Saint Irene ("Holy Peace") was the sister of Saint Agape ("Holy Love") and Saint Chionia ("Snow-White"), three young girls of Thessalonica. Her Acts say that she was caught in possession of the Scriptures despite a prohibition issued by Emperor Diocletian in 303 A.D.. Following the martyrdom of her sisters, Irene was also commanded to deny the Christian faith: like them, she refused.

The provincial governor, Dulcitius, sent her to a bordello, but when she remained unmolested though exposed naked and chained, she was put to death, some accounts say by being burned to death like her sisters, others saying that she died with an arrow piercing her throat.

Irene is venerated more in the Eastern Orthodox Church than in Roman Catholicism, where she has not made the canon and doesn't rate an entry in the Catholic Encyclopedia.

The hand of St Irene is currently preserved at St. Irene Chrysovalantou Greek Orthodox Church in Astoria, Queens, New York City.