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.
Dymphna vs. Gertrude of Nivelles
- Dymphna (58%, 4,488 Votes)
- Gertrude (42%, 3,288 Votes)
Total Voters: 7,776
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Cats! Gotta go w/ Gertrude
I think cats are great but that is not why I voted for Gertrude. They both dedicated themselves to God early and gave up human pleasures. But Gertrude welcomed Christians of all beliefs and asked them to share their beliefs which is something not common at all in most of the houses of worship I have read about. This is an example of knowing God speaks many tongues and our minds should always be open to hear so we may understand the differences and through the fog see the basic messages of faith.
Anyway that is why I voted for her this day.
Pat, I have to admit I voted for Gertrude solely on the cats, but I love what you wrote about your vote.
Ditto!
Thank You Pat for your wonderfully written comments. That’s why I voted for her too.
I completely agree with you Pat. Thank you for being so articulate. I’d like to add that there is as little connection made between Dymphna and mental illness, as there is between Gertrude and cats, but at least the iconography dates further back!
Dymphna is also patron of incest victims. I spent much of my career listening to their stories and God knows Dymphna certainly knew more than the average peron about incest in families. And we would say her father certainly experienced a form of mental illness as an incestuous pedaphile.
Gertrude is saintly but I must have misread it if the foreign tales told were about other faiths. It sounded like those tales were about how Christianity is practiced in other lands.
Go Dymphna! We need a patron for the suffering victims of incest and mental illness.
My thoughts exactly
I think Dymphna is definitely the one, especially this past year with the #Metoo movement and the disclosures of so many women who have suffered from abuse.
My sister, Kirsten, passed away (cancer) nearly eight years ago. Kirsten had been sexually, emotionally, and mentally abused from a very young age. She was also mentally challenged, becoming bi-polar. I’m a year younger than her, and I looked up to her, she was my best friend. By the time I was seven years old, I realized I had a more mature understanding of what had been happening and I tried to protect her, to skirt her away from her abusers. Unfortunately, they were my abusers, too, and Kirsten and I lost hold of each other. The day of her funeral services, was also the first day that I was hospitalized, near death, undergoing intense chemotherapy. Kirsten was dancing at the foot of my bed, smiling, and assuring me that we really hadn’t lost hold of each other, that it wasn’t my time to come home.
Kirsten loved cats, so I wanted to cast my vote for both Gertrude and Dymphna. Dymphna, Gertrude, and Kirsten. My vote was for Dymphna, as my sister’s proxy.
That is exactly what swayed my vote!
Amen, sister!
Pat, my thoughts exactly. Thank you for sharing.
Why is she holding a cat if she is the patron of mice?
i was wondering the same thing. I thought Julian of Norwich was the patron saint of Cats…. since she fed them…. talked to them. …. So, I agree with Patricia Nakamura in wondering how we jumped from cats to mice….
Cats are very good at finding lost mice.
My sister, Kirsten, passed away (cancer) nearly eight years ago. Kirsten had been sexually, emotionally, and mentally abused from a very young age. She was also mentally challenged, becoming bi-polar. I’m a year younger than her, and I looked up to her, she was my best friend. By the time I was seven years old, I realized I had a more mature understanding of what had been happening and I tried to protect her, to skirt her away from her abusers. Unfortunately, they were my abusers, too, and Kirsten and I lost hold of each other. The day of her funeral services, was also the first day that I was hospitalized, near death, undergoing intense chemotherapy. Kirsten was dancing at the foot of my bed, smiling, and assuring me that we really hadn’t lost hold of each other, that it wasn’t my time to come home.
Kirsten loved cats, so I wanted to cast my vote for both Gertrude and Dymphna. Dymphna, Gertrude, and Kirsten.
I agree – wondered about the cat…because she is often pictured with mice?
Yes, this is also why I voted for Gertrude.
Fascinating matchup: two strong young women for whom devotion to Jesus involved avoiding getting married, geographically attached to seventh century Belguim. Nicely done, SEC!
Except they never said why cats are important to Gertrude.
Thank you bi thought I was the only one who never saw the word cats in her story. So what exactly do cats have to do with her story?
If you have mice, you need to have cats!
There are several internet sites which talk of Gertrude’ s connection with cats, but usually only to say that she and the nuns kept cats to wage war with rodents. If you wish to read an interesting article go to Catster.com, which includes a prayer to her.
Of course I had to vote for a saint with an affinity for the four-legged and/or winged creatures.
Where do the cats come in?
I voted for Dymphna because she started the tradition of letting people into their homes.
I’m with you today Oliver.
Agreed! I appreciate the spirit of hospitality and generosity that Dymphna inspires.
Oscar, this is why I voted for her also. I think this what Jesus would do, and since I am a travel agent the sense of open hospitality to strangers touches me.
I did too, Oliver… although I liked Gertrude and the cats
I voted for Dymphna because she is the patron saint of those who suffer from mental disorders. As a priest who once served as a chaplain at a psychiatric hospital, this is my vote.
Good point, Oliver. Your insights are keen.
I voted for Gertrude because she herself let many people of diverse opinions into her monastery, which could be considered a house of God.
Good on you Oliver. Dymphna gets my vote too!
I agree, Oliver. I like Gertrude’s hospitality and her interest in the beliefs of others.
Agree with Ann– love cats so Gertrude is my choice. But, you didn’t explain why / how she is the patron saint of cats???? Seems more like she should be patron saint of mice, although no explanation for that either. Come on, guys — give it up!
The writer did not mention what Gertrude’s shirt was made of…
Mariclaire,
You’re not suggesting cat hair, are you?
Yes. Yes I was.
No outfit is complete without a layer of cat hair.
I think cat hair is probably too short to spin into thread. Even longhairs don’t have fibers that long. Dog hair can be spun but cat hair would have to be felted (like dryer lint) and wouldn’t be very durable.
That said, my look is usually “White Cat Black Jacket” — all of my clothes are liberally decorated with cat hair!
It comes from her position as protector against rats and mice and all the harm they bring. It may also be linked to her veneration as one of two patron saints of sailors (Nicholas is the other), sailors being long-time fans of cats against bugs and mice on ships.
Maybe we’ll hear more about her connection to cats in the Saintly 16 round.
Mental Floss has this to say. “Because of her reputation for hospitality, Gertrude was originally the patron saint of travelers and the recently dead (who were seen as making their own form of journey) as well as gardeners and the mentally ill. But as the centuries wore on, she also became associated with rodents. The link may have involved early Christian beliefs: Gertrude was known to pray for the souls of those in purgatory, and medieval artists often portrayed those souls as mice. Gertrude’s iconography—the items in a painting or statue that told illiterate people who the saint was—always included mice or rats at her feet, climbing up her robes, or climbing the crozier that symbolized her role as an abbess.
The connection between Gertrude and rodents became solidified as veneration of her spread throughout northern Europe, and little silver or gold statues of mice were left at a shrine to her in Cologne as late as 1822. By then, she had become the saint one asked to intercede in the case of a rodent infestation; it was said that the water from her abbey’s well would chase away rats and mice. In the past few decades, faithful Catholics (and cat lovers) have made the leap from associating Gertrude with warding off mice to associating her with cats. The idea seems to have started in the 1980s, more than 1300 years after she lived. Some sources say the first publication to link Gertrude and cats was a 1981 catalog, Metropolitan Cats, put out by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Since then, the idea that Gertrude is the patron of cats—and cat owners—has spread. As saint expert Thomas J. Craughwell explains it, “St. Gertrude … is invoked against mice and rats, which has led cat lovers to assume that Gertrude was a cat person, and so the ideal patron of their favorite pet.” There are now many icons and paintings of her with a cat.”
The Catholic Church has never officially recognized St. Gertrude as the patron saint of cats. It’s interesting to see how this progressed.
Thank you for that! I was wondering…
Thanks!
So is the icon above from after the 1980’s? I agree that it’s interesting how this story has grown, and I bet those mice of hers wouldn’t like it at all!
Thank you for sharing the excellent clarification! Interesting that Gertrude’s status re cats is pretty much bogus.
Thanks for the explanation, Michelle. My vote is for Gertrude as I am indeed a ‘crazy cat lady’ and have a little statue and prayer of her.
I was hoping to find some medieval images in our Index of Medieval Art that would track the cat iconography further back, and while I ran into many late medieval manuscripts showing Gertrude with one or more mice, I didn’t see even one cat. At least artistically, it seems to be a thoroughly modern thing. But Gertrude gets my vote anyway; any friend of cats is a friend of mine.
I too don’t understand where the cats came from, mice maybe
I love the way the mice come and appeal to Gertrude! I used to handle them in some experiments, and mice are cute.
Romeow implored me to vote this way…
I find neither particularly compelling and will abstain from voting today.
Agree. I think you guys are getting desperate in your search for deserving saints.
Not really because we are getting to know other saintly folks from throughout the ages who are also good examples of faith and commitment!
I agree, Carol. While I enjoy learning, I wonder — Are the Supremes reaching a bit too much this year? Previous years seems to have had more depth than some of the choices in this year’s competition. Can we submit suggestions for next year? Just asking.
I hear that you can do so during Eastertide. I’m sure information about how to do so will appear on the website at that time.
Nominationtide seems to be missing from the on-line Glossary. According to the Scorecard, it’s a week in Eastertide, dates undefined (a moveable feast). I guess we should watch the Web site.
Publication is on All Bracket’s Day, November 3.
The ‘far reaches’ are one of the main reasons I enjoy Lent Madness. Imagining how I would explain Dymphna or Gertrude on my coffee mug is one of my Lenten disciplines. : )
In past years I would look for places to donate even a small amount for each saint I voted for, to add depth and (I hope) faithful action to the fun eg Henry Budd College or Li Tim-Oi Foundation.
For Gertrude and her redeemed rodents I think I’d go with the Hero Rats of Apopo.org (not a put-on – they do serious work.)
I love this idea! Thank you!
Excellent idea! Penciling that in as a Lenten devotion idea for next year. Thanks!
Every yesr we are given an opportunity to submit the names of saints we would like to see on the bracket. I submitted Constance (from antiquity) and learned about a modern day Constance I had never even heard about prior to Lent Madness.
Both of the candidates today are patron saints of the mentally disturbed. I wonder if that is part of the reason for the negativity to these candidates. There has always been a reluctance to deal with the affairs of the mentally ill.
Gertrude and Dymphna are both people who had heroic levels of faith, albeit in different ways. to say these are “not compelling” is puzzling. If we truly believe that a saint who gives her life rather than submit to evil is “not compelling,” maybe our society really does deserve to fall.
And I think that the brackets tend to score a the vote towards women…guess I am a sore loser, I mean, who would vote against Paul?.
My rector, for one.
And Paul ran against Peter.
Please check out the NPR article about the town in Belgium. I don’t know how or I would paste the URL. Also, there is the concept in both stories of radical hospitality.
I’d heard of Geel’s profoundly kind attitude towards the mentally ill before I found Lent Madness – what a wonderful legacy for Dymphna to get credit for!
I finally voted for Dymphna, although, like William Osborne, I didn’t find either especially compelling. This year’s bracket is rather strange, a mixture of heavy hitters and people whose stories appear to be pious fables, along with the more usual suspects. Yes, Emily, we can submit suggestions for next year, in November as I recall. For several years I have suggested Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, who is in the Episcopal list of Holy Women, Holy Men, and Fred Rogers, who is generally considered a saint by all who knew him or knew of him. Maybe some year one of them will make it.
The Postal Service is putting out a Fred Rogers stamp very soon.
Just sayin’
My mother, a very faithful woman, suffered terribly with mental illness. Dymphna’s father was clearly suffering with something as well. Anyone with compassion for the mentally ill has my vote, she doesn’t feel like a stretch for a saint at all.
I totally agree, Jennifer. I didn’t hesitate for a second in voting for Dymphna for that reason; she seems entirely worthy and important to me.
Both women have compelling stories and I like Oliver’s comment but I voted for Gertrude because “Legend holds that the souls of those who have died in the Lord spend their first night in heaven with Gertrude as their hostess.” Also, patron saint of cats and my Chloe and Roxanne would be upset with me if I didn’t vote for their patron saint. 🙂
Cats are evil! Got to vote for Dymphna
My lifelong relationship with numerous felines suggests otherwise; as a practical matter, cats helped protect grain stores and help prevent spread of bubonic plague. The European pandemic was caused in part by people deciding cats were the devil’s disciples and killing their best protector.
As one who suffers from depression it’s tempting to go for Dymphna but Gertrude seems to have benefited the most people. Cats helpedso I guess it’s Gertrude!
Where do the cats come in?
Usually wherever they please. Unless the door is securely closed.
LOL pHil
That was supposed to be a laughing cat emoji.
Ha!!!
Dymphna because dogs rule
No, no, no. Cats rule…dogs drool.
All Dogs Go to Heaven No cats will.
Both cats and dogs will end up in Heaven – but as Billy Collins notes at the end of his excellent poem “The Revanant”:
Now I am free of the collar,
the yellow raincoat, monogrammed sweater,
the absurdity of your lawn,
and that is all you need to know about this place
except what you already supposed
and are glad it did not happen sooner–
that everyone here can read and write,
the dogs in poetry, the cats and the others in prose.
New to me–thanks!
Dogs remind us of God’s unconditional love for us.
Cats keep us humble about it.
Loke
Me, too. I’m not a cat person. Dymphna all the way.
it came down to the cats. I won’t be disappointed if Dymphna bests Gertrude, but being someone who lives with four cats . . .
This was a tough one. Both strong women for their time, showing radical hospitality: one by caring for others in need, one by opening her heart to how Christianity is practiced around the globe. We need both their examples today. I ended up voting for Gertrude in honor of all those I was blessed by on a trip to south India. I miss the rich liturgical language!
Hmm… patron saint of madness vs patron saint of cats — for whom is a crazy cat lady supposed to vote?!
*like*
“like” “like”
My relationship with my beautiful tabby friend Oliver Twist and I can best be described as mutual ownage. As a cat person, I briefly considered voting for Gertrude. However, if there is anyone who needs a patron saint, it is the person who is mentally ill! And the person who has been sexually abused by a relative! I have struggled with depression much of my life. In addition, I have friends and relatives who suffer from various forms of mental illness. So Dymphna it is!
I voted for Dymphna for my mother who is mentally ill
Travelers were cared for, plus my 3 furry friends say vote for Gertrude!
I don’t understand how a woman who did just about everything she could to protect herself should be the patron saint of mental illness etc.
I do like that she resisted unto death.
I do like that because of her life incest is discussed.
And I love what the town has done, how they have lived her legacy.
I do not like that Gertrude’s family’s involvement with the church was akin to a tax shelter. Nice for the church.
Guess who I voted for.
I agree that there’s got to be a saint better suited as patron saint for the mentally ill than Damphne.
But, regarding Gertrude, she wore a hair shirt, for goodness sake! She could have led a life of luxury. Anyhow, let’s not get into taxes.
I would find it hard to vote for anyone who wore a hair shirt, as I consider that sort of asceticism or masochism, or whatever it is, an unfortunate strain in Christianity.
How timely considering the me too movement.
The crozier Gertrude is holding also indicated the extraordinary rank she held in the church at that time. She headed the monasteries of men and women, was able to provide the sacramental needs of her monks and nuns – and her monasteries brewed beer and sold it to support themselves so she is also honored by beer drinkers. Maybe that’s what we get to drink our first night in heaven! I have a brass rubbing from her tomb in Nivelle. In it, she has her eyes focused on Christ in the arms of Mary while demons gnaw at her robes. She is ignoring them completely.
This may sway my vote toward Gertrude as I’m a home brewer.
I’d rather have a chilled glass of prosecco!
Had to go with Dymphna today — her legacy is amazing. Great piece on NPR done about the town of Geel and the legacy of caring for the mentally ill https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/484083305/for-centuries-a-small-town-has-embraced-strangers-with-mental-illness
Thanks for that link, Becky. That was a very interesting read.
This is one of my favorite podcast episodes of all time. As a mother of two neurodiverse to children, I was deeply impacted by this town’s understanding and embrace of mental differences.
I think the there is a beautiful and natural honoring of Dymphna in the tradition this town has preserved. They honor her bravery in the face of the violence and betrayal of incest by protecting the mentally different from the violence and betrayal this world often offers them.
Dymphna is strong, and her legacy is deeply moving. I want to be like Dymphna.
Thanks for sharing this, Becky. What a great story and great tradition. I am the mom of a young adult who has high functioning autism who has had his share of struggles over the years. It’s Dymphna for me!
Thanks for this, Becky! It changed my vote.
Can’t decide between the two, as they both seem equally good and useful and put upon by male dominated society. Therefore, I picked Gertrude since I am not a cat person and therefore are not picking her for her affinity with a type of animal. Indeed, I am a bird person.
We need this saint more now than ever.
“Saint Dymphna is the patron saint of the mentally ill and those suffering with neurological disorders as well as those who treat such disorders.”
Amen.
Gertrude: with darling orange tabby. We cat lovers always wear hair shirts as a sign of our devotion. Proof of the existence of God is most easily seen on the elegant design of a cat.
Hairshirt—now that’s funny!
I’ve been waiting to vote for Dymphna seemingly all my life. I was in a musical in high school with a lyric about her. But also, as cute and fun as the patron saint of cats may be, Dymphna is a model of the care we should be giving the mentally ill but too often are not.
Which musical?
Cats!
No kidding! I’ll have to do some research on that!
Dymphna because mental illness plagues so many. I worked my way through college and grad school working with the mentally ill and in mental hospitals. Their suffering is so hard. Anyone who cares for them or loves someone with mental illness can use all the support they can get. So, it was Dymphna form me today.
Looks like yet another close one.
Dymphna is still making a difference. To this day, the town is still welcoming the mentally ill into their homes. What a testament to the impact of Dympha’s ministry of care and acceptance. In 1930 there were 4,000 mentally ill boarding in homes in this community.
Here is a link to the story from NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/484083305/for-centuries-a-small-town-has-embraced-strangers-with-mental-illness
So many of societies ills are exacerbated by the lack of adequate and compassionate mental health care. Dymphna pray for us!!!
As someone who is a member of NAMI (the National Alliance on Mental Illness), I definitely support Dymphna. As a pastoral intern on a psychiatric unit I shared her story. The patients there were very surprised to learn there was a patron saint for those suffering with mental health concerns!
I’ve known decades of depression and various neurological conditions in my own life, and I’ve known many people with similar afflictions who have sought Dymphna’s intercession. This was, for once, an easy choice.
Gertrude was actually a pretty impressive person; standing up against political and masculine powers pretty much her whole life, defending a lot of non-empowered people, and setting her niece up as her successor, thus also saving her niece from being a mere pawn in the machinations of others. Just sayin’.
It was very hard not to vote for Gertrude as my little 19 and a half year old cat died last Friday, and I love too that Gertrude is said to care for souls who are spending their first night in heaven, but I was so moved that Dymphna’s tradition of taking in the stranger and the pilgrim has endured for so long. Also it is certain that those amongst us who suffer from mental dis-ease need a strong ally in times like these. Dymphna for me.
I’m sorry about your cat. Nineteen and a half is a long life, though.
Well, this faked me out. As a cat-lover I was all for Gertrude until I learned that her cats were directed to catch mice representing poor souls in Purgatory. And my career in health science included a long stretch in the National Institute of Neurological Disoeders and Stroke.
So gertrude is the saint of cats because of the mice? I’m a bit confused but voted for her anyway.
Dymphna is the #metoo saint of Lent Madness. She gets my vote.
I couldn’t have said it better! Though I love cats, St. Dymphna has been my favorite saint for many years. I prefer to think of her as the patron saint of PTSD, since her “mental illness” was actually forced on her by traumatic mistreatment.
Elaine – love your comment. #metoo saint.
The cats have it, though I liked the fact that townspeople invite pilgrims into their houses.
Unfortunately, I also agree with the comments about the choice of candidates this year and also the way they have been paired.
Never heard of either of these ladies but incest victim Dympha’s story needs to be told in our # metoo moment and her compassion for the mentally ill embraced.
Cats — why? Because she prayed for the mice?
Scroll up to https://www.lentmadness.org/2018/02/dymphna-vs-gertrude-of-nivelles/#comment-58254 and you’ll find the answer to your question.
Thanks.
Both were worthy of a vote. Dymphna truly suffered and was a martyr.
Another close one
As a lover of cats I have to vote for Gertrude…plus I love her name!
These two obscure and legendary 7th-century figures are perplexing indeed. It would be very helpful to know why Gertrude is the patron saint of cats, and why Dymphna is the patron saint of people with mental illnesses. I’m personal staff to four cats, and have been priest and friend to many dear people whose family lives have been traumatized by severe mental illness … but exactly what does this have to do with Gertrude and Dymphna?
I will vote for Dymphna, because, like a victim of abuse who is close to me, she turned her horrible experience into support for the less fortunate. Her inspiration of the town of Geel is – well, inspiring!
The NPR story of Beel did it for me. Thanks very much for sharing the link; the bloggers’ posts are of necessity so short!
Geel, I mean!
Greetings. This is my second year traveling through Lent wit Lent Madness. Thanks to everyone!
What a tough decision today! Thank you for our brothers and sisters stories which remind me that our struggles aren’t all that different from theirs, and that they over oamenthe world and so shall we.
Alice
I meant “overcame the world”
I voted for Gertrude, then realised that one of my mousers is called Gertie! I think I have been on the losing side in all but two rounds….
Abstained.
Gertrude lived a full life, dedicated to God. A good reason to vote for her. Reason #2: she is pictured holding an orange tabby cat, just like my beloved kitten Boris. Reason #3: I had a grand aunt named Gertrude.
In our day, we need Dymphna supporting those with mental illness more than we need the patron saint of cats! (I love my cats. I do. But IMHO, they do not need a patron saint.)
I am familiar with Dymphna as my sister suffered from an intellectual disability since birth and my Irish mother had St. Dymphna prayer cards all around…Dymphna was like a member of the family. She gets my vote (and my cat will just have to deal with it).
(And my cat will just have to deal with it) As I’m sure, your cat says…as s/he leaves you that ever so loverly HAIrBall for you to find at the most inopportune (sp?) moment!
I’m pretty sure my cat relishes giving me something else to do at his command!
I was going to go with Gertrude (and her crozier) (AND her cat!) but read the NPR article cited above and have to go with Dymphna. Note that in that article her father is described as insane, which may be the connection to mental illness that seemed to be missing in her short bio above. Yes, I too and a crazy cat lady, so the choice was hard.
The real miracle of Gertrude is how much was accomplished in her short life. She must have been perhaps 13 when the king asked her if she would marry the son of a duke. That would make her 23 when her father died. Her mother then had to build a whole double monastery , and then die, making Gertrude’s time as abbess before she too died less than 10 years, a very short time to make a large enough difference to be remembered almost 1400 years later. This would seem impossible without the addition of martyrdom. Is there more to the story?
These gals have very similar stories, which made it hard to choose. I was going to vote for Gertrude as I already knew her story, but after reading Dymphna’s story I thought of the “Me Too” movement and decided to vote for her. Her father’s behavior made me angry.
good point + “her” collect is beautiful . . . however, I think I’ll vote for Gertrude, who lived a little longer & had a little more opportunity to struggle with life
From one cat lady to another…..Gertrude!
Dymphna gets my vote as I see and read about too many homeless people on the streets with a sizable number suffering from varied types of mental illness. Unfortunally, there are few agencies, or not enough, to care for them and the city never has enough funding. The ACLU may not have been the best answer to ending institutionalization of the mentally ill. The cats can fend for themselves today !
I could have gone either way for different reasons, but I did find it curious that cats were left out of the Gertrude write-up…even though the image has a cat in her arms. Had to do my own research on that one and found it has a tie-in with the mice. Apparently, she kept a lot of cats around to deal with the real mice problem at her monastery. I guess she was fine with their symbolic representation as the souls in purgatory, but wasn’t too keen on having them run amok and spread disease. Can’t blame her for that!
Thanks Susan, I was wondering about that!
You’re welcome! I thought it was a curious omission.
Not sure the connection of Dymphna to mental illness or Gertrude to cats, but when in doubt, go with the martyr. Dymphna it is.
A hard day for the Belgians to decide. We so need a patron saint of mental illness and incest that it was not a difficult choice for me.
Dymphna ,because of her compassion for the mentally ill.
More so than most, these candidates show contrasts in parenting!
Reading both Saints I had to go with Dymphna
For standing up to her Father in times of his
Own sickness for Love unpure! Hard to believe
That this took place back in the thirteenth Century when you think they would’ve been more protected of their children! Gertrude on the other hand I didn’t see anywhere that she was protecting cats, and how could she be a patron when stating she was always pictured w
with silver mice!!! So I picked Dymphna who is a Saint in helping those in need!
In addition to my comment I’m also a Cat Person but seeing my Cat is a rescue she can defend herself, as those with Mental illness n
Need someone to help them and speak up for
them.
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 . . .
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….
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!
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 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.
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.”
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.
#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.
{{big virtual hug}} Go with God.
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!
Have to go with the Patron Saint of the mentally ill and those with neurologic disorders. Mental illness is something that desperately needs attention, even today….the “demons of mental illness” still need to be proverbially “slain”.
Voted– in honor of all those who grapple daily with neuro disorders.
Dymphna for me. She must have been an astounding person to have so strongly inspired the town where she had only a year for doing good works before her father murdered her. What a legacy!
Also, the cats connection with Gertrude is just plain specious.
Love your avatar!
Thanks! I’m a big fan of foxes and wolves.
The story of Dymphna is way to sad, especially if imagined as real. Now Gertrude, is such a cheerful beginning of the day, as well as an interesting historical tip on retaining property and wealth in the eventuality of widowhood. A prayer for sad Dymphna and a vote for Gertrude. All the best from California!
God, and most of my friends, know I love cats. But I have to vote for Dymphna for her dedication to the mentally ill.
I am touched by both women’s lives but as a woman who works for social justice and the chronically mentally ill homeless population I am voting for Dymphna.
Having a young child with Epilepsy, I appreciate the prayers and companionship of Dymphna!
Phoebe and Tabitha are insisting that Gertrude is not their patron. We voted for Dymphna because of her short, but dedicated life. After all, cats have 9 lives.
Not getting how Gertrude became the patron saint of cats?
Officially, according to Rome she isn’t. Scroll up to https://www.lentmadness.org/2018/02/dymphna-vs-gertrude-of-nivelles/#comment-58254 and read how recent that cat appeared in that icon.
I voted for Dymphna for the mental illness association.
Having majored in Religious Studies with an emphasis on comparative religions, I will be content if Gertrude wins.
I voted fro Saint Dymphna because her short life had such an impact on Geel that they are still serving the mentally ill and neuro-divergent as they would Christ in the tradition of Matthew 25 over 1,200 years later. What a lasting impact that has helped generations of people.
And I’m a cat person, but as explained by another commentator, that cat didn’t get written into Saint Gertrude’s icon until after 1980. 1980!
Tough choice today between 2 ladies I’d never heard of.
Saddened by Dymphna’s relationship w/her father, but I’m gtting
on the cat bandwagon w/Gertrude.
I voted for Dymphna for the sake of those living with mental illness and those who care for them.
This has to be the least inspiring vote of the year. Surely neither of these women will make it through to the finals. I thought about not voting, but after observing what can happen when enough people in modern america choose to do that I took a stand for Saint Dymphna. Care for the mentally disabled has to be more worthy than (pardon me) cats.
Gotta love a good hair shirt story (I’m itchy just thinking about it!), but I have to go with the courage and example of Dymphna and the people of Geel. I have both mental illness and neurological conditions in my family.
I may be splitting hairs here, but I’m being as honest as I can: As a hospital chaplain, I served in the geriatric psych unit (as well as pediatrics and other units over the years). I am grateful to the people of Dymphna’s town for their welcome and care for those who are mentally ill. I am also very much impressed by Gertrude’s welcome and interest in the varying beliefs and ways of prayer and service to God of those who visited her monastery. This openness illustrates the radical hospitality she practiced. But as Gertrude had the longer life on earth, with greater opportunity to act on her calling, she gets my vote. (I also hope to learn more about the cat connection as we go along.)
Long-time voter, first-time commenter. I was torn on today’s choices. I love cats, but it was when I read that Dymphna is the patron saint of victims of incest, I knew I had to cast my vote for her.
Went with Dymphna today, but still cant figure out WHY she is the patron of those with mental health issues…
I couldn’t find a coherent explanation out there in Wikiland, but here are three conjectures, not mutually exclusive;
Dymphna’s father became mentally ill following her mother’s death, which seems to be part of the tradition.
According to one tradition, when at Geel she built a hospice for the relief of the poor and [generically] sick.
After her death, and for whatever reason, her church became a focus for pilgrimages by the mentally ill, and the unique
tradition of caring for them through hospitality developed from the general tradition of hospitality to pilgrims.
In my capacity of word-nerd I’ll add that hostels, hotels, hospitals and hospices originally all the same thing, described by one word. Pilgrims came and were accommodated; some got sick and were cared for; and some of those wasted away and died.
In Siena, opposite the cathedral steps, the Hospital of Santa Maria della Scala was one such institution. Starting as a hostel for cathedral pilgrims at least as early as the 11th Century, it evolved to become the city’s general hospital and remained so until a modern hospital was built outside the city in the 1980s.
In 1984, when my wife was a patient in the new institution, I had to go to the business office, still in the original location, to settle the bill and found that the building continued to house clinical patients. The nephrology ward, with beds, wandering ambulatory patients wheeling their IVs, and hurrying doctors and nurses, was a long gothic chamber with frescoed ceilings and a big window at the far end. The hospital is now an interesting museum; if you go, you’ll see the ward just as it was minus the beds and activity.
Fascinating! And I concur with your summations of the mental illness/Dymphna connections.
I was going for the cats but then I read the history of Dymphna which resonates even more. Question. Why cats. Never explained or did I miss it somewhere?
Becky posted an illuminating explanation at 8:26 this morning.
According to which the cat tradition dates all the way back to the 1980s.
Dymphna, for two reasons: I get to vote for the patron of those who suffer from mental illness, and against cats! Is there a saint associated with dogs in the running this year?
Every yesr we are given an opportunity to submit the names of saints we would like to see on the bracket. I submitted Constance (from antiquity) and learned about a modern day Constance I had never even heard about prior to Lent Madness.
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!).
I think Dymphna has to be the patron saint of abused women and children. She gets my vote even if my grandmother was named Gertrude.
Voting for Dymphna today, and holding before God those with mental illness and anxiety, and our beleaguered mental health services who do admirable work despite desperate underfunding.
My cat voted before I had chance. Gertrude is pictured as patron saint of cats. Don’t know where the mice came in.
Cat women generate weirdness in my mind. Strong women who defy predators generate admiration. Dymphna all the way!
Lent Madness is about holy frivolity. I voted for Dymphna because of the dearth of vowels in her name!
Dymphna’s legacy
https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2016/07/01/484083305/for-centuries-a-small-town-has-embraced-strangers-with-mental-illness
Having family members who have long struggled with depression, I am touched to know now who is their patron saint!
This was a tough call and I would be satisfied with either one as a winner. I did, however, go with Dymphna because she was Irish, as am I, and more so because of the continuing influence she had centuries ago in a small town in a country not her own. In 2018 we also should honor those who in their own way acted out the #metoo message.
Cats are fine and hospitality is outstanding but mental illness is shoveled under the rug. Here is
Something that happened and a town that opens it hearts, minds and homes to it. Little could be
more important
As a Pastoral Counselor for nearly 40 years I have to go with Dymphna.
Must go with Dymphna, mental illness and incest, so sadly relevant today
We need all the help of Dymphna that we can get, especially in this day and age. Curiously enough, as a child I sent away for a St. Dymphna medal and wore it for a few years. Not that I was mentally ill, but who knows?
So, Dymphna for the win!
Dymphna – This one is for you Margie,RIP
This one wasn’t hard. I am allergic to cats, and have empathy toward the mentally ill (which is most people in some way or another). My vote goes to Dymphna.
cats are bad so I went with Dymphna
I am torn ! St. Dymphna’s story is very moving and inspirational. I had never heard of her before. Yet, as a major league cat lover, I can’t help being drawn to Gertrude. It was brave of her and her mother to buck traditional roles. Will have to ponder and read the other comments for guidance.
Hate to say it, but there is nothing really inspiring about either of these stories. I am surprised however that a holywell it not spring up on the very site of Dymphna’s beheading. I wish either of these saints were Welsh – it would make casting my vote so much easier.
I voted for Gertrude because she actually worked with people and opened her monastery to them. I saw nothing in her write up about cats- only mice. Perhaps that ‘s why she is holding a cat. Dymphna died at 15 having done not much but refusing to submit to incest- it’s the townspeople of Geel who have cared for the mentally ill. As to how she had time and resources to build a hostel for the mentally ill between the age of 14 and 15…? Not many details on either.
Well they both lived in Belgium, and since I lived there for a while, I like to go with Belgians if it is a toss up. Today though it is definitely Dymphna.
Dymphna. I’m allergic to cats.
Interesting that Dyphna became the patron of the mentally ill, when it seems to me it was trauma that crafted her response, and turned out her demise. Nervous disorder, indeed. (I still love cats.)
I voted for Dymphna because I was inspired by how much she inspired a legacy of hospitality in Geel. One if my favorite things about Lent Madness is that it challenges us to keep the saints’ missions alive, not just their memories.
Dymphna, in honor of my grandmother. The Lord knows the details.
This was a tough contest today!
EpiscoRat had to go with cats and mice, so definitely Gertrude. But more importantly, she was all about welcoming anyone who showed up–an example we would do well to follow.
Issues of mental illness and sexual predation are so widespread and so misunderstood, never mind so hard to talk about in “polite society.” But one in four girls, and one in six boys, are sexually abused before they reach 18. That’s a lot of us. Such abuse happens in even the “best” families. And of course mental illness and neurological disorders are no respecters of class, race, gender, or anything else. I had never heard of Dymphna, but she got my vote today…and I do love cats.
St Dymphna. All the way. Although, I do love the story of St Gertrude being patron to souls in purgatory. But as patron to people with mental illnesses and neurological disorders, there is no way I can go past St Dymphna.
Besides, when I was a child I tried to convince my parents to let me change my name to Dymphna.
Where are people getting information about Gertrude and cats? Thanks.
The internet was my source, not always reliable. Go to catster.com, but beware it is a dot com site and as such is possibly not all that accurate. Dot com sites always have an axe to grind. Com is short for commercial.
Ways
I’m thinking of naming my next cat Dymphana – a kindlier sound than Wolfstan.
I voted for Gertrude, but it was a really tough choice. I wanted to vote for both of these inspiring ladies. I voted for Gertrude because she actually showed the hospitality and care that Dymphna inspired but didn’t live long enough to put much into practice, poor kid.
Question: why a cat and not a mouse?
Beheaded at 15! Fled at 14! Her moments before her father beheaded her must have been horrid. She was probably sexually and physically abused and as a very young child. Hail to the town that did not forget her. Dymphna gets my vote.
Dymphna, for the sake of someone I love.
I recall seeing a film, many years ago, when I first began work at a psychiatric center. At the time, the concept of the group home was brand new in the US. The film began with the story of Dymphna. What the writer forgot to mention was that when the father finally caught up with Dymphna in Gheel, he demanded she be his wife, and killed her, but in that moment, the miracle was that her overwhelming love for her father even in death overcame his demonic possession and he was cured. His cure was the first of a series of people who were cured of mental illness. I understand that Geel continues to be a center of a lively family care or group home resource for the treatment of people with mental illness. We took this concept and developed a system of providing treatment in a home environment. Providers can receive financial compensation for their efforts, but the essence of the positive effects of the system lies in making each recipient a member of a family or group. I have had the privilege of seeing up close and personal the love of the care givers for those entrusted to them. People can thrive in such a setting. We discovered what the good people of Gheel have known for a long time: that by far most of the mentally ill are in need of care not because they pose a danger to others, but that they are not able to care for themselves. A gentle caregiver can guide them in keeping up with the activities of daily life we all take for granted.
It seems likely that there probably was actually a Dymphna at some time, but in any case, Geel is very real.
The city has a modern psychiatric clinic, and continues to care for many people with mental illness in family homes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dymphna
On doing some casual investigation of Gertrude of Nivelles, I discover that she too is a patron saint of the mentally ill. She is not so much the patron saint of cats as of those who are overwhelmed by rats, it would seem.
I am glad that there are more than one saint for the mentally disturbed and the very very nervous.
A Prayer to St. Gertrude, Patron Saint of Cats
St. Gertrude of Nivelles, ask you I pray
Safeguard my kitties this and each day.
Defend them from those who might wish them harm.
Keep them at home safe from danger and storm.
Instill in me wisdom to care for them well.
Pray, fill me with strength never to yell.
And Gertrude, a last thing I beseech from thee,
Protect my sofa from claws and my carpets from pee.
Amen.
Thank you for this fun poem. Now I know the pee tape will show up in Lent Madness.
Three zingers, thank you James!
It’s quite reasonable to pray for protection from one’s cats.
Why is Gertrude called Patron of cats if she is oftened pictured mice?
I am all in for Dymphna, as I understand her struggles all too well. Mental health is a fragile thing, and a patron saint with their welfare in mind is much needed, as is the example set in Geel for others to be tolerate and empathetic with those who suffer so. Thanks for all those who supported her, though Gettrude has much to recommend her, also. Dymphna, I stand with you!
I just noticed that for the image credits it says, “Gertrude: Icon painted by Marice Sariola.“.
An icon?
Painted?
Correction: Icons are written. That’s why it is called iconography.
How do I know this? I belong to the cathedral parish that is home to the Trinity Iconography Institute one of the few such organizations teaching the writing of icons in the Anglican Communion.
People make much of this in the Episcopal Church, but I’m not sure the idea that icons are “written” rather than “painted” is particularly normative in much of the Christian world.
It is called iconography, as in eikōn (Greek for likeness) + graphia (Greek for writing). Why in the world would it be called that if it wasn’t written? (And I’ve heard the icons are written line from non-Episcopalians too.)
Phonographs aren’t written. Often in language a root grows into a tree that extends beyond its original meaning.
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.
I voted for Gertrude, in spite of her hair shirt, etc, but she was so hospitable to all in the monastery. She must not have got much sleep though.
We crazy people need all the help we can get.
Well, I went with Dymphna, for the amazing ministry to and with folks with mental illnesses that arose in her wake,. But my cats and I are not happy with the small-minded cat-dissing and cat-hating comments in this thread. As a lover of all of God’s creatures (well, maybe not mosquitoes, ticks, and fleas), I think we’re better than that.
Is it Corrie ten Boom who writes that in a German concentration camp during World War II some women prayed regularly, giving thanks, including even the fleas? (“In all things give thanks.”) After the war they discovered that the fleas had prevented their being raped by the guards. Appreciate your lively defense of cats. === <–cat scratch emoji (I'm still working on the cat pee emoji.)
Dymphna, as the first recorded victim of #metoo gets my vote. Man, she had enough trouble in her short life to merit a halo from us.
Lot’s daughters
Dinah (daughter of Leah & Jacob)
Tamar (King David’s daughter)
All recorded long before the 7th Century AD.
Voted for Dymphna. Tragic story. But I liked what happened in the town of Geer and their hospitality to those with mental illness