St. Dymphna Song| " Not Alone" | [ Patron Saint of Mental Illness] THE CATHOLIC RAPPER

St. Dymphna (also spelled Dympna) is a 7th-century Irish virgin martyr, often called the Lily of Eire. She is the patron saint of people with mental illness, anxiety, epilepsy, and victims of incest and abuse. Her feast day is May 15 (sometimes listed as May 30). According to the traditional story, Dymphna was the daughter of a pagan Irish chieftain (often named Damon, of Oriel in what is now Northern Ireland) and a devout Christian mother. After they married, her father converted. When Dymphna was still young, her mother died. Grief unhinged him. As Dymphna grew, she looked strikingly like her mother. Around age 14, she was baptized (in some versions secretly) and took a vow of chastity, consecrating herself to Christ. Her father’s counselors told him to remarry someone who resembled his late wife. He turned to his own daughter. Dymphna refused. She fled Ireland with her confessor, the priest Gerebernus (Gerebran), and a few companions. They crossed to the continent, landed near Antwerp, and settled at Geel in present-day Belgium. There, they lived quietly; some accounts say she helped the poor and sick. Her father tracked them down—tradition and says the coins they spent gave them away. He demanded she return and marry him. She refused again. His men killed Fr. Gerebernus. Then Damon himself beheaded Dymphna. She was about 15. The people of Geel buried them. Centuries later, pilgrims came to her tomb seeking healing, especially for mental illness and epilepsy. Geel grew into a place famous for caring for the mentally ill in ordinary homes rather than locking them away. That is a big reason she became the patron of mental health. St. Dymphna, pray for us.