Saint Gertrude
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gertrude_the_Great
Saint Gertrude of Helfta
Virgin
Born
January 6, 1256(1256-01-06)
Eisleben, Thuringia, Holy Roman Empire
Died
November 17, 1302(1302-11-17) (aged 46)
Helfta, Saxony
Honored in
Roman Catholic Church
Feast
November 16
Attributes
crown, lily, taper
Patronage
West Indies; travelers; Naples (co-patron)
Saint Gertrude the Great (or Saint Gertrude of Helfta) (Italian: Santa Gertrude) (January 6, 1256 – ca. 1302) was a German Benedictine, mystic, and theologian.
She is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, and is inscribed as "Saint Gertrude" in the General Roman Calendar, not as "Saint Gertrude the Great", for celebration throughout the Latin-Rite Catholic Church on November 16.[1]
Gertrude was born January 6, 1256, in Eisleben, Thuringia (within the Holy Roman Empire). Nothing is known of her parents, so she was probably an orphan. As a young girl, she joined the Benedictine monastery of St. Mary at Helfta, under the direction of its abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn. She is sometimes confused with her abbess, which is why she is often depicted in art incorrectly holding a crosier. Some scholars refer to the monastery as Cistercian, since it was founded by seven sisters from the Cistercian community of Halberstadt. However, it could not have had this status officially since it was founded in 1229, the year after the Cistercian men decided they would sponsor no more convents.[citation needed] She dedicated herself to her studies, becoming an expert in literature and philosophy. She later experienced a conversion to God and began to strive for perfection in her religious life, turning her scholarly talents to scripture and theology. Gertrude produced numerous writings, but only the Herald of God's Loving-Kindness, partly written by other nuns and formerly known as her Life and Revelations, and the Spiritual Exercises remain today. She had various mystical experiences, including a vision of Jesus, who invited her to rest her head on his breast to hear the beating of his heart, and the piercing of her heart with divine love.
St Gertrude died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, around 1302. Her feastday is celebrated on November 16 or 17, but the exact date of her death is unknown; the November date stems from a confusion with Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn.
Though St Gertrude was never formally canonized, nevertheless she received equipotent canonization, and a universal feast day was declared in the year 1677 by Pope Clement XII.[2]
Contents
[hide]
1 The Prayer of Saint Gertrude
2 See also
3 Notes
4 External links
The Prayer of Saint Gertrude
St. Gertrude showed "tender sympathy towards the souls in purgatory" and urged prayers for them. She is therefore invoked for souls in purgatory.
Perhaps for that reason, to her name has been attached a prayer that, according to a legend of uncertain origin and date (neither are found in the Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great), Our Lord promised to release a thousand souls from purgatory each time it was said. The prayer was extended to include living sinners as well.
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus Christ, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, for sinners in the Universal Church, for those in my own home and within my family. Amen.
See also
Christian mystics
St. Mechtilde
Notes
^ Like other early saints, including figures such as Saint Peter, Saint Gertude was never formally canonized.
^ Patron Saints Index: "Saint Gertrude the Great"
External links
[1] youtube video on Gertrude the Great
Kloster Helfta - Official website of Helfta Monastery
The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great - the full text online.
Matrologia Latina - Latin text of Sanctae Gertrudis Legatus divinae pietatis (Books 1 and 2)
Patron Saints Index: Saint Gertrude the Great
A biographical note on St Gertrude and an excerpt from her book, The Herald of Divine Love, from the website of her recently refounded monastery at Helfta.
Mission To Empty Purgatory - Pledge to say St Gertrude's prayer.
St. Benedict's Abbey - Benedictine Brothers and Fathers in America's Heartland
The Holy Rule of St. Benedict - Online translation by Rev. Boniface Verheyen, OSB, of St. Benedict's Abbey
Benedictine College - Dynamically Catholic, Benedictine, Liberal Arts, and Residential
"St. Gertrude the Great". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 1913. www.newadvent.org/cathen/06534a.htm.
Friedrich Wilhelm Bautz (1990). Bautz, Friedrich Wilhelm. ed (in German). Gertrud, die Große, von Helfta. Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). 2. Hamm. cols. 231–232. ISBN 3-88309-032-8. www.bautz.de/bbkl/g/gertrud_v_he.shtml.
Persondata
Name
Gertrude the Great
Alternative names

Short description

Date of birth
January 6, 1256
Place of birth
Eisleben, Thuringia, Holy Roman Empire
Date of death
November 17, 1302
Place of death
Helfta, Saxony
Retrieved from "en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php"
Categories
: 1256 births
1302 deaths
Benedictines
German Roman Catholic saints
Rhineland mystics
Women of medieval Germany
13th-century Christian female saints
14th-century women writers
Christian mystics
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This page was last modified on 7 May 2011 at 22:11.

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