Saint Gertrude the Great. Was Gertrude the Great a ordinary woman of extraordinary grace?

Saint Gertrude the Great lived in Belgium between 626-659. Born into a very wealthy family, she refused to marry and, with her mother, founded a monastery in Nivelles.

Saint Gertrude was a woman of extraordinary grace, none other than the youngest daughter of Blessed Pepin I of Landen and Blessed Ida of Nivelles. In addition to this illustrious ancestry, Saint Gertrude was the good sister of Saint Begga. So from her earliest childhood years, Gertrude was a girl dedicated to prayer and religious life.

Therefore, given the incredible mouse departure, individuals alluded to her as the patroness of feline sweethearts. So she is frequently portrayed with a feline close to her or with mice running up her staff. So the mice in her symbols are said to address spirits caught in Purgatory, to whom she perseveringly appealed to God.

Biography of Saint Gertrude

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What is Saint Gertrude the Great known for?

Indeed, she ultimately decided to follow the Lord by chasing after a livelihood as a Benedictine nun. So her profound relationship with the Lord in petitioning God prompted her to be hailed as a spiritualist. She was likewise viewed as an extraordinary scholar.

Gertrude the Great is known for being enchanting and ready to prevail upon individuals, entered the Benedictine Order at Helfta, and turned into a sister. She committed herself to her examinations and got instruction in various subjects. Gertrude was conversant in Latin and intimately acquainted with sacred texts and works from the Fathers of the Church, including Augustine.

Albeit little is had some significant awareness of Gertrude’s young life, it is broadly acknowledged that at only four years of age, she was signed up for the Cistercian cloister school of Helfta in Saxony, under the administration of Abbess Gertrude of Hackerborn.

What miracles did Saint Gertrude perform?

Her dad filled in as the city hall leader of Dagobert’s royal residence.

Saint Gertrude became a pious devotee and performed a miracle of having a vision of a flaming sphere. She worked with her mom to begin a cloister at Nivelles, Belgium. Gertrude and her mom both filled in as co-pioneers there.

Gertrude helped assemble new chapels and clinics, and she dealt with explorers and neighborhood individuals out of luck (like widows and vagrants). She likewise invested heaps of energy in petition vigils.

Read also: Who Was St. Patrick?

Key Verse related to Saint Gertrude

“Every time we look at the Blessed Sacrament, our place in heaven is raised forever.”

Gertrude the Great

What is Saint Gertrude the patron saint of?

When her dad kicked the bucket, Gertrude and her mom, Itta, moved to Nivelles (south of present-day Brussels) to set up a religious community, where she turned into an abbess. Therefore, she became known for her dedication to academic and magnanimous works and for dealing with vagrants, widows, and travelers.

According to historical accounts, saint Gertrude is the patron saint of cats. Yet, as the hundreds of years wore on, she became related to rodents.

The connection might have involved early Christian convictions. So Gertrude was known to petition God for the spirits of those in limbo, and middle age specialists frequently depicted those spirits as mice.

Read also: Who is St. Sebastian?

Why is Gertrude the patron saint of cats?

St. Gertrude of Nivelles, O.S.B. Gertrude of Nivelles, O.S.B. (likewise spelled Gertrude, Gertrudis, Gertrud; c. 628 – 17 Mach 659) was a seventh-century abbess who, with her mom, Itta, established the Abbey of Nivelles situated in present-day Belgium.

Saint Gertrude was a very compassionate saint who loved to take care of travelers and was very hospitable; that’s why she was declared the patron saint of cats. She also cared for the sick, especially the poor, for whom she built hospitals. She loved animals and gardening.

Holy person Gertrude had a fantasy about explorers, and her Abby became known for its friendliness. Given her standing, Gertrude turned into the benefactor divine person of explorers, the as-of-late dead (likewise voyagers on an excursion), and grounds-keepers and the deranged.

What did God promise Gertrude?

In His disclosure to St. Gertrude, Jesus didn’t join conditions to recite this request and didn’t determine added necessities. In satisfaction of His guarantee, the benevolence displayed to heathens in light of this intercessory petitioning heaven is an immediate gift from God.

According to biblical accounts, God guaranteed and promised St. Gertrude that 1,000 spirits would be let out of limbo each time the accompanying petitioning God is said ardently: “So everlasting Father, I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Your Divine Son, Jesus, in association with the Masses said all through this present reality. So be it.”

Sincere recitation of the above petitioning God doesn’t convey a guilty pleasure but rather conjures the leniency of God straightforwardly. Along these lines, it can be done without the satisfaction of conditions combined with extravagance. So the request, passionately offered, is good enough in itself.

Prayer to Saint Gertrude

O beloved of Jesus, most blessed Saint Gertrude, in whose heart He has prepared a pleasant dwelling place, you who are the wonder of heaven and earth, the health of the sick, the comfort of the afflicted, please help me in this torment that weighs me down. Remember what Jesus said to you, “Whatever a soul hopes to obtain through your intercession, it will get.

So I will make known everywhere thy powerful intercession for tormented souls.

Amen

Primary Takeaways

Since Gertrude was known for offering neighborliness (to individuals and creatures), she was benevolent to the felines that stayed nearby her cloister, offering them food and love.
Gertrude is additionally connected with felines since she frequently petitioned God for the spirits of individuals in limbo, and specialists of the time represented those spirits as mice, which cats like to pursue.
She was likewise visited by bizarre dreams and said to know the more significant part of the Bible inside and out. In any case, her simple way of life, which included extensive stretches without food or rest, negatively affected her well-being, and she surrendered as abbess in 656 at 30 years old. She passed on three years after the fact.

Conclusion

As a teenager, she longed to become a nun, so she turned down a marriage proposal from a wealthy nobleman. So after her father died in 639, Gertrude built two monasteries at Nivelles at the suggestion of St Amanda of Maastricht.

So having become a priestess at the age of 20, Gertrude retired for the rest of her life to the monastic complex of Nivelles. Saint Gertrude gave a piece of land to Saint Foillan, on which he built the monastery of Fosses.

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Bibliography

Watson, S. (2000). Prepare for Saints: Gertrude Stein, Virgil Thomson, and the mainstreaming of American modernism. Univ of California Press.
Marranca, B. (1994). St. Gertrude. Performing Arts Journal, 16(1), 107-112.
Lestocquoy, J. (1940). The Reliquary of St. Gertrude at Nivelles. The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs, 77(452), 163-164.
Dolan, G. (1912). St. Gertrude the Great. Рипол Классик.
Schats, R., Klomp, M., van Oosten, R. M. R., & Fast, K. (2019). In sickness and in health. An archaeological and osteoarchaeological analysis of St. Gertrude’s infirmary in Kampen (1382-c. 1611). Urban Graveyard Proceedings, 105-119.