Happy Feast Day!

Thanks to Deo gratias for reminding me, via a reply to my Mother's Day post, that today is our patron saint's feast day!

Dymphna was the daughter of a pagan Irish chieftain named Damon and a Christian mother, who raised her in the faith. When she was 14, her mother died. Both Dymphna and Damon mourned their loss. Damon was so torn by grief that his advisors recommended he find another wife to replace the one who had died.

When he realized that none could be found who were as beautiful except his own daughter, he decided to marry her. She was horrified and refused, fleeing with her confessor to Belgium. Her father found her in Gheel and in his rage, he beheaded her.

Dymphna died defending her Christian beliefs in purity. She is the patron saint of mental illness, nervous diseases, incest victims, and runaways. The spot where she was killed became a shrine where her heavenly reputation for curing those with mental illness became quickly known.

Prayer to St. Dymphna
I humbly request you, dear virgin and martyr Dymphna,
to take under your protection
all who are bound to me by ties of blood or friendship.
May all the lives which touch mine
experience the blessings God is pleased to grant
through your intercession.
I now commend to your prayers
all the intentions of my relatives and friends.
Remember also those persons who have asked me to pray for them.
Pray especially for the lonely and forsaken
who have no one to pray for them.

Thank you, dear St. Dymphna, for remembering us all
before our God and Savior.
~Amen~