This week Holy Church celebrates St Gertrude the Great (d circa 1302). There are many great saints, but not many saint “Greats”. In their sparse ranks are popes Leo, Gregory and Nicholas, all Firsts. Some now place St John Paul II with them, thus breaking the Firsts trend.
Benedict XIV (d 1758) named Gertrude “Great” in part to distinguish her from a homonymous saint, but mostly to emphasise the excellence of her spiritual writings, including Herald of Divine Love and Spiritual Exercises.
Gertrude’s writings describe mystical visions of Our Lord’s Sacred Heart. She was perhaps influenced by the works of St Bernard of Clairvaux and by St Mechtilde, to whose care she was confided at the monastery when she was presented as an oblate at the age of four. She also embraced what some call bridal or nuptial mysticism, a complicated topic, focused on the intimate joining of soul (bride) and Christ (bridegroom).
