At June 11, Canon O’Hanlon has a notice of a female saint, Tocomracht, immediately followed by that of a saint Tochumra. He suspects that they may be one and the same person, which does indeed appear to be the case. Although Canon O’Hanlon was unable to associate this holy lady with a locality, in his 2011 Dictionary of \Irish Saints Pádraig Ó Riain was able to place her in Kiltoghert (Ceall Tochomhracht), County Leitrim. He confirms her status as an intercessor for women in labour, mediated via her bejewelled bell, noted in a seventeenth-century list. He also notes that as her name and association with the people of the Conmhaicne suggest, she also had a cultus in Connacht. Below are Canon O’Hanlon’s individual entries for the saint, taken from Volume VI of his Lives of the Irish Saints:

Tocomracht, Virgin.

The Martyrologies of Tallagh, and of Donegal, mention that Tocomracht, Virgin, of Conmaicne, had veneration paid her, at the 11th of June. The latter Calendar only gives the territory, with which she had been connected; but, as this territorial designation is applied in composition with different localities, it is not so easy to determine where the present saint lived. At this date, also, in the Rev. Alban Butler’s work, and in the Circle of the Seasons, St. Tochumra, Virgin, is found entered.

St. Tochumra. Virgin.

There is apparently another St. Tochumra, Virgin, whose feast occurs at 11th of June, in Butler’s Lives of the Saints, where we are told, she belonged to the diocese of Kilmore, and that she was much honoured in Ireland, being invoked by women in labour. Colgan could discover no Acts of her. Likewise, in the Circle of the Seasons, we have the name of this St. Tochumra entered. It is likely, she is not a different person from the preceding Tocomracht.

Note: The introduction to this post was updated in 2025.

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