Official feasts used to be an important part of the human community. People would gather together to remember something sacred, express their faith and hope for the future, and / or just be together formally, recognizing each other as being part of a shared community. Few things express a desire for shared companionship and social intimacy more than dining together. Sadly, the gathering together for feasting is increasingly a relic of the past – at least here in the West.
It need not be so! Today we will remember the ancient feasts.
The Feast Day of St. Gertrude the Great
This is a Christian religious celebration of Gertrude, a late 13th and early 14th century German Benedictine nun and mystic. Little is known about her early life, however, she was raised from the age of 5 by nuns. There she became highly educated and became a prolific writer, though only a few of her manuscripts have survived to the present.
Beginning in her mid 20s, she started having visions – including visions of Jesus Christ – and these continued throughout the rest of her life. She is also said to have had “invisible stigmata.” Many of her visions were centered on Purgatory and people there.
After a request from King Philip IV of Spain, she was declared a patron saint of the West Indies in 1609.
Gertrude the Great or Gertrude of Helfta (January 6, 1256 – November 17, 1302) was a German Benedictine nun and mystic who was a member of the Monastery of Helfta. While herself a Benedictine, she had strong ties to the Cistercian Order; her monastery in Helfta is currently run by nuns of the Cistercian Order.
Life
Little is known of the early life of Gertrude, who was born on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1256, allegedly in Thuringia (within the Holy Roman Empire). At age five, she entered the monastery school at St. Mary at Helfta (variously described both as Benedictine and as Cistercian), under the direction of its abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn. It is speculated that her devout parents offered her as a child oblate to the church. However, given that Gertrude implies in the Herald that her parents were long dead at the time of writing, it is possible that she entered the monastery school as an orphan.
Gertrude was entrusted to the care of Mechtilde, younger sister of the Abbess Gertrude, and joined the monastic community in 1266. It is clear from her writings that she received a thorough education in a range of subjects. She, and the nun who authored Books 1 and 3-5 of the Herald, are thoroughly familiar with scripture, the Church Fathers such as Augustine of Hippo and Gregory the Great, and also contemporary spiritual writers such as Richard and Hugh of St. Victor, William of St. Thierry, and Bernard of Clairvaux. Gertrude’s writing demonstrates that she was well-versed in rhetoric, and her Latin is very fluent.
Saint Gertrude by an anonymous artist
In 1281, at age 25, she experienced the first of a series of visions which continued for the rest of her days, and which changed the course of her life. Her priorities shifted away from secular knowledge and toward studying scripture and theology. Gertrude devoted herself strongly to personal prayer and meditation and began writing spiritual treatises for the benefit of her fellow nuns. She received “invisible stigmata“. Gertrude became one of the great mystics of the 13th century. Together with her friend and teacher Mechtilde, she practiced a spirituality called “nuptial mysticism” in which they came to see themselves as the Brides of Christ.
Gertrude died at Helfta, near Eisleben, around 1302.
Works
Gertrude produced numerous writings, though only some survive today. The longest surviving work is the Legatus Memorialis Abundantiae Divinae Pietatis (known in English today as The Herald of Divine Love or The Herald of God’s Loving-Kindness, and sometimes previously known as Life and Revelations), partly written by other nuns. There also remains her collection of Spiritual Exercises. A work known as Preces Gertrudianae (Gertrudian Prayers) is a later compilation, made up partly of extracts from the writings of Gertrude and partly of prayers composed in her style. It is also very possible that Gertrude was the author of a part of the revelations of Mechthild of Hackeborn, the Book of Special Grace.
The Herald is composed of five books. Book 2 forms the core of the work, and was written by Gertrude herself; she states that she began the work on Maundy Thursday, 1289. Books 3, 4, and 5 were written by another nun, or possibly by more than one, during Gertrude’s lifetime and probably at least in part at her dictation. Book 1 was written shortly before or after Gertrude’s death as an introduction to the whole collection; it is possible it was written by Gertrude’s confessor, but more probably by another Helfta nun.
Devotion to the Sacred Heart
Gertrude was notable for her veneration of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Her Herald of Divine Love vividly describes her visions of Christ’s heart. Such devotions were based on the belief that Christ’s heart poured forth a redemptive fountain through the wound in his side, an image culminating in a famous articulation by Bernard of Clairvaux in his commentary on the Song of Songs. The women of Helfta—Gertrude foremost, who surely knew Bernard’s commentary, and to a somewhat lesser extent the two Mechthilds, Mechthild of Magdeburg and Mechthild of Hackeborn—made this devotion central to their mystical visions. Gertrude reported a vision on the Feast of John the Evangelist. She was resting her head near the wound in the Christ’s side and hearing the beating of his heart. She asked John if on the night of the Last Supper he had felt these pulsations, why he had never spoken of the fact. John replied that this revelation had been reserved for subsequent ages when the world, having grown cold, would have need of it to rekindle its love.
Later reputation and influence
After her death, Gertrude’s works seem to have vanished almost without trace. Only five manuscripts of the Herald have survived, the earliest one being written in 1412, and only two of these manuscripts are complete. With the invention of printing, Gertrude became far more prominent, with Latin, Italian and German editions being published in the sixteenth century. She was popular in seventeenth-century France, where her trust in and burning love for God were potent antidotes to Jansenism.
Her works were also popular with the Discalced Carmelites in the sixteenth century. Francisco Ribera, the confessor to Teresa of Ávila, recommended that she take Gertrude as spiritual mistress and guide. At the height of Spanish female mysticism, the Spanish Jesuit Alonso de Andrade published a biography of Gertrude, giving Teresa a clear medieval antecedent. Her influence spread to European colonies in Latin America.
In the 19th century, Dom Prosper Guéranger, the restorer of Benedictine monasticism in France, was influenced by Gertrude. His Congregation of Solesmes was responsible for most of the work done on Gertrude in the nineteenth century.
Gertrude was never solemnly canonized, but a liturgical office of prayer, readings, and hymns in her honor was approved by Rome in 1606, considered the equivalent of a canonization. The feastday of Saint Gertrude was extended to the Latin Church by Pope Clement XII and is nowadays celebrated on November 16, her presumed dies natalis, or date of death. Some religious communities, including some Benedictines, celebrate her liturgically on November 17, which had originally been chosen, but was already occupied by Gregory Thaumaturgus. In the event, November 15 became the date for Gertrude, since become November 16. Pope Benedict XIV gave her the title “the Great” to distinguish her from Gertrude of Hackeborn and to recognize the depth of her spiritual and theological insight.
Gertrude showed “tender sympathy towards the souls in Purgatory” and urged prayers for them.
Iconography
Saint Getrude by an unknown artist following Cusco School
Images of Gertrude often show her gazing up to heaven, clothed as a nun with the ample sleeves typical of the choir habit. In the Baroque period it became a widespread artistic practice for the habit to be clearly depicted as that of a Benedictine, though this detail is not historically certain. At times she is also shown as an abbess, carrying a copy of the Rule of St Benedict in one hand and often also a crosier in the other hand. This latter detail is certainly mistaken and arose from confusing Gertrude the Great with Gertrude of Hackeborn, the abbess of St Mary at Helfta. Other artistic attributes distinguishing images of Gertrude are commonly a cross held in her hand and on occasion a heart in the other. Sometimes the heart is displayed on her breast, surrounded by golden rays, and containing within it either a cross, or an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or a small figure of the Child Jesus.
Patronage
Numerous authors mention that in compliance with a petition from King Philip IV of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies in 1609. She was made patron saint of the American cities Puebla de los Ángeles in New Spain (1747). In Peru her feast is celebrated with great festivity. In New Mexico the town Santa Gertrudis de lo de Mora was built in her honor and bears her name.
Parishes are dedicated to Saint Gertrude in Washington, Missouri; Cincinnati, Ohio; Kingsville, Texas; Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada; Franklin Park, Illinois; Vandergrift, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois.
St. Gertrude High School is a Catholic college preparatory day school for young women in grades 9–12 in Richmond, Virginia.
Saint Gertrude Church in Firies, Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland.
Saint Gertrude the Great Catholic School (TK-8th Grade) and Parish in Bell Gardens, California.
What is something you should eat to celebrate the Feast Day of St. Gertrude?
Gertrude lived her life in present-day Germany however, as she is a Patron Saint of the West Indies, I thought it would be fun to celebrate her feast day with a food from the West Indies.
Arroz con Gandules (Puerto Rican Rice with Pigeon Peas
1/2 cup cubed pork fat (like the fat from a pork chop), cut into 1-inch cubes
1/4 cup canned tomato sauce
1/4 cup red sofrito
3 teaspoons Goya Sazón
2 teaspoons adobo seasoning
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon kosher salt or more to taste
15 ounces gandules (pigeon peas) undrained
2 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2 cups long-grain rice rinsed
4 sprigs fresh cilantro
1 piece banana leaf
Instructions
Render the pork fat: In a large caldero or Dutch oven, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil over high heat until hot and shimmering. Sauté the pork fat for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until golden brown.
Cook the rice and beans: Stir in the tomato sauce and sofrito and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the flavors meld. Stir in 1 ½ teaspoons of the Sazón, the adobo seasoning, oregano, and salt. Stir in the beans with the liquid from the can and simmer for 1 minute. Add the chicken broth and bring to a light boil, then add the rice and the remaining 2 tablespoons oil, 1 ½ teaspoons Sazón, and the cilantro. Stir until well combined.
Bring the rice to a boil and cook uncovered for 8 minutes, until only one quarter of the liquid remains. Cover the rice with the banana leaf and reduce the heat to low. Cook for 30 minutes, until all the water evaporates. Remove the banana leaf and fluff the rice with a fork. Serve immediately.
What is a prayer to say for the Feast Day of St. Gertrude?
For the Souls in Purgatory (said to release 1000 souls)
Eternal Father, I offer Thee the Most Precious Blood of Thy 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, those in my own home and within my family. Amen
When is the Feast Day of St. Gertrude the Great celebrated?
This feast day is celebrated on 16 November in the Catholic Church and on 21 November by the Episcopal Church.
I hope that everyone who celebrates has a wonderful day!
