School: Cloncarneel

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1. St Dympna (continued)

   

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   altar there, and priest used to say Mass there. Her father heard of her flight and he started for Belgium. He stayed in the same inn as Dympna stayed in, and he gave a silver coin in payment for his lodgings. The inn-keeper said that he got the same sort of a coin from a young lady the morning before. The king asked him what direction did she take. The inn-keeper said that she went towards Gheel. The king started for Gheel and he came upon the priest beginning to say Mass. The soldiers beheaded the priest and the nurse.

   The king coaxed Dympna to go back to Ireland with him but she would not. He told his soldiers to kill her, but they hesitating he killed her himself. The three were buried in Gheel. The king went back to Ireland and he went mad with the thoughts of the crime he had commited. There is a well in Gheel which sprung up at the foot of the altar. There is another well in Kildalkey. It is said one day Dympna was out in the field crying and she cried that much that a well sprung up. St Dympna is the patron saint of Kildalkey and she is the patroness of the insane. Her feast day

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   Transcribed by a member of our volunteer transcription project.

   History Edit

   Language

   English

   Collector

   Teresa Harmon

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Baile na Coille, Co. na Mí

   Informant

   Mrs Martin

   Gender

   Female

   Address

   Cluain Chairn Aoil, Co. na Mí