Dymphna

St. Dymphna with sword (altarpiece of the church at Steinhof)

The Holy. Dymphna (also Dimpna , Dymfna , Dimfna , Dympna and Dympha ) is the patron saint of the mentally ill. The veneration of saints goes back to a discovery of the bones of a man and a woman at Geel in Belgium in the 13th century, which led to the revival of an oral tradition. This became the basis of the vita recorded by Canon Pierre in Saint-Aubert on behalf of the Bishop of Cambrai , Guy I. de Laon . However, no historical value is assigned to the vita. Dymphna was ascribed an Irish descent. In the 19th century it was therefore specifically linked to the Irish saint Damhnad from Tedavnet (a townland in County Monaghan ). However, this connection has been proven to be false.

Dymphna a sanctuary was established in Geel, which mainly attracted the mentally ill who were brought into contact with their relics. Between two buttresses of the south wall of the nave of this church there are insane cells that were built in the 16th or 17th centuries.

Life

According to the Vita written in the 13th century, St. Dymphna was probably born in the 7th century as the daughter of a pagan king in Ireland or England and died in Geel near Antwerp . Dymphna fled with the priest Gerebernus across the English Channel to Belgium to escape her father, whom she wanted to marry after her mother's death. After the discovery of her whereabouts, her father beheaded her together with the priest Gerebernus. This resulted in some of the Witnesses regaining their sanity, making her the patroness of the mentally ill.

iconography

The martyrdom of Dymphna, the priest Gerebernus and a loyal one in a stained glass from around 1895 by the Mayer'schen Hofkunstanstalt in St. Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh

Dymphna is portrayed as the king's daughter, as a hermit with the devil, with Gerebernus or at martyrdom. It is depicted on the altarpiece of the Steinhof church belonging to the Steinhof Hospital by Otto Wagner in Vienna . In this depiction, she wears a sword as a symbol of her decapitation.

Remembrance day

Her feast day is May 15th.

literature

Ekkart Sauser : Dympna. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Volume 21, Bautz, Nordhausen 2003, ISBN 3-88309-110-3 , Sp. 347-348. ( Article / beginning of article in Internet archive )
Dieter Jetter: Basics of the history of the madhouse. Darmstadt 1981, pp. 3-5.
Magdalena Frühinsfeld: A short outline of psychiatry. In: Anton Müller. First insane doctor at the Juliusspital in Würzburg: life and work. A short outline of the history of psychiatry up to Anton Müller. Medical dissertation Würzburg 1991, p. 9–80 ( Brief outline of the history of psychiatry ) and 81–96 ( History of psychiatry in Würzburg to Anton Müller ), here: p. 20 f.

Remarks

^ ^A ^b ^c Ruben D. Rumbaut: Saints and Psychiatry . In: Journal of Religion and Health . tape 15 , no. 1 , 1976, p. 54-61 , 54-56 , JSTOR : 27505329 .
↑ ^a ^b Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John: The Penguin Dictionary of Saints . 3. Edition. Penguin, London 1995, ISBN 0-14-051312-4 , pp. 109-110 .
^ ^A ^b ^c James Francis Kenney : The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical . 2nd Edition. Four Courts Press, Dublin 1997, ISBN 1-85182-115-5 , pp. 510 .
^ ^A ^b David Farmer: Oxford Dictionary of Saints . 5th edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0 , pp. 155 .
^ Pádraig Ó Riain: A Dictionary of Irish Saints . Four Courts Press, Dublin 2011, ISBN 978-1-84682-318-3 , pp. 256-257 .
↑ Kevin V. Mulligan: South Ulster: The Counties of Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan (= The Buildings of Ireland ). Yale University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-300-18601-7 , pp. 113 . According to the inscription at the bottom of the stained glass, the window was donated in 1895.
^ LHD van Looveren: Dymphna von Gheel . In: Lexicon of Christian Iconography . tape 6 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1974, ISBN 3-451-22568-9 , p. 102 .

personal data
SURNAME	Dymphna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Dimpna; Dymfna; Dimfna; Dympna
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Saint and patroness of the mentally ill
DATE OF BIRTH	7th century
PLACE OF BIRTH	Ireland or England
DATE OF DEATH	7th century or 8th century
Place of death	Geel near Antwerp

[Rumbaut-1] A ^b ^c Ruben D. Rumbaut: Saints and Psychiatry . In: Journal of Religion and Health . tape 15 , no. 1 , 1976, p. 54-61 , 54-56 , JSTOR : 27505329 .

[Penguin-2] Donald Attwater and Catherine Rachel John: The Penguin Dictionary of Saints . 3. Edition. Penguin, London 1995, ISBN 0-14-051312-4 , pp. 109-110 .

[Kenney-3] A ^b ^c James Francis Kenney : The Sources for the Early History of Ireland: Ecclesiastical . 2nd Edition. Four Courts Press, Dublin 1997, ISBN 1-85182-115-5 , pp. 510 .

[Farmer-4] A ^b David Farmer: Oxford Dictionary of Saints . 5th edition. Oxford University Press, Oxford 2003, ISBN 978-0-19-860949-0 , pp. 155 .

[5] Pádraig Ó Riain: A Dictionary of Irish Saints . Four Courts Press, Dublin 2011, ISBN 978-1-84682-318-3 , pp. 256-257 .

[6] Kevin V. Mulligan: South Ulster: The Counties of Armagh, Cavan and Monaghan (= The Buildings of Ireland ). Yale University Press, 2013, ISBN 978-0-300-18601-7 , pp. 113 . According to the inscription at the bottom of the stained glass, the window was donated in 1895.

[7] LHD van Looveren: Dymphna von Gheel . In: Lexicon of Christian Iconography . tape 6 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1974, ISBN 3-451-22568-9 , p. 102 .