Gertrude (d. 1302), Benedictine nun and visionary, called ‘the Great’. Nothing is known of her parents or her place of origin. From the age of five she was educated in the nunnery of Helfta (Thuringia) under Mechtild (d. c.1285). There she made her profession and spent the rest of her life, undergoing a deep conversion at the age of twenty-five and various mystical experiences throughout her remaining twenty years. These were based on the Liturgy and many of her visions actually took place during the singing of the Divine Office. This needs to be stressed because much of her writing seems emotional and individualist in tone. She was a child of her age in so far as her piety expressed contemporary insistence on devotion to Christ's humanity: she is often regarded as a pioneer of the devotion, which later became popular, to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. From the time of her conversion Gertrude lost interest in secular studies, in which she had been well grounded, and concentrated entirely on Holy Scripture, the Liturgy, and the Fathers. Her own writings include the ‘Legatus Divinae Pietatis’ (usually called The Herald of God's Loving-Kindness or the Revelations of St. Gertrude), of which, however, only the second book (out of five) was actually penned by her, the others being based on her notes. The Book of Special Grace contains the Revelations of Mechtild, but were written by Gertrude; while the collection of prayers, usually attributed to Gertrude and Mechtild in the 17th century, are probably not theirs at all. Other collections of their prayers, extracted from their genuine works, have, however, been made.

Gertrude is usually regarded as one of the most important medieval mystics. She was never abbess, although this title has been claimed for her by confusion with another Gertrude, who was abbess of Helfta when Gertrude entered it as a child. She was never formally canonized but her fame was diffused through the printing of her works in Latin in 1536: in 1677 Pope Innocent XI added her name to the Roman Martyrology and in 1738, at the request of the king of Poland and the duke of Saxony, her feast of 15 November was extended to all countries. Later it was moved to 16 November (in the Benedictine Order 17 November).

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• Works edited by the Benedictines of Solesmes, Revelationes Gertrudianae et Mechtildianae (1875); new improved edn. with French tr. by J. Hourlier, A. Schmitt, and P. Doyère, Oeuvres Spirituellés (S.C., 1967 ff.); Eng. trs. by M. Winkworth, Herald of Divine Love (1993); M. Jeremy, ‘Similitudes in the Writing of Saint Gertrude of Helfta’, Medieval Studies, xix (1957), 48–54. See also arts. in Dict. Sp., vi (1967), 331–9; N.C.E., vi (1967), 450 ff. and Bibl. SS., vi. 277–87