Patron of the mentally ill

St Dymphna

Q: Who was St Dymphna?

Patron of the mentally ill. A seventh-century Irish princess who fled her father's incestuous advances to Geel in Belgium, where he found and killed her. Geel built around her shrine a tradition of caring for psychiatric patients in ordinary family homes rather than institutions — a practice that has continued for seven centuries and is still studied by psychiatrists today.

Naomh Damhnait

Feast day · 30 May

🏔 Monaghan Source: Wikipedia ↗

The story

Saint Dymphna — St Dymphna — Saint Dymphna Photograph: Godfried Maes · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

A seventh-century Irish princess who fled her father's incestuous advances to Geel in Belgium, where he found and killed her. Geel built around her shrine a tradition of caring for psychiatric patients in ordinary family homes rather than institutions — a practice that has continued for seven centuries and is still studied by psychiatrists today.

The name they gave

Damhnait — “DAV-nit”

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