Saint Gertrude the Great

Monday 16^th November

Saint Gertrude the Great

Our thanks to you, Fr. Patrick.

It is a welcome to receive your regard for Saint Gertrude.

Your words renew us to delve more into the ample resources in the Great Saint. Gertrude.

From: father patrick . . .

Sent: Thu, November 12, 2009 1:05:56 AM

Subject: St Gertrude Feast Day

My dear Friends in Christ:

I greet you as we prepare to celebrate:

St. Gertrude the Great, whose Feast Day is Monday, November 16

.

It is said that Gertrude is called "Great" because of her love for the Sacred Heart.

Few have merited the title, "the Great";

I know of only one nun so honored,

St. Gertrude of Helfta,

a mystic whose spiritual writings have remained influential up to the present.

She is associated with the devotion to the Sacred Heart.

The pierced heart of Jesus embodied for her the Divine Love,

an inexhaustible fountain of redemptive life.

Her visions and insights in connection with the Heart of Jesus are very enlightening.

She helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

Her writings have been greatly praised by Saint Teresa and Saint Francis de Sales,

and continue in print today.

As we celebrate her Feast Day,

We are grateful to God

for the Love shown us through the Heart of Jesus.

May God Bless our celebrations.

Sincerely

Father Patrick

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

OCSO Menology

NOVEMBER 16

St Gertrude the Great 1256-1302

At the age of five she was brought to the convent of Helfta, Saxony, a house which followed Cistercian usage without being juridically attached to the Order. She received a good education and became engrossed in the liberal arts until a conversion experience when she was twenty-five, which was for her a living encounter with Christ, and the revelation of a bond of love between him and herself. She wrote of this and subsequent mystical experiences in The Herald of Divine Love, also known as her Revelations. Toward the end of her life she composed the Exercises, seven retreat experiences consisting of prayers, reflections and instructions.

Gertrude's life was not marked by any extraordinary or extravagant penances, but was simply that of the community, lived with great fervor. Her spirituality was nourished by and closely related to her liturgical life. It is marked by a very personal and familiar love for Christ, Mary and the saints. Two of its chief characteristics are confidence and abandonment. It is noteworthy that for all her deep union with God, she never completely succeeded in overcoming her character faults, and had constantly to deplore her shortcomings.

MBS (Modern Biographical Sketches of Cistercian Saints . . ) p. 295; CF 49; Peace Weavers, CS 72, p. 239 Gertrude the Great – Spiritual Exercises

"O Love, O God, let me not be left behind in the school of charity, but in you and through you, or rather with you, let me grow to maturity day by day and advance from strength to strength, daily bringing forth fruit unto you, my Beloved, in the new path of your love."

Exercises, 98

Memorial: November 16 - in Germany: November 17 Also known as: Getrude; Gertrud the Great of Helfta, Gertrude the Great Saint Gertrude is one of the greatest and most wonderful saints in the Church of God. Gertrude was born January 6, 1256, in Eisleben, Thuringia ((part of modern Germany). When she was about 5 years old, she became a student at the Benedictine monastery at Helfta, near Eisleben (southwest of Magdeburg, Germany). The Abbess at the time was Gertrude of Hackerborn a woman who ensured that both spiritual and intellectual life flourished. The child Gertrude was put in the care of Mechthilde (became later a Saint), the sister of the Abbess who was head of the school associated with the monastery. Gertrude studied the Scriptures, the Liturgy, and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Her life was crowded with wonders. She has in obedience recorded some of her visions, in which she traces in words of indescribable beauty the intimate converse of her soul with Jesus and Mary. Gertrude had her first vision of Christ at the age of twenty-six. She tells us that she heard Christ say to her, "Do not fear. I will save you and set you free." This was the first in a series of visions that transformed her life. From then on, she spent many hours reading the bible and writing essays on the word of God. When she was asked to write about her experiences, she claimed that it would serve no purpose. When she was told that her words would encourage others, Gertrude agreed to write spiritual autobiography. Gertrude committed to writing many of her mystical experiences in the book commonly called the "Revelations of Saint Gertrude." These Revelations form one of the classics of Catholic writing. And although they would have to be classified as “mystical literature,” their message is clear and obvious, for this book states many of the secrets of Heaven in terms that all can understand. Recorded here are Saint Gertrude's many conversations with Our Lord, wherein He reveals His great desire to grant mercy to souls and to reward the least good act. In the course of their conversations, He reveals wonderful spiritual “shortcuts” that will help everyone in his or her spiritual life. She also composed many prayers, ‘sweeter than the honeycomb’, and many other examples of spiritual liturgically inspired Exercitia spiritualia is a gem still awaiting in-depth analysis. But Gertrud’s most important legacy is universally acknowledged to be the Legatus memorialis abundantiae divinae pietatis, or Herald of the Memorial of the Abundance of Divine Love. This complex work, usually abbreviated in English to The Herald of Divine Love, is worthy of attention both in itself and as a fascinating test case for the study of medieval women’s theology. Another most important book is “The spiritual exercises”. Through her writings helped spread devotion to the Sacred Heart. She meditated on the Passion of Christ which many times brought a flood of tears to her eyes. She had a tender love for Our Lady. During the long illness of five months from which she would die, she gave not the slightest sign of impatience or sadness; her joy, on the contrary, increased with her pains. When the day of her death arrived, November 17, 1302, she saw the Most Blessed Virgin descend from heaven to assist her, and one of her Sisters perceived her soul going straight to the Heart of Jesus, which opened to receive it. Saint Gertrude died at Helfta monastery of natural causes. She is properly known as Saint Gertrude for, although never formally canonized, she was equipollently canonized in 1677 by Pope Clement XII when he inserted her name in the Roman Martyrology. Her feast was set for November 16. Pope Benedict XIV gave her the title "the Great" to distinguish her from Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn and to recognize the depth of her spiritual and theological insight. When the community was transferred in 1346 to the monastery of New Helfta, the present Trud-Kloster, within the walls of Eisleben, they still retained possession of their old home, where doubtless the bodies of Saint Gertrude and Saint Mechtilde still buried, though their place of sepulture remains unknown. Saint Gertrud and Saint Mechtilde: When Gertrude was five years old, she was placed in the care of Mechtilde. She became the first teacher of Gertrude. They became close friends, and Mechtildis (Mechtilde), who had mystical experiences of her own, helped Gertrude with her Book of Special Graces (also called The Revelations of St. Mechtildis), and the two Saints collaborated on a series of prayers. Mechtidle died November 19, 1298 at Helfta monastery of natural causes. marypagesDOTcom/GertrudetheGreat.htm