Saint Gertrude of Helfta

[CyrilSebastian]

                Gertrude was born on January 6, 1256 in Thuringia.     
                She was entrusted to the monastery in Helfta when she was five years old, in keeping with   
                the custom of having girls raised in convents.     
                Mechtilde passed on to Gertrude the art of liturgical chant, and taught her to read and write.   
                Gertrude went from being a grammarian to being a theologian.     
                She had the Word of God ready to satisfy those who came to consult her.       
                She died November 17, 1302. Her feast day is November 16th.

[CyrilSebastian]

                Saint Gertrude wrote a book entitled The Herald of Divine Love.     
                She tells of the visions granted her by our divine Lord.       
                She wrote this book because she was told that nothing was given to her for her own sake only.

[Shin]

St. Gertrude the Great, pray for us!

For good reason is she known as 'the Great'!

On Saints' Books we have the following priceless works:

St. Gertrude the Great - The Exercises
'Thou art the glorious mirror of the Most Holy Trinity, into which the eyes of the clean of heart may gaze, here only darkly, but there face to face. Come, sprinkle me over with Thy purity, and I shall be cleansed. Touch the secret places of my heart with Thy cleanness, and I shall be made whiter than snow. Let Thy charity, I beseech Thee, prevail by its greatness, and let Thy merits infold me with their abundant holiness, lest I be held back from Thy beauty by my unlikeness. Tu es praeclarum sanctae Trinitatis speculum, quod ibi facie ad faciem, hic autem in aenigmate solum, licet intueri per mundi cordis oculum. Eia resperge me tE puritate et mundabor. Tange tua munditia cordis mei intima, et super nivem dealbabor. Praevaleat quaeso tuae charitatis magnitudo, et involvat me meritorum tuorum copiosa sanctitudo, ne impediat me a te meae venustatis dissimilitudo.'

* St. Gertrude the Great - The Life and Revelations of
'"Ah!" exclaimed Gertrude, "teach me, O best of teachers, how to perform even one action perfectly in memory of Thy Passion." Our Lord replied: "When you are praying, extend your arms to represent the manner in which I extended Mine to God My Father in My Passion and do this for the salvation of every member of the Church, in union with the love with which I stretched out My arms upon the cross." "If I do this," she replied, "I must hide myself in a corner, for it is far from being customary." Our Lord replied: "If any one prays thus with his hands extended, without fear of contradiction, he pays Me the same honour as one would do who solemnly enthroned a king."'

St. Gertrude the Great - The Love of the Heart of Jesus to His Creatures
"Alas! what fruit can I obtain from this exercise, when I am so unstable?" But our Lord, who could not endure to behold the affliction of His servant, with His own hands presented her with His Divine Heart, under the figure of a burning lamp, saying to her: "Behold, I present to the eyes of your soul My loving Heart, which is the organ of the most Holy Trinity, that it may accomplish all that you cannot accomplish yourself, and thus all will seem perfect in you to My eyes; for even as a faithful servant is always ready to execute the commands of his master, so, from henceforth, my Heart will be always ready, at any moment, to repair your defects and negligences."'

* St. Gertrude the Great & St. Mechtilde - Preces Gertrudianae
'This prayer was revealed to St. Gertrude during an unusually abundant influx of grace and light. Our Lord said to her: Whoever repeats this praeyr shall receive the grace to know me more intimately, and shall receive in his soul the splendour of my Divinity, evan as he who holds up to the sun a mirror of pure gold collects therein the dazzling efflugence of its rays.'

[Shin]

Thank you CyrilSebastian! 

[Shin]

And also not to be forgotten:

The Love of the Sacred Heart - Illustrated by St. Mechtilde
'Mechtilde asked our Lord to teach her how she could offer satisfaction to Him for the many members of the Church who at this time (it was Quinquagesima Sunday) showered so many insults on Him. Our Lord replied: "Say 350 times the anthem: 'Tibi laus, tibi gloria, tibi gratiarum actio, O beata Trinitas! -- To thee be praise, to thee glory, to thee thanksgiving, O blessed Trinity,' in reparation for all the indignities offered Me by those who are My members."'

[CyrilSebastian]

               In her writings, Gertrude recalled that the Lord had protected her with compassionate patience and infinite   
               mercy, forgetting the years of childhood, adolescence, and youth.   
               Gertrude was diligent in singing the Divine Office.

[CyrilSebastian]

In 1281, at the age of 25, Gertrude experienced the first of a series of visions that continued throughout her life.

[CyrilSebastian]

Gertrude devoted herself strongly to personal prayer and meditation.

[CyrilSebastian]

In compliance with a petition from King Philip IV of Spain, Saint Gertrude was declared Patroness of the West Indies.

[CyrilSebastian]

St. Mechtilde was employed in the convent looking after the library, illuminating scripts, and writing her own texts in Latin.

[CyrilSebastian]

Images of Gertrude often show her gazing up to heaven, clothed as a nun with the ample sleeves typical of the choir habit.