1077 or 1080 to about 1095, a great conqueror, and possessed of every virtue. Irene, who was cousin-german to Coloman, then reigning in Hungary, married in 1104, Kalo-John, son of the Emperor Comnenus and St. Irene (15); he became emperor in 1118 and reigned till 1143. He was an ugly little man, ironically called Beautiful John. They had four sons and three daughters: the youngest son, Manuel, succeeded to the throne. The late years of Irene's life were saddened by a war between the empire and the kingdom of Hungary. Her kinsman, Bela, a claimant of the crown of Hungary, having been blinded by his successful rival Stephen, took refuge at the court of Constantinople; Stephen complained, and John refused to send away his guest: a quarrel ensued and grew to a bloody war. Irene showed, on the throne, that contempt for luxury and pleasure which she had learnt from her saintly father. Whatever her husband gave her she spent, not on herself or her children, but on the poor and the Church. She built a church and monastery for men, and dedicated it to the Pantocrator, the all-powerful God; and there, by her own wish, she was buried in 1124. The three days on which she is commemorated are anniversaries of translations of her relics. AA.SS. Le Beau, Bas Empire, bk. Ixxxvi. Stadler, Lexicon.
St. Iriaise or Triaise, V., Aug. 16, a recluse veiled by St. Hilary at Poitiers. Martin.
Irmentrudis, Ermendrude.
B. Irmgard (l) or Irmoert, Feb. 7. In the time of St. Henry, emperor 1002- 1024 (husband of St. Cunigund). B. Irmgard lived with her sister Alwred, in the round church at Magdeburg in Saxony. Irmgard became blind a abort time before her death, but her spiritual eyes were so much the more delighted in contemplating heavenly things. Dithmar, bishop of Merseburg, her contemporary, testifies her sanctity. The ecclesiastical records of the place having been destroyed at the reformation, the Bollandists could not satisfy themselves whether Irmgard and Alwred ought to be publicly venerated or not. AA.SS.
B. or St. Irmgard (2), Sept. 4, V. Countess of Zutphen. Probably end of 11th or beginning of 12th century. Cahier calls her niece of the Emperor Henry III. (1039-1056). Represented kneeling before a crucifix, which is saying to her, "Benedicta sis, filia mea Irmgardis." Daughter of a count of Zutphen. She made three pilgrimages to Rome. The first time she was there, the Pope requested her to bring him some relics of the 11,000 virgins of Cologne. She accordingly procured some of their bones and some of the earth in which they were buried, and carried them to Rome in a box, which she presented to the Pope. When he opened the box, he found instead of earth and dry bones, blood as fresh as if it had been shed that very day by the holy virgins. She returned to Cologne, taking with her part of the head of St. Silvester. On her third visit to Rome, she went to the basilica of St. Paul, where she saw a full-length statue of Christ hanging on the cross. He spoke to her and sent a message of greeting by her to a crucifix exactly similar in the Church of St. Peter at Cologne. She promised to deliver the message and asked His blessing; He unfastened His right hand from the cross to bless her. She executed the commission, and the crucifix thanked her. She spent the remainder of her life in tending the sick and poor in a hospice at Hachtport or Hachtpfork, near Cologne, where she died.
Suysken, who translates the legend from the German into Latin, adds in a note that he could believe in the blessing given her by the image, but not in compliments sent by one crucifix to another. He thinks this incident must be invented by her anonymous biographer. He adds that the German legend is of no authority. All that is known is that she was a Countess of Zutphen, buried at Cologne in the Church of the Three Kings, and worshipped there in the 15th century with ringing of bells and miracles of healing.
AA.SS. Cratepol, De ep. germaniæ, Cahier.
St. Irmina (l), Oct. 6, Jan. 23, March 7, Dec. 24, 7th or 8th century (Ermina, Hirmina), founder and abbess of Horres and joint founder of Epternac.
