IRENE of PORTUGAL, St., martyr. — Of the 7th century, commemorated on 20 Oct. in the Roman Martyrology, her life presents legendary features. A nun in a monastery near Thomar (Portugal), she is said to have been beheaded by Britaldo, lord of the place, who had been unable to bend her to sin. Her body, cast into the Nabão, crossed the Zêzere and reached Scallabis, a Roman colony on the banks of the Tagus, which from then on took her name: Santarém (S. Irene). There is no foundation for her identification with St. Irene, martyr, companion of Agape and Chione.
BIBL.: Acta SS. Octobris, VIII, Paris 1866, pp. 909-12; V. Guimarães, Thomar S. Iria, Lisbon 1937 (cf. the review in Annal. Boll., 57 [1930], p. 440 seq.); B. de Gaiffe, Historiographiae hispanique, in Annal. Boll., 66 (1948), p. 307.