1650-1729).

Irish literature in the twentieth century is often taken to have begun with the novel Séadna (1904) by the priest Peadar Ua Laoghaire (1839-1920). During this century, much dialect literature arose, for instance surrounding the Blasket Islands in Co. Kerry, e.g. Tomás Ó Criomhthain (1856-1937) An tOileánach ‘The islander’ (1928), Muiris Ó Súileabháin (1904-1950) Fiche bliain ag fás ‘Twenty years agrowing’ (1933) and Peig Sayers (1873-1958) Machnamh seanmhná ‘An old woman’s reflections’. Seosamh MacGrianna (1901-1990), author of Mo bhealach féin ‘My own way’, was a prominent writer from Co. Donegal while Liam Ó Flaithearta (1897-1984), author of many works in English and Irish including Dúil ‘Desire’ (1953), and Mairtin Ó Cadhain (1907-1970) author of many books including Cré na cille ‘Soil of the churchyard’ (novel), An braon broghach ‘The dirty drop’ (short stories) are major writers from the Aran Islands and Connemara respectively. The twentieth century has also seen much poetry written in Irish, e.g. by poets such as Máirtín Ó Direáin (1910-1988), Seán Ó Ríordáin (1917-1977) and Máire Mhac an tSaoi (1922-).

There is also much literature on the folktales and folklore of Ireland which has been assembled by such collectors and writers of the late 19th and early 20th century as Douglas Hyde (1862-1949), P. W. Joyce (1827-1914) and the American-born Jeremiah Curtin (1835-1906).

Saint Geneviève (circa 422-c. 500), patron saint of Paris, born in nearby Nanterre, France. In 451 she was in Paris and is said to have predicted the invasion of the Huns led by Attila and to have saved the city by her prayers.

St. Catherine of Sienna, a Doctor of the Church. Helped save the Church from destruction at the hands of various anti-Popes. Convinced the True Pope to reclaim his throne and reunite the Church.

Saint Veronica is said to have wiped the face of Jesus Christ as he carried the cross to Calvary.

Saint Thecla of Iconium (1st century ad), said to have been the first woman martyr. Saint Thecla is known in the apocryphal Acts of Paul and Thecla as “protomartyr among women and equal to the Apostles.' Converted by Saint Paul, she dedicated herself to virginity. Condemned to death for her faith, she was miraculously saved.

Saint Catherine of Siena (1347-80), Dominican nun (tertiary), mystic, and Doctor of the Church, who played a significant role in the public affairs of her day.


Saint Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-90), French nun, born in Lauthecourt. She attributed her recovery from paralysis to the Virgin Mary and entered the convent at Paray-le-Monial in 1671. Her visions of Christ, in which he revealed to her his bleeding and compassionate heart, gave impetus to the modern Roman Catholic practice of devotion to the Sacred Heart.

Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton (1774-1821), educator and philanthropist. With her canonization in 1975 she became the first American-born saint of the Roman Catholic church. In 1809 she established in Emmitsburg, Maryland, the first house of what later grew into a widespread religious community known as the Sisters of Charity, with a rule, or constitution, modeled upon that of the Daughters of Charity of the French priest St. Vincent de Paul. Elected the first superior of the order, she held that office until her death. Parochial education in the U.S. began with her establishment of a Catholic school in Emmitsburg, and she was noted for her ministrations to the poor and sick.

Saint Clare of Assisi (1194-1253), Italian nun, born in Assisi of a rich and noble family. In 1211 she heard the Italian monk and preacher St. Francis of Assisi preach, and, inspired by his eloquence, she entered the Order of the Franciscans the following year. With the help and advice of St. Francis and despite the opposition of her family, she founded the order of Franciscan nuns known as the Order of the Poor Ladies, commonly called Poor Clares. The first monastery of Poor Clares was founded in the United States in 1875; in the 1990s there were 24 autonomous motherhouses. Some 500 monasteries extant throughout the world have a total membership of about 12,000.

Saint Rose of Lima (1586-1617), Peruvian Roman Catholic nun, born in Lima. In 1606 she became a nun of the third order of Dominicans and earned a great reputation for the severe austerities she practiced.

Saint Theresa of Lisieux (1873-97), French Carmelite nun, called The Little Flower of Jesus, who became one of the most beloved saints of the Roman Catholic church. Theresa exemplified what she called the “little way,” a devotion to God both childlike and profound. She sought holiness through the conscientious performance of small actions and humble tasks. Her goodness was so remarkable that her superiors asked her to write an account of her life; The Story of a Soul (1898; trans. 1958) became one of the most widely read spiritual autobiographies

Saint Ursula (lived 4th century?), legendary Christian martyr, possibly British but particularly honored in Cologne, Germany, the place of her presumed martyrdom. The legend is recorded by Belgian chronicler Sigebert of Gembloux and in the Acta Sanctorum of the Bollandists. She was one of either 11 or 11,000 virgins who were massacred by the Huns. The confusion over the figure probably arose from the incorrect interpretation of the abbreviated Latin inscription “XI MV”; instead of being expanded to read undecim martyres virgines (“11 martyr virgins”), it was read as undecim milia virginum (“11 thousand virgins”).

Saint Cecilia (?-230?), Christian martyr, who, since legend speaks of her singing to God in her heart, became known as the patron of music. According to tradition she was betrothed to a youth named Valerian, whom she converted to Christianity, and the two were martyred for refusing to honor the Roman gods. She is said to have been thrown into a boiling bath but to have escaped unharmed.

Saint Lucy (283?-304), Christian virgin martyr, who was highly venerated from the 7th century onward. Lucy was born in Syracuse, Sicily, in Italy. After witnessing a miracle, she converted to Christianity and pledged all her worldly possessions to the poor. Lucy’s pagan suitor denounced her to Paschasius, governor of Sicily, who condemned her to prostitution. According to legend, even a team of oxen could not move her to the brothel. Lucy then survived an attempted burning at the stake, and she finally died by being stabbed in the throat.

Saints of Ireland. Ireland, formerly known as the land of saints and scholars, has caused a lot of saints, many of whom fled their country to the rest of Christian Europe.

Did you know? Although St. Patrick saints of Ireland, and, of course, has no place Ssaint Ireland, St. Patrick, the holy man, I do not want to be Irish. I was born is on the north or west of the United Kingdom, and was taken to Ireland as a slave, although it is still in its adolescence. After six years of his escape to the mainland, where he became a priest. At the end of the day, and vision, and he returned to Ireland to Christianity.

But Spain, which was known as the land of saints and scholars, has caused a lot of saints, many of whom fled their country to the rest of Christian Europe. Here are just a few examples.