MORE and more children are taking Dymphna (also spelled Dympna) as their confirmation name and the saint has exploded in popularity in the last decade – and there is a simple reason why.
St Dymphna is the patron saint of people living with a mental disorder and, all over the world, reports of mental disorders are on the rise.
This is especially true for young people, with the World Health Organisation reporting one in seven people between ages 10 and 19 experience a mental disorder.
But why is it that we pray to a 7th Century Irish saint for help with our mental health?
What we know is that Dymphna was born to an Irish pagan king named Damon and a Christian mother, whose name is unknown.
Dymphna followed her mother’s footsteps and, at the age of 14, she consecrated herself to Christ and took a vow of chastity.
Her mother died soon after she took her vow.
King Damon was inconsolable and his court of advisers told him to remarry.
He agreed, but only if the woman was as beautiful as his first wife.
The king searched his kingdom for such a woman, but the search was fruitless.
His mental health deteriorated and he began to desire his daughter because of her resemblance to her mother – and planned to marry her.
Dymphna learned of her father’s plot and fled the kingdom with her confessor Fr Gerebernus, two servants and the king’s fool.
They sailed far across the sea to land in modern-day Belgium and found refuge in the town of Geel.
There, she built a hospice for the poor and the sick and gave away the riches she had brought with her.
But the coins she gave away would be her undoing.
Her father’s soldiers were able to track the wealth back to Geel and found her.
King Damon sailed to Geel and ordered his soldiers to kill Fr Gerebernus.
Then, he tried to force Dymphna to return with him to his kingdom, but she resisted.
The enraged king drew his sword and cut off his daughter’s head.
Dymphna was 15 years old when she was martyred for her vow to Christ.
The people of Geel took care of the bodies of Dymphna and Gerebernus.
In 1349, the people of Geel built a church in their honour.
Pilgrims came from far and wide to seek healing for their psychiatric disorders, and the church had to be expanded again in 1480.
In the ensuing 500 years, so many more pilgrims came that the town began a tradition of bringing the pilgrims into their homes to let them stay while they sought treatment.
This tradition is still honoured today.
St Dymphna has a long tradition of healing people living with mental disorders and her life’s story is a testament to Christ in the face of deteriorating mental health.
This is a well-known prayer of St Dymphna:
Good Saint Dymphna, great wonder-worker in every affliction of mind and body, I humbly implore your powerful intercession with Jesus through Mary, the Health of the Sick, in my present need. (Mention your need.) Saint Dymphna, martyr of purity, patroness of those who suffer with nervous and mental afflictions, beloved child of Jesus and Mary, pray to Them for me and obtain my request. (Pray one Our Father, one Hail Mary and one Glory Be.)
