Íte, alone among saints, is celebrated as the muimme sanctorum Hiberniae, the foster-mother of the saints of Ireland. Her Life claims she was taught directly by the Holy Spirit (a common feature in Lives of holy women, as females often had less access to formal education), which she drew on when she founded a well-known school which gave several saints their start—a school that is known primarily from the Lives of her male pupils, most famously Brendan and Mochaomhóg. Her vita portrays her as committed to both males and females, curing them of various ills, even death, and sharing her wisdom with them. She had an inclusive vision of the holy life; as she told a nun who asked her why she was so beloved by God, “God is always present with those who exemplify such devotion.” Íte is widely respected for her virtue, wisdom, gift of prophecy, and healing abilities, as well as a powerful patron and an abbess who tempered her authority with great kindness, all aspects of her role as muimme.

Like Darerca, Íte is sometimes viewed as a virago, a woman who sacrifices her sex for her sanctity, an aspiration even implicitly attributed to Íte's own mother, simply because she supported her daughter's religious vocation.