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418 418, ST. ISNANDUL Tboy immediately did so, knowing him to be a yery saintly old man. He re- quested to see all the nuns, and when he had seen them, he said, " There is some- thing I have not seen yet. Bring me all the nnns." They said, "We have one who is mad; she lives in the kitchen, and is possessed." He said, " Bring her to me, however." They called her, but she did not hear or would not answer, and at last they went and said to her, " St. Pyoterius wants to see yon." When he saw her, with the kitchen cloth round her head, he threw himself at her feet and begged her to bless him. She then kneeled before him, and said, "Bless thou me, Father." All the nuns were surprised, and said, "Do not undergo such humiliation. Father: she is mad." He answered, " You are mad to despise her ; she is your superior and mine, and I pray that I may be worthy to receive her blessing." Then they all fell at his and her feet, and each confessed the in- dignities of which she had been guilty towards Isidora. Then the old man offered up prayers for the whole com- munity, and went away. A few days afterwards, poor Isidora, being distressed by the confessions and apologies of her sisters, and the honour they now insisted on showing her, fled from the monastery, and was never heard of more. St. Basil, the bishop, told the story. AA,SS.y from Lives of the Fathers by Eosweide, and other authorities. Falladius, Lausiaca, calls the nun Amma, and the hermit Pitirnm. St. Isnandul, Snandulia. St. Iste, Ida, mother of St. Ger- trude. St. Ita (1), Jan. 15, c. 480-570, abbess (Ida, Ide, Idea, Ite, Itha, Ituees, Itta, Mida, Mita, Ystia, Ytha, SiTHE, Derthkea, Deidre, Deibdre, Dorothea, Dorothy). In Irish the letters d and t were convertible, the sound thick between the two, which accounts for the appearance of the th; VI or vio, literally my^ denotes endear- ment or veneration for the person to whose name it is prefixed : Mito, my own Ita ; Ita means thirst (Sc. Gaelic lotadh), and denotes the thirst this saint had for Divine love. Sithe is probably a cor- ruption of St. Ithe. Dorthrea, or Beidie, was her original name, of which othen are merely variations; her biographers have rendered it in Latin as Dorothea. St. Ita ranks next to St. Brioid (2) amongst Irish women saints. She is patron of Camello in liimerick; bat Eilita, the cell or church of Ita, is the name by which the site of her monastery is now known, and is of itself snfficieiit to commemorate her. As Deirdre she is probably patron of women called Der- der, a name which occurs in medifevil Scottish records. Ita was bom at Nandesi, now called Dessee, a barony in Waterford. Daughter of Eennfoelad, who was descended from Felim, the law-giver monarch of Irelaxid (111-119). Ita lived eight generation! later. It is supposed tiiat her father and her mother, Necta or Neaoht, were Christians, and that Ita was baptized in infancy. Even in early childhood she was remarkable for holiness, and miracles showed that she was destined to become a great saint. One day when the little girl was left sleeping alone, the room appeared to her parents and the servants to be in a blaze, but when they rushed in to rescue the child, they found her sleeping peacefully. Seeing no trace of fire, but that the radi- ance proceeded from a supematoral light, they understood that it was an image of the fire of holiness in the infiinPs soul. The maiden grew up beautiful, and a young noble asked her in marriage. Eennfoelad accepted his offer, but Ita refused, and said she wished to serve God in the monastic life. Her father was extremely angry when he heard this, swore he would never consent to it, and tried to force her to marry. Ita, how- ever, gained her mother over to her view of the matter, but bade her not thwart her husband openly, saying, "Never mind, some day he will command me to go to serve Christ where I choose." Ita soon afterwards observed a rigorous Ust for three days and three nights, praying in faith almost incessantly the whole time. She was beset with temptations of the devil until the third night, when the evil one departed from her. At the