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| 'The flight to Antwerp' by Weyden. 1505. |
- Brian Mendonca
Today, the feast of St. Dymphna is observed at the ancestral house of Lida Joao at Bainfol, Assolna, in South Goa. People from all faiths come to venerate the statue of the saint, followed by high tea.
Dymphna was beheaded by her father when she turned down his requests to marry her. She was only 15.
Grieving from the death of his wife her father wanted somebody most like her to take her place. His advisors noted that his daughter would be the perfect choice because she resembled her mother.
Dymphna (d. 650 AD) was the daughter of Damon, the pagan king of Oriel, Ireland in the 6th century. When faced by her father's request she asked for 40 days to consider it. Advised by her confessor priest Fr. Gerebran, she fled to Antwerp (Belgium). Her father followed her there. When he was reproached by the priest, Damon slew him.
St. Dymphna is regarded as the patron saint for victims of incest; mental health, rape victims, and runaway brides. Dymphna is seen as the patron saint of those who lost their head because she literally lost her head to the sword of her father.
She is not s well-known saint. Her feast does not figure in the church calendar, nor is it celebrated by the church in Goa. The saint designated for today is St. Isidore, the farmer. At the Mass we attended in Panjim, the priest stressed the theme of Mother Mary of Holiness, being the first day of the novena of Mary Help of Christians.
By celebrating her feast in Assolna, one gets to know more of this saint who lived in the high Middle ages.
Flemish painter Van der Weyden (1455-1543) was commissioned by an abbey of Norbertine monks to paint the life of St. Dymphna. Weden painted the Dymphna Altarpiece of 9 panels - one of which, the decapitation - is lost.
In the Indian folk tale 'The Pomegranate Queen' the father kills his younger daughter because she rejects all her suitors.
Often when women reject the advances of those who are interested in possessing them, they have to pay the price. Neha Hiremath was stabbed to death last month on her college campus in Hubbali, while bystanders looked on. She had refused to marry the person who later killed her.
Violence against women is increasing. Today's feast is a grim reminder.
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