 OPZ
Geel’s history can be traced back to the legend of Saint
Dimpna, an Irish royal princess supposed to have fled her father
around 600 AD, fearing the latter’s incestuous intentions.
Dimpna ended up in Zammel, where she was overtaken and captured
by her father who then had her beheaded near Saint Martin’s
chapel. Before long, so the story goes, Dimpna was invoked in
people’s prayers to cure various illnesses, especially
insanity, as her father was deemed to have acted in a bout of
insanity.
In 1349 the first stone of Saint Dimpna church was laid and
about a century later a ‘sick room’ was built
next to the church. Those seen as possessed or mad resided
there during religious penitence rituals in the church which
took nine days to complete (novena). Pretty soon, however,
the sick room was too small to accommodate all pilgrims right
away. Awaiting a vacancy, patients were placed in the care
of local Geel families. In addition, not everyone returned
home after the rituals so the number of foster families increased
as time went by. Originally, only people living in the immediate
vicinity of the Saint Dimpna Church fostered patients, but
from the 17th century onwards the mentally ill were also housed
in other districts in Geel. Foster parents received financial
compensation in return for their service.
History highlights
Clerics used to organise the pilgrimages, took care of the
rituals, allocated foster homes, supervised the care in the
families and had spiritual jurisdiction over all the pilgrims.
The influence of the clerics came to an end after the French
invasion in 1797. Consequently, the chapter was abolished.
In the course of the 18th century new ideas on the care for
the insane emerged and signalled the end of the age-old hagio-therapeutic
treatment. In spite of these developments, the family care
system in Geel survived be it without the ritual component.
It was supervised by the local municipality until the Ministry
of Justice took over in 1850.
In 1861 an infirmary was built as temporary accommodation
for the mentally ill who first arrived in Geel and for those
who needed medical assistance for shorter periods of time.
This countered the main criticism that severely mentally ill
patients were left in the care of families without proper
medical attention whatsoever. The building inspired by Dr.
Guislain’s progressive ideas on the treatment of mental
illness and built by the architect Pauli was a showpiece in
its time. It wasn’t until 1948 the family care programme
came under the supervision of the Ministry of Public Health
and Welfare. Currently, it falls under the administration
of the Flemish Government.
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