Eithne and her sister SodelbOther forms of their names include Ethne, Eithene and Eithnea (Latinised) and Sodbhealbh, Soidhelbh and Sodelbia (Latinised). are two relatively obscure Irish saints from Leinster who are supposed to have flourished in the 5th century. They are commemorated together in the Irish martyrologies on 29 March,Martyrology of Tallaght, 29 March; Félire Óengusso, 29 March; Martyrology of Gorman, 29 March; Martyrology of Donegal, 29 March ("Eithne and Sodhealbh, two daughters of Bait, by the side of Sord Coluim Cille"); Martyrology of Drummond, 29 March ("Apud Hiberniam sanctae virgines filiae Baite ad Christum perrexerunt"). though 2 and 15 January were also marked out as feast-days.O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish saints, p. 994, citing the Bollandists. The 17th-century scholar John Colgan believed that a Life written for them had been witnessed in c. 1490 by Cathal Óg Mac Maghnusa (d. 1498), whom he regarded as the author of additions to the Félire Óengusso (see below).Colgan, Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae; O'Hanlon, Lives of the Irish saints, 995. Although nothing of the kind has come to light, they do make cameo appearances in the Lives of two better known 6/7th-century saints, Áedan and Moling, both bishops of Ferns.
