605—620

Catholic tradition promotes saints for various devotions and in support of numerous causes. These include the feast of St. Dymphna, known for miracles involving mental health, anxieties and general mental wellness and well-being. Historically, St. Dymphna has been attributed to various miracles of healing for those suffering from mental illness.

In a world of stress and anxiety, St. Dymphna can be a source of inspiration and devotion. Many have invoked her name and intercession for friends and family in need of healing from mental illness, as well as the stresses and anxieties of day-to-day living.

Feast Day is May 15

Patron Saint of Epilepsy, Mental Illness, Incest Victims, Runaways

“O God, we humbly beseech you through your servant, Saint Dymphna, who sealed with blood the love she bore you, to grant relief to those who suffer from mental afflictions and nervous disorders.”

Because of her personal knowledge of the terror and misery caused by madness, Saint Dymphna offers great comfort and consolation to those afflicted with mental disorders and also to their families. Her burial site continues to be a place of miraculous healing, and Gheel, in Belgium, the town where it is located, leads the world as a center for the treatment of the mentally ill. Saint Dymphna lived for such a short time, so long ago, there is little to prove that she ever really existed.  Born the daughter of an Irish pagan King and Christian mother, Dymphna fled her home after her mother died to avoid the sexual advances of her grief mad father.

Saint Dymphna was born in Ireland. Her father, Damon, was a pagan king and her mother was a Christian. Dymphna was raised in her mother’s faith and was very devout. When Dymphna was fourteen, her mother died, and her father became so engulfed in grief, that he sank into mental illness. He sent messengers throughout the land to find a woman of noble birth who resembled his wife so he might marry her. None could be found. Dymphna, however, so resembled his dead wife that he decided to marry her, even though she was his daughter. In order to avoid this fate, Dymphna fled from the castle with her confessor, Saint Gerebran. They traveled abroad, first to Antwerp, then finally settling in Gheel. Within a year her father found them living as hermits. He had the priest beheaded and begged Dymphna to return home with him.

When she refused, he drew his sword and chopped off her head. Both bodies were buried immediately. She was fifteen years old at the time of her death. In those days, epileptics and the mentally ill were treated as pariahs and left to roam. Shortly after Saint Dymphna’s death, five such sufferers went to sleep at the site where she was killed and were instantly healed by the blood in the earth. The legend of Saint Dymphna became very popular in the early thirteenth century when the bodily remains of an unknown man and woman were dug up and the name Dymphna was written on a brick found in the coffin of the woman. As the remains were reinterred in a tomb, miraculous healings of those suffering from epilepsy and mental illness were reported in the immediate area.

The bishop of Cambrai commissioned a text of the life of Saint Dymphna which drew on oral reports for its information. The tomb became a pilgrimage site for those suffering from mental afflictions. By the end of the thirteenth century a hospital was built near Dymphna’s tomb for the treatment of nervous and mental illnesses.

Today, Gheel remains a world—renown hospital center, offering the most enlightened methods in treating the mentally ill, and the residents of that city are known for their kindness toward those so afflicted. As many as two thousand patients at a time live within the community with local families and work on everyday tasks until they are well. Because of the madness of her father, Dymphna is known as the patroness of mental and nervous afflictions. It is assumed she was sexually abused; thus she is also the patroness of incest victims and runaways. Saint Dymphna is traditionally pictured with the palms of martyrdom. In some images she is depicted with the sword that beheaded her, and the devil, representing mental illness, is shown in chains at her feet.

Novena

O God, we humbly beseech you through your servant Saint Dymphna, who sealed with her blood the love she bore you, to grant relief to those who suffer from mental afflictions and nervous disorders, especially

Name the afflicted person

Saint Dymphna, helper of the mentally afflicted, pray for us. Saint Dymphna, comforter of the despondent, pray for us. Saint Dymphna, renowned for many miracles, please hear my plea. Amen  

Recite one Glory Be  

Say this novena nine times in a row for nine days
in a row.

Mother of Sorrows

Patron of: Grief

Quote: “…And you yourself shall be pierced with a sword – so that the thoughts of many hearts may be laid bare.” Luke 2:34-35

Keywords: grief, solace, mourning

When we are overwhelmed with grief, we turn to Mary, Mother of Jesus for help in our suffering. Throughout her life she endured much pain and sorrow and is fully able to empathize with anyone’s personal anguish. She endured the shame of being pregnant and unmarried, being poor, homelessness and having her only son unjustly imprisoned and executed. Most astonishing, Mary knew what was to befall her son yet had to see these events from God’s point of view and have faith that this was all for the good of mankind.

By meditating on the Seven Sorrows of Mary, a devotion from the Middle Ages, which uses scenes from the life of the Virgin Mother as a meditation on accepting the sorrowful part of life with grace.

The Seven Sorrows of Mary are:

1) The Prophecy of Simeon. As a young child, when his parents presented him in the temple, Jesus was met by the holy man Simeon who predicted everything that would happen to him in his address to Mary: “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted – and you yourself a sword will pierce so that thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” (Luke 2:34-35).

2) The Flight into Egypt. In Bethlehem, after the birth of Christ, Joseph had a vision of an angel warning him of the impending slaughter of any male child under the age of two by King Herod in order to prevent the coming Messiah. The Holy Family had to travel a secretive route to Egypt and remain in that country until Herod died. Mary  not only worried for the welfare of her own son but mourn for the murdered children left behind.

3) The Loss of the Child Jesus in the Temple. While on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, the 12 year old Jesus vanished from his family. His heartsick parents finally found him three days later, arguing with elders in the temple.

4) The Meeting of Jesus with His Cross. Mary watched helplessly as her son was ridiculed and mocked as he stumbled, carrying the cross he was to be executed on.

5) The Crucifixion. As he was nailed to the cross, most of his disciples ran away. Mary never wavered as she stood at the foot of the cross, witnessing her son’s agony and death.

6) Jesus Taken Down from the Cross. Mary held her dead son’s wound covered body. This, her greatest sorrow is known as the “Pieta”.

7) The Burial of Jesus. As the stone was rolled, closing up his tomb, Mary had to say her final goodbye to her earthly son. Her faith had to be sincerely tested as there was no hint of the resurrection to come.

Symbols: Knives pricking Mary’s heart. Symbols of the crucifixion: crown of thorns, nails.

Novena to the Mother of Sorrows

Most holy and afflicted Virgin, Queen of Martyrs, you stood beneath the cross, witnessing the agony of your dying son. Look with a mother’s tenderness and pity on me, who kneel before you. I venerate your sorrows and I place my requests with filial confidence in the sanctuary of your wounded heart.

Present them, I beseech you, on my behalf to Jesus Christ, through the merits of his own most sacred passion and death, together with your sufferings at the foot of the cross. Through the united efficacy of both, obtain the granting of my petition. To whom shall I have recourse in my wants   and miseries if not to you, Mother of Mercy? You have drunk so deeply of the chalice of your son, you can compassionate our sorrows.

Holy Mary, your soul was pierced by a sword of sorrow at the sight of the passion of your divine son. Intercede for me and obtain from Jesus (mention your request) if it be for his honor and glory and for my good. Amen.

(excerpted from the novena app).