St. Gertrude School History

Our Patron Saint 

January 6, 1256 – November 17, 1302

Feast Day: November 16   

          Saint Gertrude (Gertrude the Great) was born in Saxony (Germany) in 1256. At  the age of five, she was placed in the care of the Benedictine nuns in their convent at Rodalsdorf. She studied and made rapid progress in the liberal arts. St. Gertrude became  a great scholar and took her vows as a Benedictine nun.

            St. Gertrude moved to the monastery at Helft and was elected Abbess. At the age  of 26, she experienced the first of many visions and revelations. These mystic experiences were, for St. Gertrude, a living encounter with Christ and the revelation of a  bond of love between Out Lord and herself. These remarkable visions and revelation continued until her death in 1302. 

           Her life was one of devotion! It revolved around the study of the Holy Scripture, spiritual reading and writing, prayer and the liturgy. St. Gertrude’s life was not filled with  magnificent events or striking actions. It was a life of great spirituality; a mystic life of a cloistered nun who had a great devotion to the Sacred Heart and the Lord’s Passion. St.  Gertrude became the first great apostle and prophet of the devotion to Our Lord’s Sacred Heart as a symbol of God’s infinite love for us! 

           St. Gertrude shared her love for Christ with others through the prayers she wrote and through her journal about her mystical experiences. Of her writing, only a few have  come down to us. The books she wrote show her deep faith, and her understanding of the incarnation and the Trinity.