Madness and cats. These are among the factors you will be deciding upon as you cast today's vote between Dymphna, the patron saint of madness, and Gertrude of Nivelles, the patron saint of cats. But of course the lives of saintly souls are more than the various aspects of life we've appended to them over the years. Which is why people read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest the Lent Madness write-ups before deciding which saint resonates with them on a particular day. That's the joy embedded in the process.
Yesterday, Katharina von Bora defeated Wulfstan 55% to 45% to advance to the Saintly Sixteen. All is not lost for Wulfstan, however. Apparently many Lent Madness voters will be naming their next cats after him.
Dymphna
Dymphna lived in the seventh century and was the daughter of a pagan Irish king and his Christian wife. Her story was passed down for centuries via oral tradition and first written down in the thirteenth century.
At fourteen years old, Dymphna dedicated herself to Christ and took a vow of chastity. Her father, grieving the death of his beautiful wife, began to desire to take Dymphna as his wife. Dymphna fled to Belgium and took refuge in the town of Geel, where she carried out good deeds and acts of mercy until her father tracked her down. He traveled to Geel and tried to force Dymphna to return with him to Ireland, but she resisted. Furious, her father drew his sword and beheaded his fifteen-year-old daughter.
Dymphna’s inspiring legacy has formed the town of Geel into a place of miraculous compassion. In the middle ages, pilgrims traveled from all over Europe to visit the church named in her memory and to seek treatment for the mentally ill. When the church ran out of room to house pilgrims, townspeople opened their own homes. This tradition of care has endured in Geel for more than seven hundred years. Pilgrims and patients are still invited into residents’ homes as boarders and welcomed as valued members of the community. At its peak in the 1930s, Geel’s citizens hosted more than 4,000 boarders.
Saint Dymphna’s feast day is celebrated May 15. She is traditionally shown as a regal princess holding a sword. In modern versions, the sword symbolizes her martyrdom, but in the older statues and stained glass images, she is pricking the neck of a demon with her sword, symbollically slaying the demons of mental disorders.
Saint Dymphna is the patron saint of the mentally ill and those suffering with neurological disorders as well as those who treat such disorders. She is also the patron saint of victims of incest.
Collect for Dymphna
Loving God, who chose Dymphna as patroness of those afflicted with mental and nervous disorders, grant comfort and healing to all who suffer from mental illness and courage and compassion to all those who minister to the mentally ill. May your church take inspiration from her good example, so that like Dymphna and the people of Geel we may open our hearts and lives to those in need, in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Gertrude of Nivelles
Gertrude was born around 626 to two faithful Christians who were also powerful political figures in western Europe. She lived with her family at the royal court. As the daughter of a nobleman, Gertrude was a highly prized potential wife.
Gertrude, however, had other ideas about her life. At a royal feast, the king asked young Gertrude if she would like to marry the son of a duke to secure her family’s good fortune and power. Gertrude is reported to have angrily replied that she would not marry the son of a duke—or any man—but would only be wed to Christ the Lord.
When her father died a decade later, her mother Ida (or Itta) founded and built a double monastery (where men and women served together) in Nivelles in modern-day Belgium. Wealthy widows of the time often established monasteries to protect their children, especially unwed daughters, and their familial lands from seizure should the political powers change. Ida also tonsured her daughter; this act of shaving the head marked Gertrude for religious life and helped stop the constant flow of persistent suitors vying for her hand in marriage—and control of her great fortune and power.
Upon her mother’s death, Gertrude became abbess of the monastery at Nivelles. Under her leadership, the monastery became known as a safe harbor for all travelers. She welcomed pilgrims, monastics, and missionaries as well as their teachings and traditions, inviting guests to teach those in the monastery new chants and to tell stories of Christianity from other lands.
Gertrude remained singularly dedicated to Christ throughout her life. She spent hours devoted to prayer, especially for those who had died. She wore a hairshirt, a shirt made of rough fabric with a layer of animal hair and used for self-mortification. She was buried in her hairshirt and a discarded veil when she died at age 33.
She is often pictured with mice, and gold and silver mice were left as offerings at her shrine in Germany as late as the nineteenth century. Mice often represented souls in purgatory, and Gertrude prayed fervently for those who had died. Legend holds that the souls of those who have died in the Lord spend their first night in heaven with Gertrude as their hostess.
Collect for Gertrude of Nivelles
Gracious God, lover of souls, we give you thanks for Gertrude who singularly dedicated her life to welcoming the traveler and praying for those who have died: Grant that we too may seek to entertain angels unaware and to pray for those who have entered eternal rest, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
[poll id="215"]
306 comments on “Dymphna vs. Gertrude of Nivelles”
Dymphna. She lived only into her teens yet made such a strong impression on the people of Geel that their hospitality to visitors in distress continues to this day. Her support of those with neurological and mental illness is one needed in our world.
Tough vote for me this morning. Risking the wrath of my cats Spitfire and Lion, I went with Dymphna because I wrote my masters thesis on the identification of kids at risk of a certain mental condition-- eating disorders, which coincidentally are often associated with the victims of sexual abuse. Also, I am inspired by the town of Geel!
My vote for Dymphna is actually a vote, by proxy, for the people of Geel. Any town that makes the loving care and treatment of the mentally ill is saintly in my book.
I agree Melanie. Rather than shying away from taking in strangers after the tragedy of Dymphna's killing, it seems to have reinforced a commitment to being hospitable, especially to those who many would turn away from.
I must confess, I didn’t even read Gertrude’s story. Anyone who leaves such a legacy of compassion for people with severe mental illness gets my vote!
While the cats in my house outnumber the dogs, I had to vote for Dymphna. I spent 30 years of my life as a Social Worker and know all too well the impact mental illness has on individuals and families. I never knew that Dymphna was the patron saint of the mentally ill. The dogs were cheering and I am sure with time, the cats will forgive me - after all I feed them.
As a psychiatrist , I must vote for Dymphna. I have spent most of my life caring for the mentally ill. 1% of the world population has schizophrenia, a thought disorder. These were the "crazy" people housed in Bedlam and the state hospitals. Now there is effective treatment. But for thousands of years they were often outcasts and treated cruelly. The town of Geel is very unusual. They welcomed and housed these people. Dymphna is credited with beginning this tradition.
Saint Nivelles, the original crazy cat lady.
I love cats (though the bio didn't explain why Gertrude is their patron)... but I'm allergic to them. And I'm bipolar. So Dymphna gets my vote. I am drawn to Gertrude, though, because she was abbess of a double monastery.
I have to go with the patron saint of the mentally ill and the amazing support she inspired for them in Geel. Would that a similar spirit spread through the world.
I would be glad to see either of these ladies advance. I mean, think of the Saintly Kitsch alone! I went with Dymphna, who can look after crazy cat folk as well as loonies who think cats are evil. The choices today reminded me of this performance by the great Dorothy Loudon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-Bx28L4fhs
Enjoyed that!
I have suffered from what has sometimes been debilitating depression all my life. After the most recent bout, which lasted most of last year, I am so very grateful for two things: my husband’s love and care, and the medication God guided some wonderful researcher to develop. Dear Dympha had neither of these.
I pray for all those around the world who suffer, and I do mean suffer, from mental illness. We, as Americans, will have some ‘splaining to do when the Lord asks us what we did for “the least of these” who sleep on the streets without treatment for their mental illnesses.
So I’m voting for Dympha—haha! Still smarting from Christina the Astonishing’s loss several years ago!
Susan, you might like to read this short story about Christina and her family, which ran in The New Yorker:
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/07/31/christina-the-astonishing-1150-1224
Wonderful!! Thanks, Kate!
Amen, sister. And best wishes to you.
If that’s for me, thank you, Belle.
I too thank Becky for the link to the NPR article. The Wikipedia article on Geel makes the point that the town, way back when, pioneered in the deinstitutionalized care of the mentally ill. So Dymphna, or Sint Dimpna as she is known in Geel, got my vote today despite my loving memory of our sainted cat Vinnie (who is surely in heaven, where there are many mansions).
I voted Dymphna before I saw your post, but thank you for sharing this info. Even more glad now that I voted for her. (I, too, mourn a cat who passed. But he was, in his way, an emotional support cat, so I think he'd understand, in his intuitive kitty way.)
I'm confused about Gertrude. How is she the patron saint of cats, if she was connected to mice? Did somebody pull a switch there? I love cats, and normally would go for that, plus for a woman leader. But the patron saint of mental illness and incest victims totally gets my vote. She is also my nominee for the patron saint of #METOO. I vote Dymphna!
About the cats see https://www.lentmadness.org/2018/02/dymphna-vs-gertrude-of-nivelles/#comment-58254 up above which answers your question.
I have to go with the original "cat lady." I am surprised that the incest story is winning. Both narratives contain accounts of hospitality. But the Dymphna story leaves ambiguous whether it is the father or the daughter who is mentally ill. Gertrude's story emphasizes the power of prayer. (Although perhaps her asceticism with the hair shirt contributed to her early death.) As a side note, I love the icon for Gertrude. Is that a bishop's crozier? I am pleased to see a woman depicted with a symbol of authority. Gertrude for me today.
Hmm — from what do you infer that Dymphna may have been mentally ill? Her response to her father’s advances seems pretty healthy to me.
I am not taking any of these fantastical stories literally. I approach all the incest/virgin material with some degree of skepticism. My response to the Dymphna story was to think about it in Freudian terms as fantasy. There's the literal level, where Dymphna's father is "grieving his beautiful wife" (and Talking Heads music starts to play in my brain: "This is not my beautiful wife!"), and his incestuous desire is a replacement fantasy. Dymphna flees. But there is a second level, at which she is enacting the Oedipal fantasy and wants to replace her "beautiful" mother with herself. Now, her flight is a maladaptive response, because it doesn't involve a mature renunciation of the parent as object; instead it involves a rejection of all possible objects. Hence, my response that the locus of mental illness here is ambiguous. Of course, I could be reading way too much into this. The fun of the story could simply be that somebody somewhere gets their head cut off! That leads me to the Lacanian theory of castration . . .
Me, too. I'm not a cat person. Dymphna all the way.
New to me--thanks!
"like" "like"
Consider this, if you will, St. C: In keeping with your original rationale for saint-choosing, would Dymphna not be your choice for her advocacy of those who are mentally ill? Not to suggest that the only good response to gun violence is to blame it all on the mentally ill--I would never throw my peeps in that black hole. But it does happen that some gun deaths are attributable in part (always in part, because the biggest problem is the damn guns) to inadequate care for a mentally ill person.
But I have to give you credit for the Freudian fantasy analysis....
Fascinating! And I concur with your summations of the mental illness/Dymphna connections.
That happened last year--it's St. Roch. I think he was supposed to square off with this Gertrude, but the wrong St. Gertrude ended up on the bracket (not naming any names!).
Spectacular theorizing! I could never have framed it, but I get it.
But then, what of generic vows of chastity? Which Dymphna’s may have been, as she reportedly made her vow before her mother’s death which, according to the story, was the cause of her father’s incestuous attachment. But I already know what you’re thinking about that disingenuously naïve interpretation.
Hmmm, can someone be BOTH "disingenous" AND "naif"? ha ha just messing with you.
I had not thought that her vow of chastity was the cause of her father's "desire" for her. In that case, that's simple perversity. He wants something simply because he can't have it. If I were Dymphna, I would simply substitute something else that he couldn't have but wanted more, such as money. I would invite him to the window and say, hey look, dad, there goes Paul Ryan with $500,000 in cash donations from the Koch brothers. He says you can't have any of it. But I thought you were the king and could tax Paul Ryan. And then I would simply leave two power-hungry men to have at it.
Disclaimer: names in this narrative are fictional and do not bear any resemblance to actual human beings. Allegory for spiritual insight only.
I like where you're going with this, Sweet Lee from Georgia! Certainly Cruz, the shooter in Parkland, FL, was mentally ill. That seems clear from all news accounts. Also the man who shot Gabby Gifford. I am, like you, highly reluctant to settle the analysis on mental illness. In terms of my "touchpoint" for votes during this year's Lent Madness, gun violence, I find I am interested in those saints who instituted structural reform. What "we" need (in the US) is structural reform: political, social, and economic. My view is that justice is the criterion for all these issues; gun violence along with taxation, enfranchisement, education, racial and gender equity should be viewed through the lens of justice. That means taxing the NRA as a lobbying agency. It means extending voting rights to felons. It means removing ICE from schools and hospitals. It means a rejection of gerrymandering. It means overturning Citizens United. Neither of today's saints really gets at the issue of "justice" per se. But I think Gertrude's institutional savviness is promising. I thank you for your canny pushing; you are making me a better judge of saintliness! Someday when I am a real saint, I will remember that "you discerned my thoughts from afar"!
Yes ma'am, let it roll down like water!
pooh pooh!
At least no one has yet admitted to voting for her because she was Irish . . . .
This is a relief! 🙂
Well, so much for that: see Joyce at 1:06 pm.
Hey, what have y’all got against the Irish?! 😉
lol! I'm way more fascinated with all the "I hate cats, dogs rule" posts. If only I could figure out a rudimentary "cat scratch" emoji in simple text.
It’# the bagpipes, mostly.
What's not to like about cats? But I found Dymphna to be more interesting.
Agree: interesting and still significant. I'll never forget John's and my stay in Geel, where the mentally challenged mingled in the market place and shops and on the streets with the rest of the residents and nobody seemed to notice that they were "different."
Three zingers, thank you James!
It’s quite reasonable to pray for protection from one’s cats.
I meant that the mother’s death caused the father’s distemper, but your trope to the effect that maybe it was the vow that put him over the edge opens up another fantasy world.
This exchange is a riot.
There’s a pretty exhaustive article on this point that comes down on the side of “painted, not written,” but not all the commentators on the article agree. See http://orthodoxhistory.org/2010/06/08/icons-are-not-written/ for a lively debate.
For me, anything made with paint is painted. That’s a physical description and ought to be indisputable. There may also be a spiritual level at which an icon is said to be written, but that doesn’t unpaint it. Sort of like our Eucharistic theology: becoming Christ’s body doesn’t stop its being bread.
Elizabeth, I think I remember you and John writing about this, or talking about it!
The cats! What about the cats? You mention them in the intro, but Gertrude’s biographer omitted the cats ! How can people vote without full disclosure? I call for a Do Over!!
Dymphna's legay also is to provide hospitality and comfort to the stranger in our midst but with the special feature of welcome to those who are different or appear strange to us. I am disappointed by all of the focus on cats.
{{big virtual hug}} Go with God.
#MeToo so I had to vote for Dymphna.
Incest survivor and clinically depressed person here. She is now absolutely one of my personal patron saints.
But what about the cat ???!!!
Can you vote for St. Dymphna and the cat if you are a crazy cat lady?
Just think of how much less violent America would be if we had more compassion for those with mental illness, and we opened up our hearts and homes to people from foreign soil.
These two women of faith were both new to me. I voted for Gertrude because "under her leadership, the monastery became known as a safe harbor for all travelers" - we need more of this kind of open-heartedness - I've been a pilgrim and experienced this firsthand, so I greatly appreciate this about her!
An interesting side note there is actually a fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm about a princess whose father fell in love with her she escaped and became a servent at another castle. The tale could of been influenced by Dymphna's story possibly?
I'm having some cognitive dissonance about the cat thing. If Gertrude loved and prayed for souls in Purgatory, represented as mice, the last thing she would want is a cat to torment them. SEC, how about giving us a real cat person to vote for?
As an Irish-American with multiple sclerosis, I long to vote for Dynphna, the Irish patron saint of peopke with neurological disorders. But Gertrude's practice of inviting guests to teach about their cultures and chants won my vote.
Having worked in the field of community mental health for many years, I must vote for Dympna. Hospitality is in short supply for many who face the challenge of emotional pain.
It doesn't hurt that my birthday is May 15.
You made this a tough one SEC! As someone who works in the mental health field Dymphna was mighty tempting, but I have been BEGGING the SEC for YEARS to include Gertrude of Nivelles. Isn’t she the patron saint of gardens and gardner’s as well? And why no mention about the cats in the write up? C’mon, we’ve got some stiff (and extremely worthy) saintly competition here!!!
I found this pair to be more challenging to decide upon. Previous contenders featured men who were facilitators versus women with personal revelations.
Dymphna. Dogs rule! Woof!
Hm. I really found it difficult to connect with the story of either saint, but I had to choose one. Dymphna gets the nod for her dedication to serving the people of Geel before her martyrdom, and for her legacy of service that endured to modern times. Question- where does the cat come in, if Gertrude prayed for souls in purgatory, which were represented by mice? Seems a bit counterintuitive to me, since cats eat mice!
Gertrude should not be a saint. Self motification should not be encouraged. I do not believe that God would have approved.
Yeah, that hair shirt thing definitely rubbed me the wrong way, too!