St Ita - Virgin, co-patron of Diocese of Limerick - Jan 15th

Ever living God,

We rejoice in the life of Saint Ita of Killeedy.

We give you thanks for her powerful intercession and we implore her continual protection. Inspire us by her example to live with joy our calling in life, give us perseverance to serve you all our days;

We make this prayer through Jesus Christ our Lord, who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, world without end. Amen

Following on from last weekends show where Michael talked to us about St Ita who is patroness of Limerick Diocese. She of course shares the patronage of the diocese with St Munchin whose feast day was January 3rd and once again we encourage you to invoke the intercession of our two diocesan patrons for the selection and consecration of a new bishop of the diocese of Limerick.

We have had a few queries looking for the readings for the feast of St Ita on January 15th. It is celebrated as a feast day in the diocese and the readings of the day are taken from the Common of Virgins: 

•  Song of Songs 8:6-7 or Hosea 2:16, 17, 21-22
• Psalm 148:1-2, 11-12, 13-14, 14
• First Corinthians 7:25-35 or Second Corinthians 10:17 - 11:2
• Matthew 19:3-12 or Matthew 25:1-13

Note that in the general liturgical calander, St Ita's feast day has the rank of optional memorial and so alternatively the Mass celebrated on 15th Jan 2010 may be that of the Saturday of the First Week in Ordinary Time:

• Heb 4:12-16
• Psalm 104:1-4,6-9
• Mk 2:13-17

Also, check out the blog 4dLord from the parish of Our Lady of Lourdes in Limerick city which has prayer service for the feast of St Ita  .

Another suggestion for a service is from the Russian Orthodox community which we came across here.

Two suggested readings from the Office of Readings for the Feast of St Ita

9th Century poem attributed to St Ita

Saint Ita sees Christ come to her in a vision as a baby to be nursed:

It is Little Jesus

who is nursed by me in my little hermitage:

though it be a cleric with treasures,

all is a lie save little Jesus.

The nursing I do in my house

is not the nursing of a base clown:

Jesus with the men of Heaven

under my heart every single night.

Young little Jesus, my eternal good!

to heed him is a cause of forgiveness,

the king who controls all things,

not to beseech Him will cause repentance.

It is Jesus, noble, angelic,

not an unlearned cleric,

who is fostered by me in my little hermitage,

Jesus the son of the Hebrew woman.

Sons of princes, sons of kings,

though they should come into my country,

I should not expect profit from them;

more likely, I think, from Jesukin.

Sing ye a chorus, O maidens,

to Him who has a right to your little tribute,

who sits in his place above,

though little Jesus is at my breast.

SOURCE: The Martyrology of Oengus. translated by Whitley Stokes. London, 1905.


The second is an account from the life (vita) of St Ita which is the suggested second reading from the Office of Readings for the day (Double click on the picture to enlarge).