Saint Gertrude the Great: Friendship with the Lord Jesus
Each year, around November 2 (All Souls’ Day), posts begin to appear online encouraging people to pray a specific prayer associated with Saint Gertrude the Great with claims that recitation of this prayer will release 1,000 souls from Purgatory each time it is recited. Beyond the specific problems of the prayer itself (see my comments at the end of this post), it is unfortunate that so many who promote this questionable devotion do so in a way that ignores the dynamic life and teachings of a remarkable saint.
So, as we look forward to the celebration of the Memorial of Saint Gertrude on November 16, what lessons can we learn from this celebrated Benedictine author and mystic?
Gertrude was born in Eisleben, Germany, in 1256. Nothing is recorded about her parents or family of origin, but we do know that she was placed under the care of the Benedictine nuns at Helfta (possibly as a child oblate) when she was five years-old and that eventually became a nun in that community. Gertrude was a truly gifted person. She was a student of Saint Mechtild of Hackenborn and the abbess of Helfta, who is also named Gertrude, both of whom were highly regarded in their own right. Her biographers relate that she mastered the trivium and quadrivium (the universal classical curriculum at that time) and she was passionate about literature, music, and art.
During Advent of 1280, when she was twenty-five, Gertrude experienced a profound conversion and resolved to follow God more closely. Around this time, she had a vision of a young man who took her by the hand to guide her through a tangle of thorns surrounding her. In that young man’s hand, Gertrude recognized “the precious traces of the wounds that abrogated all the acts of accusation of our enemies” (The Revelations, II, 1), and she came to understand that the one leading her to freedom was Jesus the Christ. From that time forward, her intimate union with Christ only continued to grow. Saint Gertrude’s writings show that she had a great devotion to the Passion of Christ and the Eucharist and these devotions were increasingly enriched by her study of Scripture, her experience and study of the liturgy, and the writings of the Fathers of the Church. Taking a cue from the writings of her teacher, Saint Mechtild, she was also among the first mystics to give definite and expression to devotion to the Heart of Jesus. Three books by Saint Gertrude have come down to us (many other pieces of her writing did not survive the centuries): The Herald of Divine Love, The Revelations, and The Spiritual Exercises.
“Consider the contemplation of Saint Gertrude. Consider her charity and familiarity with Christ and humble yourself.”
-Blessed Francis Mary of the Cross Jordan, Spiritual Diary 1/58
Saint Gertrude died in 1301 or 1302, when she was around 46 years old. While there was never a formal process of canonization, a proper Mass and office in honor of Saint Gertrude were approved in 1638 and her name was added to the Roman Martyrology (the Church’s official list of saints) in 1678. She is honored as the patron saint of the West Indies, as one of the patrons of contemplative nuns, and of the monasteries of Benedictine sisters that make up the Monastic Congregation of Saint Gertrude. In 2022, the Episcopal Church in the United States established a common celebration for Gertrude and Mechtild of Hackenborn on November 21 (see Lesser Feasts and Fasts, 522-523).
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I praise and worship you, Father, in deepest humility for your most loving kindness and mercy… You lifted me up with so many great favors. To these you added the inestimable gift of your intimate friendship, and in various ways allowed me to possess your Son’s own heart, that most noble ark of God united with the Godhead.”
-from the Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great; Image: “Santa Gertrudis” by Miguel Cabrera (1763)
In a 2010 General Audience Address highlighting the life and teachings of Saint Gertrude, Pope Benedict XVI reflected:
She is one of the famous mystics, the only German woman to be called “Great,” because of her cultural and evangelical stature: her life and her thought had a unique impact on Christian spirituality. She was an exceptional woman, endowed with special natural talents and extraordinary gifts of grace, the most profound humility and ardent zeal for her neighbor’s salvation. She was in close communion with God both in contemplation and in her readiness to go to the help of those in need.
Of all Gertrude’s contributions to the Christian theology and spirituality, it is her devotion to the Heart of Jesus that has made the most lasting impact. For Gertrude, the symbol of the Heart of Jesus represented the deep and abiding love of Christ, as well as Christ’s union with humanity. This dynamic is beautifully expressed in the Collect for the Memorial of Saint Gertude, which begins: “O God, who prepared a delightful dwelling for yourself in the heart of the Virgin Saint Gertrude.” These words reflect her intense union with Christ and are drawn from the writings of her contemporary, the mystic Saint Mechtilde of Magdeburg, who related that Jesus once said to her, “If you wish to find me, look for me in the heart of Gertrude.”
A second major theme in Gertrude’s spirituality can also be found in petition contained in the Collect for her memorial: “Bring light, through her intercession, to the darkness of our hearts.” Scholars throughout the centuries have commented on her profound understanding of the theology of the Incarnation and the Trinity and her life stands as a lesson on what it means to live the life of a Christian. Here, again, we recall the words of Pope Benedict XVI:
Saint Gertrude’s life… shows us that the heart of a happy life, of a true life, is friendship with the Lord Jesus. And this friendship is learned in love of Sacred Scripture, in love for the liturgy, in profound faith, in love for Mary, so as to be ever more truly acquainted with God himself and hence with true happiness, which is the goal of our life.
As we celebrate the memory of Saint Gertrude, let us pray for the grace to open our hearts to the consoling and transforming love of Christ’s own Heart that so indelibly shaped Gertrude’s life and teaching, honoring her by making her words of prayer our own: “May my soul bless you, O Lord God my Creator, may my soul bless you. From the very core of my being may all your merciful gifts sing your praise.”
Saint Gertrude the Great, pray for us.
O God,
who prepared a delightful dwelling for yourself
in the heart of the Virgin Saint Gertrude,
graciously bring light, through her intercession,
to the darkness of our hearts,
that we may joyfully experience you present and at work within us.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
God, for ever and ever. Amen.
-Collect for the Memorial of Saint Gertrude from The Roman Missal
*Regarding the so-called “Prayer of Saint Gertrude”…
The prayer “for the souls in Purgatory” which is said to have been revealed to Saint Gertrude does not appear in any of her writings and has never been given official canonical recognition. Moreover, it is important to note that Pope Leo XIII officially condemned the attachment of extravagant promises (such as the release of 1,000 souls from Purgatory for the recitation a single prayer) to these kinds of devotions (see Acts of the Apostolic See 31, no. 727 which provides a general condemnation of these sorts of devotions and 32, no 243, r. 8 which instructs that any pamphlets or leaflets containing promises to release one or more souls from Purgatory are to be rejected by the Faithful and any indulgences attached to the them should be presumed invalid).
The “approval” of this devotion by a cardinal is directly tied to the publication of a small book on Purgatory by Fr. Paul O’Sullivan, O.P. and should not be confused with official recognition of this prayer as part of the private revelations of Saint Gertrude or as approval by the Holy See.
While we should never cease in praying for the souls of the faithful departed, we should always be mindful that our prayer is in union with the prayer of the Church and informed by Church teaching.
Thanks to the blog Veneremurcernui for their exploration of claims associated with the “The Prayer of Saint Gertrude”.
