In Brabant, St. Dympna, virgin and martyr, daughter of an
Irish king. By order of her
father, she was beheaded for the faith of Christ and the preservation of her
virginity.
I’ve always had a special fondness for Saint Dymphna, ever since
I found a statue of her labeled “Patron of the Insane”. Seemed to me that she would be a
perfect patron of the world, which we all know is insane.
Her story is one that still fills the newspapers today – a
beautiful daughter and a depraved father, and you know what happens next. Her mother having died, the 14-year-old girl came under the
"notice" of her father, and to avoid his incestuous advances (or as Rev. Alban
Butler coyly says “to avoid the snares to which she saw herself exposed at
home”), she ran far away in company with her confessor Gerebert. They found refuge in a forest oratory
dedicated to St. Martin near Geel, a town in northern Belgium.
Her father sent men to find her; when they did, he followed.
“The king came to her and renewed his solicitations. He offered that she should be enrolled among the goddesses
of his nation and have a marble temple erected in her honor. Gerebert interfered and was immediately
put to death by the king’s orders”
Sir Leslie Stephen, Dictionary of National Biography (1888),
Vol XVI, p. 297.
“Dympna was inflexible, and reproaching him with the
wickedness of his proceeding declared, that she detested his gods and
goddesses, and that nothing should induce her to offend her true lover Jesus
Christ. On this the king became
outrageous, and gave orders that she should be beheaded. As all his attendants declined to obey
this command, he became the executioner himself and murdered his own daughter.”
John Lanigan, An Ecclesiastical History of Ireland (1829)
Vol II, p. 475.
Of her patronage of the insane, one story relates that the
cruelty of her martyrdom greatly frightened a group of lunatics in the
vicinity, which strong feelings immediately reversed their maladies. More miracles were reported at her
shrine, in which those suffering from mental afflictions (anything from
depression to dementia) or neurological disorders (epilepsy) – all grouped
together under the umbrella of Insanity – regained their mental or physical
health. Gheel became a place of
pilgrimage, to which lunatics were brought for healing by her intercession, and
from it, a cottage industry caring for the insane grew up in the area which exists
to this day.
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Lord, our God,
You graciously chose St. Dymphna as patroness of those
afflicted with mental and nervous disorders. She is thus an inspiration and a symbol of charity to the
thousands who ask her intercession.
Please grant, Lord, through the prayers of this pure
youthful martyr, relief and consolation to all suffering such trials, and
especially those for whom we pray.
We beg You, Lord, to hear the prayers of St. Dymphna on our
behalf. Grant all those for whom
we pray patience in their sufferings and resignation to Your Divine Will. Please fill them with hope, and grant
them the relief and cure they so much desire.
We ask this through Christ our Lord, Who suffered agony in
the garden. Amen.
[and especially for our world, Lord, where the lunatics have taken over the asylum. Amen.]
