Saint Gertrude the Great:

Feast day : 16 November

Today the Church celebrates the feast of Saint Gertrude, the Great, a German Benedictine nun and mystic who lived during the period 1256-1302. She was a beloved chosen soul of Our Lord Jesus Christ who blessed her with extraordinary holiness and graces. From the age of 25 she had many visions of Our Lord Jesus and the Blessed Virgin. These visions have been recounted in her book The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude, the Great and have been a rich source to knowing the mercy and love of Our Lord. In one of the visions, Our Lord Himself revealed "You cannot find Me in any place in which I delight more or which is more suitable for Me than in the Sacrament of the Altar, and after that, in the heart and soul of Gertrude, My beloved; for towards her all My affections turn in a singular manner." These words of Our Lord express the extent of holiness of this Saint who is rightly bestowed the title 'the Great' by the Catholic Church.

Early life:

Saint Gertrude was born at Eisleben on 06 January 1263 and was entrusted to the Benedictine convent at Helfta in Saxony by her family when she was five years old. She received a good education in the monastery on a range of subjects and was known to be exceptionally intelligent. She made her vows at the age fifteen and was elected Abbess of her monastery in the year 1294.

Vocational life:

She was abundantly blessed with graces and mystical gifts which were soon revealed to her community members. In their trials they were often led to seek her intercession and obtain merits through the extraordinary graces that Our Lord had placed in her. Once when a person of great sanctity asked the Lord “What is it You behold in this virgin which obliges You to esteem her so highly and to love her so much?” Our Lord replied, “It is My goodness alone which obliges Me; since she 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 make 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 neighbour as herself.”

From the age of twenty five she began to receive visions of Jesus and Mary, most of which have been documented in her autobiography The Life and Revelations of St. Gertrude the Great. She also wrote a book on spiritual exercises and several prayers which have helped countless people to grow in their spiritual life. One of her prayers for souls in Purgatory is regarded as the most popular one...

“O Eternal Father, I offer you the Most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus, 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.”

She was elected the abbess of her monastery in 1294 and governed her monastery for forty six years with great wisdom and charity. She was known to be full of charity and patience even in her trials. When her gift of prophecy became known, people from all over came to the monastery to seek her counsel in their difficulties. The salvation of souls was her deep desire and she laboured untiringly to this cause. Yet she also spent hours in prayer and contemplation as was taught to her by Our Lord Himself. She is also regarded as one of the first to be devoted to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. She is known to have also obtained the rare gift of mystical espousal with Jesus.

Death & Sainthood:

When she had completed the fortieth year of her administration she was diagnosed with an illness called the little apoplexy. As her illness began to take its toll on her she lost her ability for any manual labour and her speech too. She was only able to say “My spirit”. She died in the year 1302.

Saint Gertrude was never formally canonized. According to Pope Benedict XIV, her cultus was first permitted on the 7th October 1606, four centuries after her death when by a decree of the Sacred Congregation of Rites, an office was granted to the nuns of the monastery of St. John Evangelist, of the city of Licia . The Feast of Saint Gertrude was extended to the Catholic Church by Pope Clement XII and today is celebrated on November 16, the date of her death.