CrucisSt. Gertrude the Great
St. Gertrude the Great was born on 6 January 1256 in Germany, and died around 1302 at the monastery of Helfta. Entrusted to the convent as a small child, she was educated there and became a Benedictine nun, formed by the mystic St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn in the renowned community of Helfta. At first she gave herself chiefly to secular learning, until a profound conversion at the age of twenty-five turned her wholly toward God.
From then she was favored with rich mystical experiences of Christ, which she recorded in her spiritual classic The Herald of Divine Love, along with her Spiritual Exercises. She became one of the great promoters of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, centuries before it became widespread in the Church. The only woman saint honored with the title 'the Great,' she is venerated as one of the foremost mystics of the medieval Church, and her feast is kept on 16 November.
Selected quotes
“Trust draws down mercy as surely as the open valley receives the rain.”
“He who trusts the mercy of God will never be confounded, for that mercy has no end.”
“The more you trust, the more you receive, for God measures his gifts by our confidence in him.”