Gertrude van der Oosten
Dutch mystic
Feast: 6 January (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Gertrude, of peasant family at Voorburg, worked as a servant at Delft, giving herself to prayer and charity. She was called 'of the East' from a hymn she sang, 'Day breaketh in the East'.
She entered the Beguinage of Delft and reached a high degree of contemplation, with great devotion to the Incarnation and the Passion; she is said to have received the stigmata. She died on the feast of the Epiphany, 6 January 1358.
The miracles
She is honoured as Blessed by long-standing veneration; the Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe a formal cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A servant girl who became a contemplative devoted to Christ's Passion.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Gertrude van der Oosten
- Wikidata Q5553421 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Gertrude van der Oosten (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.