Íte: patron of her people?

St Íte, who flourished in the sixth century, founded the medieval Irish monastery of Killeedy, situated in Co Limerick. She was celebrated as a nurturer and protector of her people. This paper traces these representations and relate them to complex developments in the saint's cult and to the gendered language used to describe her. This language had its origins in early medieval Ireland as well as in the controversies of christian communities in the later Roman empire.