The Story of St. Dymphna

Dymphna was the only child of a pagan king who is believed to have ruled a section of Ireland in the 7th century. She was the very picture of her attractive young Christian mother. When the queen died at a young age, her father remained inconsolable. His moody silences pushed him to the verge of mental collapse. His courtiers suggested he consider a second marriage. The king agreed on the condition that his new bride should look exactly like his deceased wife.

His envoys went far afield in search of the woman he desired. The quest proved fruitless. Then one of his advisors, possibly under serious threat from the king, suggested the king marry his thirteen-year-old daughter-the very likeness of her mother. The king eventually agreed and broached the topic to his daughter. Dymphna, rightfully appalled, stood firm as a rock and responded, “Definitely not”. Dymphna was not only a Christian like her mother but had taken a vow of chastity.  With the support of her confessor, Father Gerebern, she chose to flee her homeland to escape her father’s entreaties.

Father Gerebern, Dymphna, the court jester and the jester’s wife fled by sea and took her dowry with them. They landed in Belgium and eventually found a home in the village of Gheel. They settled near a shrine dedicated to St. Martin of Tours.

Her father sent spies to find his daughter. Unaware that these men were spies, they were directed to where she lived. The king came at once to Gheel. He managed to control his anger at first. He again attempted to coax and make glowing promises of money, worldly honor and prestige. When this approach failed, he resorted to threats and insults. These also had no effect on Dymphna. She would rather die than enter an incestuous union with her father or break the vow of virginity she had made.

In his fury, the king ordered his men to kill Father Gerebern and Dymphna. They killed the priest but could not bring themselves to harm the young princess. The king then leaped from his seat and with his own weapon cut off his daughter’s head. Dymphna fell at his feet. Thus Dymphna, barely aged fifteen, died. Her name appears in the Roman Martyrology, together with St. Gerebern’s on May 15.

In the town of Gheel, in the Flemish-speaking region of Belgium, great honor is paid to St. Dymphna, whose relics are preserved in a silver reliquary in the church which bears her name. Gheel has long been known as a place of pilgrimage for persons seeking relief of nervous and emotional disorders. In recent times St. Dymphna has been increasingly venerated in America.[i]

Although she was martyred around 650, the earliest historical account of the veneration of St. Dymphna dates from the middle of the thirteenth century. Under Bishop Guy I of Cambrai (1238-47), Pierre, a canon of the church of Saint Aubert at Cambrai, wrote a “Vita” of the saint that states she had been venerated for many years in a church at Gheel (province of Antwerp, Belgium), which is dedicated to her. The author of the Vita states that he had drawn his biography from oral tradition.

This narrative is without any historical foundation, being merely a variation of the story of the king who wanted to marry his own daughter, a motif which appeared frequently in popular legends. Hence, we can conclude nothing from it as to the history of St. Dymphna and the time in which she lived. That she is identical to St. Damhnat of Ireland was the same person cannot be proved. There are at Gheel fragments of two ancient sarcophagi in which, tradition says, the bodies of Dymphna and Gerebern were originally found. There is also a quadrangular brick, said to have been found in one of the sarcophagi, bearing two lines of letters that read as DYMPNA. The discovery of this sarcophagus, the corpse and the brick could have been the origin of the veneration. In Christian art St. Dymphna is depicted with a sword in her hand and the devil at her feet. [ii]

Dymphna has been invoked as patron of the mentally ill because there have been particularly large numbers of people suffering from mental illness and epilepsy cured at the site of her remains. Ecclesiastical scholars have published numerous accounts of miraculous cures, especially between 1604 and 1668. As a result, there has long been many mentally ill at Gheel. In 2016 there were 250[iii] living there whose relatives invoked St. Dymphna for their cure. The ill are treated in a special manner and referred to as boarders, not patients. In the beginning they are placed in an institution for observation. Later they are given shelter in the homes of the general population and take part in their agricultural labors and were treated kindly. They are observed without being conscious of it. The treatment produced good results. At the turn of the 20^th century these customs were regarded as the best practice to be imitated everywhere. In 1930, the peak of the program, 4000 boarders made up a quarter of Gheel’s population.[iv]

The old church of St. Dymphna in Gheel was destroyed by fire in 1489. The replacement church was consecrated in 1532 and still stands. Every year on the feast of the saint, May 15^th, and on the Tuesday after Pentecost numerous pilgrims visit her shrine.

One must admit the spiritual element in these recoveries which have made Dymphna known and Gheel famous. The afflicted are in an atmosphere of faith and hope and experience the charity and hospitality of the devout living there. The mentally ill are treated with respect and dignity as human beings and not outcasts to be shunned and avoided. This living faith in Gheel began at a time when everywhere else in the “civilized world” the mentally ill were driven out, forced to beg, chained up or exhibited as public spectacles in traveling fairs.[v] Many in the United states may experience mental health treatment as cold and indifferent which, fortunately, is not necessarily the rule. One would be hard pressed to find an entire city in the United States that would be willing to open their homes to mental health patients seeking help. If so, a considerable dent would be made in the American homeless population.

According to the World Health Organization 2001 report, one in four people in the world will be affected by mental or neurological disorders at some point in their lives. Around 450 million people currently suffer from these conditions, placing mental disorders among the leading causes of ill health and disability worldwide.[vi]

Approximately one in five adults in the U.S. (46.6 million) experiences mental illness in a given year. Approximately 1 in 25 adults in the U.S. (11.2 million) experiences a serious mental illness in a given year that substantially interferes with one or more life activities. Among the 20.2 million adults in the U.S. who experienced a substance use disorder, 50.5% or 10.2 million adults, also had a co-occurring mental health illness. Suicide is the 10^th leading cause of death in the U.S. and the second leading cause of death for people aged 10-34.  More than 90% of people who die by suicide showed symptoms of a mental health condition. Furthermore, every day approximately 18-22 veterans die by suicide.[vii]

The Mishnah Sanhedrin 4:9 in the Talmud states; “whoever saves a life, it is considered as if he saved an entire world.” The sad fact of human history is that there is no shortage of human misery. The intersection of our Lord’s incarnation, His cross and resurrection in history is the difference between there being hope in this life and there being meaningful hope in His promise of a new world that has neither weeping nor sadness. Since the middle ages God has been proving himself through the example and intercession of a 15-year-old girl who chose God over what the world had to offer. “What profit would there be for one to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? (Mt 16:26).” One can make an offering of themselves to the Sacred Heart that burns out of control with love for all mankind through St. Dymphna. We can imitate her in her courage and other virtues and reject the pomp, power, prestige, and sin in the world. In doing this we choose the crown of life eternal.

End Notes:

i-Kirsch, J.P. (1909). St. Dymphna. In the Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 27, 2019 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05221b.htm

ii-Chen, A. (7/1/2016). For Centuries a Small Town has Embraced Those with Mental Illness. In Health News From NPR retrieved 5/4/2019 from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/484083305/for-centuries-a-small-town-has-embraced-strangers-with-mental-illness

iii-Ibid.

iv-Ibid.

v-Ibid.

vi-NMH Communications. (10/2001). Mental Health Impacts One in Four People. In Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope. Retrieved from the WHO website on 5/12/2019. https://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/.

vii-NAMI. (2019). More Mental Health by the Numbers. Arlington, VA. Retrieved from the National Alliance of Mental Illness on 5/12/2019: https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers.

viii-Ibid.

References:

Anonymous. (2019). The Story of St. Dymphna. In the General Organization of Franciscan Mission Associates. Mt. Vernon, NY. Retrieved April 27, 2019 from https://franciscanmissionassoc.org/prayer-requests/devotional-saints/st-dymphna/story/

Chen, A. (7/1/2016). For Centuries a Small Town has Embraced Those with Mental Illness. In Health News From NPR. Retrieved 5/4/2019 from https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/484083305/for-centuries-a-small-town-has-embraced-strangers-with-mental-illness[iv]

Kirsch, J.P. (1909). St. Dymphna. In the Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved April 27, 2019 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05221b.htm.

Lovasik, L. Fr. (21^st ed. 2012). Dymphna: Patron of the Nervous and Emotionally Ill. Teratum, PA. Fr. Lovasik Publications.

McFadden, J. Fr. (1936). Devotion to St. Dymphna: Virgin and Martyr. National Shrine of St. Dymphna, Massillion, OH.

NAMI. (2019). More Mental Health by the Numbers. Arlington, VA. Retrieved from the National Alliance of Mental Illness on 5/12/2019: https://www.nami.org/learn-more/mental-health-by-the-numbers.

NMH Communications. (10/2001). Mental Health Impacts One in Four People. In Mental Health: New Understanding, New Hope. Retrieved from the WHO website on 5/12/2019. https://www.who.int/whr/2001/media_centre/press_release/en/.