Dymphna

Who they were

Dymphna has been venerated at Gheel in Belgium since before the thirteenth century. Her legend makes her the daughter of a pagan Irish king, who fled with the priest Gerebernus when her father wished to marry her, and was beheaded by him at Gheel.

From time immemorial she has been invoked for the mentally ill, and Gheel became famous for their care. She is in the Roman Martyrology on 15 May.

The miracles

There was never a formal cause: she has been honoured as a saint since before the Church's formal processes began.

Why that counted as sanctity

A virgin martyr, patron of those with mental illness.

Connected on this site

• Aubert of Avranches Saint
  “The life of Dymphna was first recorded in the 13th century by a canon of the Church of Aubert of Avranches at Cambrai, France.” — Wikipedia