Saint Gaibhthene, July 11

July 11 sees the commemoration of an obscure Irish holy woman, Saint Gaibhthene, latinised as Gabtina. As ever, all we have is the recording of her name, first on the earliest of the calendars, the Martyrology of Tallaght and subsequently on the Martyrology of Donegal. Canon O'Hanlon adds the detail that the seventeenth-century Irish Franciscan hagiologist, Father Thomas Sheerin, brought her to the attention of the Bollandists:

St. Gabtina or Gaibhthene, Virgin.

According to the Martyrology of Tallagh, St. Gabtina, virgin, had a feast on this day. Father O'Sheerin furnished the Bollandists  a like record for this date. In the Martyrology of Donegal, a festival was celebrated, it is stated, at the 11th of July, in honour of Gaibhthene, virgin. Nothing more seems to be known about her.

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