• (Last modified on: Dec. 1 at: 1:00 pm. EST)
  We, the keepers of Apple Sanity, Sunshine Ecstasy, wish to extend our prayers, our devotion, our veneration, and out gratitude to our patron saint, Dymphna of Gheel. She has blessed us with sanity and rapturous ecstasy, as she bears patronage for the mentally insane, runaways, rape victims, and sleepwalkers.

Prayer to Saint Dymphna

• O God, we humbly beseech You through Your servant, St 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 *Dinah Cheshire*
• Saint Dymphna, helper of the mentally afflicted, pray for us!

Prayer for the Intercession of Saint Dymphna, Patron of Mental Illness

• Lord God, Who has graciously chosen Saint Dymphna to be the patroness of those afflicted with mental and nervous disorders, and has caused her to be an inspiration and a symbol of charity to the thousands who invoke her intercession, grant through the prayers of this pure, youthful martyr, relief and consolation to all who suffer from these disturbances, and especially to those for whom we now pray.
• We beg You to accept and grant the prayers of Saint Dymphna on our behalf. Grant to those we have particularly recommended patience in their sufferings and resignation to Your Divine Will. Fill them with hope and, if it is according to Your Divine Plan, bestow upon them the cure they so earnestly desire. Grant this through Christ Our Lord. Amen.

Also Known As St. Dympna or St. Dimpna

• The history of Saint Dymphna was collected by Pierre as 'Vita' canon of the church of Saint Aubert at Cambrai, via the oral tradition of the town of Gheel of the province of Antwerp, in Belgium, where she was venerated and had a cult dovotion.
• Saint Dymphna was the daughter of a extraordinarily beautiful Christian princess and a pagan cheiftain of Ireland named Damon and a beautiful Christian princess. The mother died Dymphna was only fourteen, but not before Dymphna herself was baptized in secret.
• King Damon searched the land for a suitable replacement, who could match the beauty of his first wife. Unsucessful, he returned home. Grief-stricken and mentally unstable from sadness, it was then when he realized that his daughter, the beautiful Dymphna bore an uncanny resemblance to her mother. He made advances on his own daughter, but she refused
• She fled home after receiving advice from her confessor, Saint Gerebernus. She left Ireland with the court jestor and the court jestor's wife, as well as Saint Gerebernus himself. They sailed to Antwerp and settled in chapel to Saint Martin (present-day Gheel), in order to live as hermits. There, Saint Dymphna had a reputation for holiness, for her devotion to the poor and the suffering.
• Damon ordered spies to hunt down his daughter, and his searching led him eventually to Belgium. There, Damon met an innkeeper who refused his money, because Irish currency was difficult to exchange. This was the tip-off, for how would a lowly innkeeper know about foreign currencies, unless he had seen it recently?
• Soon enough Damon found Saint Gerebernus nearby and demanded to know the location of his daughter. When refused, Damon had his servants behead the priest. Sometime between 620 to 650 A.D., Saint Dymphna was found in the chapel; he begged her to come home. When she refused, he decapitated his own 15 year-old daughter, in a fit of crazy insane rage.
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• The two corpes were placed in sarcophagi and entombed in a cave where they were found later. The body of Saint Dymphna was buried in a church in Gheel, Saint Gerebernus' bones were moved to Sonsbeck in the diocese of Münster.
• Bollandists have published numerous accounts of miracles, whenever the mentally insane were cured by the relics of Saint Dymphna. The town of Gheel has developed a cult veneration their patron. Towards the end of the 13th century, an infirmary was built, which has become first-class mental house or sanatorium - one of the largest (at times, up to fifteen hundred) and most efficient for the mentally ill in the world. It was one of the first to organize a by which which patients could live normal and useful lives in the homes of farmers and local residents, whom they would assist in labor and whose family life they would share.
• The strength of Dymphna's cult devotion is seen through the compassion of the people of Gheel for the mentally ill, despite the fact that the insane have almost always and universally neglected; treated with hostility.
• In 1489, fire destroyed the old church of St. Dymphna in Gheel. The new church, which is still standing, was consecrated in 1532. Every year, on the feast of the saint and on the Tuesday after Pentecost, pilgrims pay visits to her shrine.

Nine Prayers to Saint Dymphna

Faith

• Dear Saint Dymphna, you gave us an example in your own life of firm faith. Neither flattery, earthly rewards nor the threat of death caused you to waver in your fidelity to God. Please help us then, amid the uncertainties of life, to imitate your wholehearted dedication to Christ Be good enough to come to our aid in our need, and pray for us to God. Amen.

Hope

• Good Saint Dymphna, you placed all your hope in Christ's promises, and sacrificed even your life in that hope. The Lord, God, rewarded your constancy by making your name known and loved over many centuries by the thousands whom you have aided in time of difficulty. Please assist us now in our present necessity, and intercede before God for our intentions. Obtain for us a firm hope like your own in God's unfailing protection. Amen.

Charity

• You are celebrated Saint Dymphna, for your goodness to others. Both in your lifetime, and even more in the ages since, you have again and again demonstrated your concern for those who are mentally disturbed or emotionally troubled. Kindly secure for me, then, some measure of your own serene love, and ask our Lord to give us a share in His life and boundless charity. Amen.

Prudence

• You were marked in life, Saint Dymphna, by a high degree of prudence. You sought and followed the advice of your confessor and spiritual guide. You fled from temptation even when it meant exile and poverty. In your last extremity you chose to die rather than offend God. Please help us now by your merits not only to know what is right, but procure for us also the strength to do it. Amen.

Justice

• Admirable Saint Dymphna, how just you were to all whom you encountered, and how careful you were to give every person his due, and more than he might desire or expect. By your power with God please come to assist us to be just to all we meet, and even to be generous in giving everyone more than strict justice requires. Amen.

Temperance

• Generous Saint Dymphna, like all Christ's martyrs you gained this crowning grace because you prepared for it by a life of self denial. By faithfulness in smaller things you were ready for your final trial. Please teach us by your example and help to use the good things of life so that we may not miss our chance for life eternal. Help us, too, to watch and pray for ourselves and others. Amen.
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Fortitude

• Courageous Saint Dymphna, your strength was from God. His grace enabled you to resist evil, and to prefer exile to a life of sinful luxury. Christ's own power preserved you faithful to Him in life and in death. In your kindness help us to imitate your example in little things, and gain for us fortitude to bear with the misfortunes we meet, and strength to overcome our weakness. Amen.

Chastity

• Most pure virgin, Saint Dymphna, we live at a time when many are intent on satisfying every carnal appetite. Your single-minded dedication to Christ alone is providential and inspiring. Please help us by your power with God to see life in proportion as you did. With your aid we propose to perform all our actions for a pure motive, and promptly to resist all our evil inclinations. Amen.

Perseverance

• Most faithful Saint Dymphna, you remained true to your baptismal promises to the very end. You are, therefore, honored, known, and loved after 1,400 years by people you have aided all over the world. We do not know how long or short a time is left to us of this life here, but help us in any case to be faithful to God to the end. Please gain for us the grace to live one day at a time as if each were to be our last. Amen.

Relevant Catechism

Patronage

• Sleepwalkers, mental asylums and hospitals, incest victims, rape victims, the mentally ill, runaways, mental health caregivers, princesses, psychologists and psychiatrists, insanity, possessed people, and epileptics.

Icon and Representation

• There are many depictions of Saint Dymphna. She can be represented as a beheading by a king, or a girl holding a shamrock for Irish heritage, but usually, as crowned maiden and princess holding a sword and lamp, or a sword and a devil on a leash. Yes, our patron saint has Satan on a leash.

Memorial and Feast Day

• 15 May

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