Women in History: Praying to Saint Dymphna for Peace of Mind

For Holy Women's History Month, Elizabeth Estrada shares her longtime devotion to Saint Dymphna, a patron saint for those suffering from mental illness.

Living with Anxiety

As long as I can remember I have been anxious. As a child, adolescent, and adult. I know that anxiety runs in my family, and I have it too.

As a kid I can remember having butterflies and knots in my stomach when there was tension at home and I heard family fighting. I also remember looking at my glow-in-the-dark clock at night when I was eight or nine years old because I couldn’t sleep.

Often, I would have severe stomachaches, and the doctors could never put their finger on it. Back then anxiety wasn’t diagnosed as it is today.

Discovery

Well, in my twenties they finally diagnosed me with anxiety. I started getting severe headaches and what I thought was a heart-ache but was really an anxiety attack.

I took medication, saw counselors, and prayed. When I lost my mom, it only got worse. Then, years later, I seemed to learn how to manage it.

However, when my son started preschool at age three, my anxiety became worse because of the challenges he faced in his new routine, and I felt helpless.

So, one day I decided to google a saint for anxiety. I knew there had to be a saint that could help me and I met Saint Dymphna.

A young princess who was martyred at fifteen by her father who wanted to marry her and she refused. She tried to escape her father's desire with a priest’s help; that priest was also martyred by her father’s hand.

It is thought that Dymphna’s father had to be mentally ill, wanting to marry his daughter. He literally seemed to have lost his mind.

Finding Daily Peace of Mind

Dymphna’s courage and bravery gave me comfort, and I began to pray for her help and even found a chaplet that I later prayed for my son, who also has anxiety.

She brought me such comfort that I have worn her medal all the time ever since.

Sometimes during the day, I will touch the medal to remind myself she is always with me and that whatever the situation is, it will pass.

My son is older and now and will also ask for her intercession.

Unintentionally, I am passing the word about the power of Dymphna’s intercession. Sometimes someone will ask who is on my medal and that will spark an opportunity to share her story.

The National Shrine of Saint Dymphna is in Ohio. I have had Masses said for friends and loved ones who suffer from anxiety, depression, or another mental illness.

Even today, centuries after Dymphna’s death, her courage and love for the Lord is needed more than ever.

If you know someone in your life who is carrying the cross of mental illness, or if you suffer from it yourself, Saint Dymphna is waiting to comfort them and you.

Saint Dymphna, pray for us!

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Copyright 2026 Elizabeth Estrada
Images: (banner) Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo; Гибаничар, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons