Gertrude the Great
Roman Catholic Saint
Feast: 16 November (current Roman calendar, optional memorial) · 16 November (1962 Missal, III class)
Who they were
Gertrude was born in Germany on 6 January 1256; nothing is known of her family. At five she entered the school of the Benedictine monastery of Helfta, then governed by the abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn, and was entrusted to St Mechtilde, with whom she formed a lifelong friendship.
She gave herself with great ardour to study, and in her twenty-sixth year began a series of visions of Christ that lasted the rest of her life, recorded in her writings, above all the Herald of Divine Love. She died at Helfta in 1301 or 1302.
The miracles
She was never solemnly canonised: a liturgical office in her honour, approved by Rome in 1606, is considered the equivalent of canonisation.
Why that counted as sanctity
Gertrude, a mystic of the Heart of Jesus, lived in intimate friendship with Christ within the ordinary round of monastic prayer and study.
Connected on this site
- Gertrude of Hackeborn Saint“At five she entered the school of the Benedictine monastery of Helfta, then governed by the abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn, and was entrusted to St Mechtilde, with whom she formed a lifelong friendship.” — this site's research
- Mechthild of Magdeburg Saint“About 1270 she joined the Cistercian nuns at Helfta, esteemed by St Mechtilde of Hackeborn and St Gertrude the Great.” — this site's research
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - St. Gertrude the Great
- Wikipedia - Gertrude the Great (veneration)
- Wikidata Q61934 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Gertrude the Great (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.