November 16

Today the Church celebrates one of the most loved ecclesial mystic heroes of the Middle Ages; Saint Gertrude of Helfta or better-known as Saint Gertrude the Great. Her feast day was made part of the universal Calendar of the Roman Rite by Pope Clement XII in 1738 and she was given the tile of “the great” by Pope Benedict XIV. Born on January 6, 1256 in the region of Eisleben in Germany. Incidentally, this is the same hometown of Augustinian monk turned protestant reformer, Martin Luther. Saint Gertrude died at Helfta on November 17, 1301. However, some scholars say 1302.

Saint Gertrude entered the monastery at Helfta at five years of age. Here she received her spiritual and academic formation under the great holy Abbess Gertrude of Hackerborn. The abbey under the care of Abbess Gertrude saw exemplary growth in holiness and numbers. The monastery witnessed a faithful monastic observance and fruitful intellectual life. For the first part of her monastic life Saint Gertrude dedicated herself to secular intellectual studies. Her focus was on the liberal arts of the period and she had a strong grasp of the Latin language as well as a great love and obsession for the intellectual life. She studied letters and languages almost to a fault. However, at the age of twenty-five Christ made his first appearance to her and said, I have come to comfort you and bring you salvation. This initial and other appearances not surprisingly had a profound effect on her. After these appearances she had a change of heart and a great spirit of contrition for her strong devotion to secular academics. She shifted her enthusiasm for the intellectual life from secular study to theological study with emphasis on sacred scripture and the fathers of the Church. She also began to put down in writing her experiences of profound mysticism and union with Christ, which became one of her most famous writings, The Herald of Divine Love. 

Mysticism is defined as union with God and is one of the great spiritual traditions of the Church. Our first mystics come from very early in the history of the Church. For example, Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Paul who enjoyed an intimate union with Christ. In the patristic period we had figures like Ignatius of Antioch, Saint Ireneus, Saint Jerome, Saint Augustine of Hippo and Saint Gregory the Great and counted as mystics of the Church. In the medieval period we find Saints Bernard and Bonaventure along with the two of the most influential spiritual writers of the Church, Saint John of the Cross and Saint Teresa of Avila. 

Saint Gertrude’s spiritual life, as a Benedictine nun, centered around the Sacred Liturgy. Her attendance at the Divine Office throughout the day and participation in the Eucharistic Sacrifice was the substance of her spiritual food. However, she also spent many hours in prayer and meditation in which the Lord appeared to her. She experienced visions of the Lord for the rest of her life. As we might imagine, they had a powerful effect on her soul. In addition, Saint Gertrude had great power for intercessory prayer and miracles. Her prayers led to many healings of her sisters and those who came to the monastery. Her visions of Jesus and prayer led her to write several beautiful treatises on mysticism and nuptial mysticism, which were shared with her monastic sisters.  

Nuptial mysticism is the experience of the love God has for the human family. In particular, the love between Christ and the Church, which Saint Paul speaks to drawing from the relationship of Israel’s covenantal theology in the letter to the Ephesians 5:21-33; cf. Hosea 2:4, 21 and Isaiah 54: 5-8). Accordingly, this experience is like a mystical wedding, in which Christ appears to the soul and takes it as His bride. This occurred from very early times in the Church where a special offering was made by the soul to Christ. Saint Gertrude was one of these holy women. Saint Gertrude shares this experience with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Agnes who also enjoyed this union with Christ.

In visions the Lord spoke to Saint Gertrude about the souls in purgatory. In one of the visions Jesus showed Saint Gertrude a large table of gold with thousands of pearls attached to it representing prayers for the faithful departed. In another Jesus said he just wanted to be asked to release souls from purgatory. In another vision she was given the prayer for souls many of us may know:

Eternal Father, I offer You the Most Precious Blood of Thy Divine Son, Jesus Christ, in union with the Masses said throughout the world today, for all the Holy Souls in Purgatory, for sinners everywhere, those in the Universal Church, in my home, and in my family.

In addition to her visions of Christ, Saint Gertrude also experienced a vision from Saint John the Evangelist on his feast day placing her by the heart of Jesus. As Saint John rested at the breast of Jesus at the last supper, while the other Apostles were anxious and distressed about the betrayal of Judas and the Passion of Jesus, Saint Gertrude found solace in her visions of Jesus. She compared them to resting in the a tabernacle, a place of peace and comfort.

Mysticism is a profound and intimate union with Christ. But Saint Gertrude with her Benedictine heart, which was touched so deeply by the Lord, brought her union with Christ to her sisters. This union of love goes to the heart of the Benedictine vocation with the virtue and vow of obedience. The love of Christ is what impels the monk to live out his vocation faithfully in the monastery. In chapter five of the Rule on obedience, Saint Benedict teaches his monks, it is love that impels them to pursue everlasting life. The monk in the monastery living under the Rule and Abbot chooses for himself to take the narrow way. He no longer lives for himself but under the obedience of the Abbot, who holds the place of Christ in the monastery, as well as living in obedience to his brother monks. I have come not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me (John 6:38).

This same obedience of love is something all of us are called to live out in our particular vocation. The virtue of obedience can have harsh connotations, but obedience in the monastic life and in any human family is rooted in love for Christ. All of us, in striving to live out this radical call of the gospel, the love of God and love of neighbor. In living out the twofold command to love we desire to be obedient to each other in love. We strive to follow Christ in our home, parishes, families, places of work, out of love and not fear.  We’re obedient to the Gospel and to Christ because we love him. We also are obedient to each other out of love for each other. Love is desiring what is best for the other, this is the difficult and narrow way. Our weakness naturally pushes us towards our own desires and our own needs. However, supernaturally, like the hero Saint Gertrude the Great, we’re to look deep into our hearts where Christ dwells. We strive to be obedient to His will and draw from His Sacred Heart the power to serve Him and our neighbor in love.

Pax,

Fr. Aidan, OSB

Aidan McDermott

Fr. Aidan is a Benedictine monk and priest of the Abbey of Saint Mary and Saint Louis in Saint Louis, Missouri. Father Aidan grew up in Saint Louis with his mother and father and two sisters in a working class Irish Catholic family. He was ordained to the priesthood in 2015, on the Feast of the Holy Name of Mary, and currently serves as the Pastor of Saint Anselm Parish in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. Fr. Aidan holds a BA in English Literature from Webster University in Saint Louis, and a MDiv from Saint John XXIII National Seminary in Massachusetts.

Father Aidan prays his contributions will help the faithful discover how the Benedictine virtues of obedience and humility, can be helpful in their particular vocation to seek the image of Christ through purity of heart in their lives.