Gertrude the Great

“…you have led me to know and consider the interior of my heart, which until then I had heeded as little as, if I may put it thus, the interior of my feet.” (Herald of Divine Love, Book 2, Chapter 2).

This lovely quote is from the mystic Gertrude the Great talking about her relationship with Christ. It is one of my favorite quotes from Gertrude because it so honest and real.

Gertrude was born January 6, 1257 in Helfta, Germany. Her birth was on the feast of the Epiphany which is telling because all of Gertrude’s visions were centered on the liturgical year. When she was five years she was admitted to the Benedictine monastery school of Helfta. Ten or eleven years later she joined the Benedictine community at Helfta.

The abbess of Helfta was another Gertrude, Gertrude of Hackborn. She fostered the intellectual life of Helfta and the monastery became famous for several important nuns/mystics who lived here. The community gave sanctuary and solace to Mechtild of Magdeburg, a former Beguine whose criticism of the church dignitaries and theological writings led to her oppression by the church. The abbess’ younger sister, Mechtild of Hackeborn was also a visionary. Between the three (Mechthild of Magdeburg, St. Gertrud, and Mechtild of Hackeborn), they produced over 1200 pages of mystical writing.

Mechtild of Hackeborn &
Gertrude the Great
(Watercolor by Sr. Emmanuel
Pieper, OSB)
The love of Christ represented by
his Heart was central to the spiritual
life and understanding of both.

In Advent of 1280 Gertrude entered a period of emotional and spiritual distress. On January 27 of 1281 she experienced what she called her conversion in an encounter with the Risen Christ. She writes “And suddenly you appeared unexpectedly, imprinting a wound in my heart with these words, ‘May all your affections be centered here: all sweetness, hope, joy, sorrow, fear and all other feelings be fixed in my heart.”

She began writing about her visions and spiritual experiences in 1289.These experiences were recounted in the second book of the Herald of Divine Love. (The first book of the Herald of Divine Love was written after Gertrude's death by sisters at Helfta who knew her.) Some time after, she wrote her Spiritual Exercises. She died in 1302 and was never officially canonized although a Liturgical Office of prayer, readings and hymns in her honor was approved by Rome in 1606.

The Feast of St. Gertrude was extended to the Universal Church by Pope Clement XII in 1738 and today is celebrated on November 16, the date of her death.)

Gertrude’s writings are enthusiastic and almost breathless, at first glance appearing a little childish. When I try to imagine her, I picture a very young sister full of energy and idealism. Her theme is always the goodness, mercy and generosity of God. She always tries to convey her experience of God and her relationship of a God who is infinite and she who is a finite creature. “You are inebriated, if I may say so, to madness, that you join to yourself one so unlike you. But it would be more apt to say that the total goodness of your nature flows naturally toward the salvation of the human race.” (Herald of Divine Love, Book 2, Chapter 8.)

This is just a short introduction to Gertrude the Great. She and her sisters at Helfta are important contributors to the history of Christian mysticism and spirituality.

Sr. Deborah Harmeling, OSB