A Brief Overview of Her Remarkable Life
January 6, 1232----------------November 17, 1291 [1]
[THIS ACCOUNT VARIES AS TO PLACES SOMEWHAT WITH THE
BIO-SKETCH FROM THE MANUAL DIRECTORY.]
Saint Gertrude, Virgin, Mystic, and Benedictine Abbess, was called by
Our Lord Himself, "My chosen Lily", and the Church has given her the
title of "Great" although she is not counted among the Doctors of the
Church, at least as of yet. She is the only woman Saint to have been
accorded this honor. There are are more than one Saint named
Gertrude, one of whom was the
Abbott of the monastery when Gertrude entered there at five, so it is
an added
blessing that she is distinguished by the term Great, for our sakes,
because there is one less opportunity for confusion. It ought to come
as no surprise that she was born in that great age of Saints, the 13th
century, among which are numbered St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Elizabeth of
Hungary, and in the later years of which, both St. Francis of Assisi
and St. Dominic, the latter two being born in the 12th century. Not
only was this century the "Century of Saints", but the age of the most
wondrous of Saints.
Our Gertrude the Great was born at Eisleben, Germany, the same town as
that of the unfortunate heretic, Martin Luther. But when she was born
there were no Lutherans or any kind of Protestants because all of
Christendom was Catholic. The revolt and upheaval would begin a scarce
two centuries later. Note that she was born on the Feast of
the Epiphany, destined as she was by God's providence to be one of the
Stars in the Communion of Saints. Her parentage is unknown for certain,
although it is thought that she was born a countess, but we do know
that when she was five years old, she was placed in the care of the
Benedictine nuns at Helfta in Saxony, where she became the pupil and
close friend of St. Mechtilde. The nuns there were known for their
thoroughness in training and study, which only served to augment the
intellectual gifts that God had bestowed on Gertrude. Very early on she
was versed in Latin, the Bible, and the works of the Fathers of the
Church. Yet, compared to her capacity for loving God, they pale. While
still a child she began to speak to the Heart of Our Lord, her chosen
One. She already had the capacity and the readiness to withdraw as much
as possible from worldly pursuits in order to spend time with Him. And
Jesus did come to her; the Benedictine sisters were not slow to learn
that she was favored by Heaven. One nun, who suffered the torment of
terrible temptations, had a dream in which she was told to ask Gertrude
for help, to ask for her prayers. And as soon as Gertrude began to pray
for her, the temptations ceased. Another religious had a similar urgent
need of help. She took a cloth which had been used by the Saint,
applied it to her heart and she was instantly healed of her spiritual
malady. [2]
Our Lord Himself conveyed to another favored soul that Gertrude
"contains and perfects in her soul those five virtues which please Me
above all others, and which I have placed therein by a singular
liberality; she possesses purity, by a
continual influence of My grace; she possesses humility,
amidst the great diversity of gifts which I have bestowed on her
--- for the more I effect in her, the more she abases herself;
she possesses a true benignity,
which makes her desire the salvation of the whole world for My greater
glory; she possesses a true fidelity,
spreading abroad, without reserve, all her treasures for the same end.
Finally, she possesses a consummate charity;
for she loves Me with her whole heart, with her whole soul, and with
her whole strength; and for love of Me, she loves her neighbor as
herself." [3]
St. Gertrude was elected Abbess of her monastery in 1294 when she was
but thirty. And for forty more years she continued to guide her
spiritual children, many of whom attained a high degree of sanctity. As
superior she was known for her zeal, and for her charity. Whenever
anyone was suffering, whether in body or in spirit, she could not rest.
If repentance was required she prayed and wept until the person had
repented. She preferred this approach to severe upbraiding. So fervent
were her nuns because this approach that not only did they attain
sanctity but a number of them received singular favors from Heaven.
By this time Gertrude's mystical union with her Spouse, Our Lord,
Jesus, was so ardent and intimate that even the thought of sudden death
could not disturb her. In fact she expressed her desire to join her
Spouse. But she surrendered her will to His in this matter, saying that
she preferred His will and providence even to the Sacraments.
Her confidence, which we shall speak about later, was so preeminent
that it is impossible to think that his Sacred Heart could refuse her
anything. It was not always thus. Once she had been praying fervently
for a favor, which He had not yet granted. When asked Him why the
delay, He replied that it was because she was lacking in confidence of
the effects of His Mercy.
Later, He told St. Mechtilde, "I have united My Heart so closely to her
soul by the ties of My Mercy that she has become one spirit with Me. It
is on this account that she obeys so promptly all the desires of My
will . . ." [4]
One year, before the Feast of the Ascension of Our Lord, St. Gertrude,
addressing Our Lord's Five Wounds, repeated the following salutation
five thousand four hundred and sixty-six times: "Glory be to Thee, most
sweet, most gentle, most benign, most noble, most excellent, effulgent,
and ever-peaceful Trinity, for the roseate wounds of my only Love!" As
she repeated this salutation, our Lord Jesus appeared to her, more
beautiful than the Angels, bearing golden flowers on each Wound, and
saluted her thus, with a serene countenance and the tenderest
charity: "Behold in what glory I now appear to you. I will appear
in the same manner to you at your death, and will cover all the stains
of your sins, and of those also who salute My Wounds with the same
devotion." [5]
Gertrude's life became daily more supernatural and often she
experienced ecstasies in which she not only enjoyed the company of Our
Lord, but His Holy Mother as well. Even her favorite Saints came to
visit her.
She also wrote with St. Mechtilde a series of prayers that became very
popular, and because of this and her writing, devotion to the Sacred
Heart began to spread. After numerous sufferings and an almost lifelong
set of infirmities, she now neared her death. The Sisters were reading
the Passion of Christ at her bedside where Jesus appeared to her with
Our Lady at His right hand. The the nuns pronounced the words, "And
bowing His Head, He gave up the ghost," Jesus leaned toward the Saint,
opening wide His adorable Heart, pouring forth all His love while the
Angels surrounded her bed; she beheld them inviting her to Paradise and
heard then singing, "Come, come, O mistress! . . . Alleluia, alleluia!" [6]
She died at Helfta on November 17 and although
never formally canonized, Pope Clement XII in 1677 directed that her
Feast [Originally November 17, but in this past century, the 16th] be
a universal Feast in the Church. She is listed in the Roman
Martyrology, which lists all the Saints and Martyrs.
She is the patron of the West Indies because of a petition to the Holy
See made by the King of Spain.
1. The date of her birth
is in
dispute, varying by as much as 7 years [1256]. There are two source
books for her Revelations and the dates in these are not identical.
Delaney's book on the Saints gives us the date of 1256. We are using
the oldest known source, her Manual
2. THE
LIFE AND REVELATIONS OF ST. GERTRUDE, Christian Classics, TAN
BOOKS, pp. 4-5.
3. Ibid.,
p. 6.
4. Ibid.,
p. 19.
5. Ibid.,
pp. 405-406.
6. SAINT
GERTRUDE THE GREAT: HERALD OF DIVINE LOVE, TAN BOOKS, pp. 49-50.
Excerpts Published on the
web with permission of Tan Books.
Forward for the Boundless Confidence in Our Lord that
St. Gertrude the Great Attained
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