Gertrude of Helfta: The Herald of Divine Love

The Classics of Western Spirituality

by Gertrude the Great, Margaret Winkworth (Translator)

From her entrance to the Benedictine abbey of Helfta near Eisleben in Saxony, as a child of four in 1260, until her twenty-sixth year, Gertrude lived what she was later to consider a lax and worldly life, following the monastic observance outwardly, but applying her brilliant mind and boundless enthusiasm to secular studies. Then, when she was twenty-five, all was changed. The Lord appeared to her in the form of a beautiful youth inviting her to a conversion of life and to close union with himself. Thenceforth for Gertrude God was all, and her neighbor all in God, and she flung herself into his service with the same wholeheartedness which she had previously brought to her secular studies. She was continually granted extraordinary mystical favors, including an intense awareness of God's loving presence in her soul; and despite her great humility and consequent reluctance she understood that she had been granted these graces for the good of others and was therefore required to make them known.

Genres: Religion, Mysticism, Spirituality, Catholic, Medieval, Classics, Theology

288 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1992

About the author

Gertrude the Great (or Saint Gertrude of Helfta) (January 6, 1256 – ca. 1302) was a German Benedictine, mystic, and theologian. She is recognized as a saint by the Roman Catholic Church, and is inscribed in the General Roman Calendar, for celebration throughout the Latin Rite on November 16.

Little is known of the early life of Gertrude. Gertrude was born on the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1256, in Eisleben, Thuringia (within the Holy Roman Empire). At the age of four,[1] she entered the monastery school at the monastery of St. Mary at Helfta (with much debate having occurred as to whether this monastery is best described as Benedictine or Cistercian),[2] under the direction of its abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn. It is speculated that she was offered as a child oblate to the Church by devout parents. Given that Gertrude implies in the Herald that her parents were long dead at the time of writing,[3] however, it is also possible that she entered the monastery school as an orphan.

Gertrude was confided to the care of St. Mechtilde, younger sister of the Abbess Gertrude, and joined the monastic community in 1266.[4] It is clear from her own writings that she received a thorough education in a range of subjects. She, and the nun who authored Books 1 and 3-5 of the Herald, are thoroughly familiar with scripture, the Fathers of the Church such as Augustine and Gregory the Great, and also in more contemporary spiritual writers such as Richard and Hugh of St Victor, William of St Thierry, and Bernard of Clairvaux. Moreover, Gertrude's writing demonstrates that she was well-versed in rhetoric, and her Latin is very fluent.[5]

In 1281, at the age of twenty-five, she experienced the first of a series of visions[6] that continued throughout her life, and which changed the course of her life.Her priorities shifted away from secular knowledge and toward the study of Scripture and theology. Gertrude devoted herself strongly to personal prayer and meditation, and began writing spiritual treatises for the benefit of her monastic sisters.[7] Gertrude became one of the great mystics of the 13th century. Together with her friend and teacher St. Mechtild, she practiced a spirituality called "nuptial mysticism," that is, she came to see herself as the bride of Christ.[8]

Gertrude died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, around 1302. Her feastday is celebrated on November 16, but the exact date of her death is unknown; the November date stems from a confusion with Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn.

Reviews

[Eve Tushnet · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ardent, theologically profound, so tender! So full of insight: on common Christian fears and anxieties, on the nature of the Trinity, on the experience of mystical union (lol not that I'd know but this is at least beautifully-written!), on frustrations in prayer, on how to live with both humility and confidence. This book is both utterly convinced & utterly convincing that God is Love.

[Kenneth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Part of my reading for this year's Advent season. Saint Gertrude the Great of Helfta was a medieval German Benedictine nun who lived in the second half of the 13th century (dates 1256 - 1302). Her origins and parentage are unknown; she may have been an orphan. In any case, she was entrusted to the nuns of Helfta when she was about 4 or 5 years old. There she received what was an excellent education for the times. At age 26 or thereabouts, she had an overwhelming mystical experience - a conversion experience if you like. Thereafter she was in a spiritually intimate relationship with Jesus. This book is the record of her experiences. Originally written in Latin, it contains five books of which this edition has the first two complete and most of the third, omitting some of the chapters of Book 3 and the last two (4 & 5) in their entirety. Book 2 was written by Gertrude herself; the others by one or more of her sister nuns, some of their contents perhaps dictated to them by Gertrude herself. In any case, Gertrude always tells Jesus how unworthy she is. Jesus reassures her that she is truly loved by Himself, God the Father and the Holy Spirit. Most of Books 2 & 3 are accounts of her dialogues with Jesus about how she was to live her devout life, praying and working for others. She feels guilty about her "negligences", always confessing them (and being forgiven, with Jesus explaining to her how God was using her faults to further His work).

This translation is equipped with copious endnotes, showing the work's allusions to scripture passages, references to liturgical passages and to certain Church Fathers - St Augustine, St. Benedict and others. Also, occasionally to contemporary political events in Germany. And occasionally to why the Latin was translated the way it appears in this version.

[Ephrem Arcement · Rating 4 out of 5]

This edition of The Herald of Divine Love only encompasses the first three books and not the entirety of these either. For the complete work, check out the volumes in the Cistercian Fathers series published by Liturgical Press. Nevertheless, this volume here offers the reader a wonderful taste of the mystic of Helfta. The origins of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus which would develop in later centuries in Roman Catholicism can be traced to this work stemming from the visions of St. Gertrude. While Gertrude may have been a highly imaginative mystic, her sincere devotion to Christ is relentless, unquestionable, and inspiring. One need not have a taste for the spirituality of the medieval female mystics to be nourished by this sincere work of one who sought God with all her heart.

[Ella]

Read for Hilary Term Secondary Tutorial: the Mystics of Helfta

[Patti Clement · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved reading from this Classics of Western Spirituality for my Foundations of Spirituality course! I was really intrigued by the similarities of some of her spiritual exercises to the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola! I like to believe that because she lived from 1256-1302 and preceded St. Ignatius that he would have been inspired by her.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by a nun during the High Middle Ages, this book is a very personal story of a life lived with God. Beautifully written and thought-provoking.