Gertrude the Great or Saint Gertrude (Italian: Santa Geltrude) (January 6, 1256 – November 17, 1302) was a German Benedictine and mystic writer.
She is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, and is inscribed, as "Saint Gertrude", not as "Saint Gertrude the Great", in the General Roman Calendar, for celebration throughout the Latin-Rite Catholic Church on 16 November.[1]
Gertrude was born January 6, 1256, in Eisleben, Thuringia, Holy Roman Empire). Nothing is known of her parents, so she was probably an orphan. As a young girl, she joined the Benedictine monastery in Helfta, under the direction of its abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn. (In later years the monastery was mislabeled as a Cistercian monastery.) 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. 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.
She died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, 17 November 1302.
"Prayer of Saint Gertrude"
St. Gertrude the Great 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, Our Lord told her would release 1000 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.
Neither the prayer nor the legend about its special promises is found in the text of the Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great.
See also
Notes
- ^ Like other early saints, including figures such as Saint Peter, Saint Gertude was never formally canonized.
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