![[Flag of Geel]](../images/b/be-vangl.gif)
Last modified: 2007-12-22 by ivan sache
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Municipal flag of Geel - Image by Arnaud Leroy, 14 September 2006
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The municipality of Geel (35,502 inhabitants on 1 January 2006; 10,985 inhabitants) is located in the region of Kempen, 30 km east of Antwerp.
Geel is world-famous for the compassionate way the inhabitants of the
town have been hosting mentally ill people for centuries, yielding to
Geel the well-deserved nickname of Bamhartige Stede, the Merciful Town.
This tradition is related to the local martyre, St. Dymphna (aka
Dymfna, Dimfna, Dympna, Dimpna...), celebrated on 15 May. St. Dymphna
is the patron saint of the mentally ill people and of those who take
care of them.
According to the tradition, Dymphna lived in the VIIth century. She was
the daughter of the pagan Irish king Damon and of a beautiful Christian
mother. The little girl was secretely christened by Father Gerebernus.
The mother died and the father became mad, wishing to marry her own
daughter who recalled him so much her late wife. Dymphna left with
Gerebernus and settled in a small chapel in the woods of Kempen. They
took care of the poor and the needy and became so famous that the mad
king found them and attempted once again to marry her. When she
rejected him, he beheaded her and ordered his soldiers to behead
Gerebernus. The legend has several variants in other European countries
and was popularized in the XIIIth century by Canon Pierre of St. Aubert
church in Cambrai, who wrote Dymphna's vita (biography) "after the oral tradition", upon request of Bishop Gui I. The saint's relics were
transferred to Geel, whereas Gerebernus' relics were transferred to
Sonsbeck, near Xanten, Germany.
Dymphna's miraculous tombs attracted pilgrims to Geel, mostly mentally
ill people. Several miraculous cures were reported by the Bollandists
for the 1604-1668 period. Devotion to the saint is the origin of the so
original way mentally ill people are treated in Geel, where an
infirmary was built in the XIIIth century. The system was incorporated
by the Belgian state and increased in the XXth century. In 1970, there
were some 1,700 patients in Geel, 1,350 of them living in host
families, living and working with the local residents (a system call
"open door" by therapists). They are watched without being conscious of
it and the treatment proves to be successful.
Source: Catholic Encyclopaedia
Ivan Sache, 14 September 2006
The municipal flag of Geel is vertically divided in seven vertical
stripes in turn yellow and red, with a white canton charged with three
rows of three black ermine spots each.
According to Gemeentewapens in België - Vlaanderen en Brussel, the flag was adopted by the Municipal Council on 26 June 1985, confirmed by the Executive of Flanders on 21
November 1989 and published in the Belgian official gazette on 8
October 1990.
The flag is a banner of the municipal arms, showing the pales of the powerful Berthout family.
Servais explains the mythical origin of the arms of Berthout as follows:
In the XIIth century, the Lord of Berthout helped the King of Aragon in
his struggle against the Moors. He fought there three times; the first
time, he was rewarded with an estate and the title of provincial
governor, the second time he was rewarded with the King's daughter, but
refused both and went back to Flanders. The third time, the King asked
Berthout waht he would like as a reward. Berthout asked for the right
to bear the arms of Aragon and was granted them with three pales
instead of four, celebrating his three victories over the Moors.
The Gelre Armorial shows several Berthout coat of arms:
- Berthout, "Die He. (the Lord) van Mechelen", 809, folio 72v.: Or
three pales gules
- Henri VII Berthout, "Die He. van Duffel", 833, folio 73v: Or three
pales gules (Berthout) a franc canton ermine
- Jean de Berlaer (Berthout), "Die He. van Helmunt" (Helmont), 838,
folio 73v: Argent three pales gules (Berlaer)
- Guillaume Berthout de Duffel, "H. Willem v. Duffel", 893, folio 75v;
Or three pales gules a franc canton ermine a crescent sable.
Arnaud Leroy, Pascal Vagnat, Jan Mertens & Ivan Sache, 16 September 2006
Yachting Club Geel is established on the canal linking Herentals to Bocholt.
According to a drawing, the burgee of YCG is horizontally divided yellow-red-yellow with a black anchor placed near the hoist. The real burgee has the black letters "YCG" added in the red stripe.
Source: YCG website
Jan Mertens, 17 June 2007
