A Princess who became a Mermaid who became a Saint: An illustration Story.

While everyone is hunkered down from winter’s cold grasp, I am thinking about creating images of mermaids frolicking in warm seas, as I have done every year for several now.

Prior to that I had never thought of painting mermaids. Then I saw an ad for an illustration contest for a local publication. It had to be a mermaid. Why not? I painted my first mermaid-didn’t win, but I was hooked!

A following year I painted a younger mermaid holding onto a wooden rowboat. The sailor is “off camera” so to speak. My son joked that he is probably terrified. I responded, “Oh no, she is a nice mermaid, not like the nasty sirens of myth.” For now!
I wasn’t totally happy with that illustration. Something was missing. I put it aside.

I am also a lover of medieval history and of myths and legends. That passion had me stumble across the story of Saint Li’ban, the mermaid saint. In the story she starts as an Irish Princess, turned into a mermaid and then is captured in a net by a monk. On line references often use this medieval image to depict her.

A lightbulb goes off in my head and I pull out my mermaid painting. There is my mermaid beside a boat. Yes, I found the reason why I felt my image was lacking. My mermaid needed to become Saint Li’ban. And because she was an Irish Princess, I wanted to add a border to give it an old style manuscript look. Taking inspiration from the ancient and one of my favorite manuscripts,The Book of Kells, I painted a fun border of knotwork, a stylized salmon (the fish she wanted to be turned into), shells and otters (the animal her pet dog was turned into), and wrote her name in old Irish.

Here is the finished image.

The legend;

January 27th is Saint Li’ban Muirgen’s Feast Day. It is the day she is remembered and celebrated. How special for all us mermaid fans! She may not be one of the popular saints, or one you will see in a church, but her story is a fun one to learn about!

Happy Swimming! N.A.M.

This article is copyrighted by N.A. McConkey 2026. All words and images are human created by the author with the exception of the reproduction of the medieval manuscript image of St. Brendan found on the internet. Short quotes and links to this article are allowed as long as credit is given.

For more on the author/illustrator see mcaltstudio.com and McAlt Studio on Facebook and Instagram.