Saint Irene of Tomar ( pt, Santa Iria) (c.635 – c.653) was a Christian who was

martyr A martyr (, ''mártys'', "witness", or , ''marturia'', stem , ''martyr-'') is someone who suffers persecution and death for advocating, renouncing, or refusing to renounce or advocate, a religious belief or other cause as demanded by an externa ...

ed for her faith in

Visigoth The Visigoths (; la, Visigothi, Wisigothi, Vesi, Visi, Wesi, Wisi) were an early Germanic people who, along with the Ostrogoths, constituted the two major political entities of the Goths within the Roman Empire in late antiquity, or what is kn ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. Her parents, wishing to protect her, sent her to a convent school and a private tutor. The only times she left her house was to attend

Mass Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...

or pray at the sanctuary of Saint Peter. The legend of her life is possibly little more than that.''Encyclopedia of Catholic Saints'', Vol. 10, (1966) Chilton Books, pp. 99–10

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Legend

Legend says that Irene was born in Nabância, present-day

Tomar Tomar (), also known in English as Thomar (the ancient name of Tomar), is a city and a municipality in the Santarém district of Portugal. The town proper has a population of about 20,000. The municipality population in 2011 was 40,677, in an a ...

, Portugal. She was born into an influential family, and her parents, wishing to protect her, sent her to a convent school and a private

tutor TUTOR, also known as PLATO Author Language, is a programming language developed for use on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign beginning in roughly 1965. TUTOR was initially designed by Paul Tenczar for use in ...

. The only times she left her house was to attend

or pray at the sanctuary of

Saint Peter ) (Simeon, Simon) , birth_date = , birth_place = Bethsaida, Gaulanitis, Syria, Roman Empire , death_date = Between AD 64–68 , death_place = probably Vatican Hill, Rome, Italia, Roman Empire , parents = John (or Jonah; Jona) , occupat ...

. A young

nobleman Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below royalty. Nobility has often been an estate of the realm with many exclusive functions and characteristics. The characteris ...

named Britald saw her once and fell in love with her. Every time she left to go to church, he would follow her. Eventually he came forward with his proposal to court her; however, Irene made it clear that she would never marry him. When Britald became depressed, Irene hastened to make it clear to him that the reason for her celibacy was that she had given herself to God as a

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 599. The term is o ...

. Meanwhile, her tutor, a monk named Remigius (or Remígio) made improper advances to her, and when she declined, quit and spread vicious rumors about her. When asked why he was no longer tutoring the girl, he replied that he had left upon having learned that she was pregnant. In addition, he managed to give her a drink that brought about her belly to inflate. All these news circulated around the town, and eventually Britald learned of her supposed infidelity. Enraged, he hired a

mercenary soldier A mercenary, sometimes also known as a soldier of fortune or hired gun, is a private individual, particularly a soldier, that joins a military conflict for personal profit, is otherwise an outsider to the conflict, and is not a member of any o ...

to kill her. So, as Irene was returning home from visiting an elderly

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physical, ...

man, the assassin approached from behind and killed her with a single stroke of his sword.

Veneration

Her body was thrown into river Nabão, that flows into

River Tagus The Tagus ( ; es, Tajo ; pt, Tejo ; see below) is the longest river in the Iberian Peninsula. The river rises in the Montes Universales near Teruel, in mid-eastern Spain, flows , generally west with two main south-westward sections, to e ...

. Later, it was recovered uncorrupted from this river by Benedictines near the town of Scalabis. Legend says that her uncle abbot Celius had received from Christ a revelation about the true story of her niece and the location of her body. The monks gave her a proper burial, and spread her

cultus Cultus may refer to: *Cult (religious practice) * ''Cultus'' (stonefly), a genus of stoneflies * Cultus Bay, a bay in Washington * Cultus Lake (disambiguation) *Cultus River, a river in Oregon *Suzuki Cultus The Suzuki Cultus is a supermini car ...

. Eventually, so great was the reverence paid to the virgin saint, that the name of the town of Scalabis was changed to Santarém ("Saint Irene"). Thus, Irene is the

patron saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of Tomar and namesake Santarém. Feast Day is 20 October.

References

Bibliography

* Oliveira, Miguel de, ''Santa Iria e Santarém. Lenda e História. Estudos hagiográficos'', Lisboa, União Gráfica, 1964 * Costa, Avelino de Jesus, ''Santa Iria e Santarém, revisão de um problema hagiográfico e toponímico'', Coimbra, FLUC, 1972

External links

*
Sant' Irene del Portogallo
{{DEFAULTSORT:Irene Of Tomar 635 births 653 deaths People from Tomar 7th-century Christian saints Portuguese Roman Catholic saints Christian female saints of the Middle Ages 7th-century women Women of medieval Portugal 7th-century people of the Visigothic Kingdom Visigothic women Legendary Portuguese people

Legend

Veneration

See also

References

Bibliography

External links