Trea

Who they were

Trea was an Irish virgin who lived between the fifth and sixth centuries, daughter of the chieftain Cairthenn Bec mac Eircc. According to the ninth-century Tripartite Life of Saint Patrick, her parents were converted and baptised by Patrick while her mother Mugain was still carrying her, and Patrick blessed the unborn child, foretelling that she would be full of grace and consecrated to God. As an adult she received the monastic veil from Patrick himself.

She lived afterward as a hermit and recluse at Ard Tréa, now Ardtrea in County Tyrone, where a chapel was later built in her honour. The early Irish martyrologies of Tallaght, Gorman and Donegal commemorate her on 8 July, though her liturgical memory today falls on 3 August.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

Irish hermit consecrated by Saint Patrick, venerated at Ardtrea in County Tyrone since the early Middle Ages; feast 3 August.