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CIN - GERTRUDE THE GREAT c. 1301 and MECHTILDE c. 1298
St Gertrude the Great was born on the Epiphany 1256, of unknown parentage, and before the age of five, she was made an oblate of Helfta. Unfortunately she has been confused with her namesake the abbess. Helfta was, it seems, a Benedictine House, which adopted certain Cistercian usages. Mechtilde had been given charge of studies, and Gertrude was therefore her pupil. Though content with her life, Gertrude was for many years far from fervent, and more interested in the humanities than theology or devotion.
[eng]
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CATHOLIC ENCYCLOPEDIA: St. Gertrude the Great
Benedictine and mystic writer; born in Germany, 6 Jan., 1256; died at Helfta, near Eisleben, Saxony, 17 November, 1301 or 1302. Nothing is known of her family, not even the name of her parents. It is clear from her life (Legatus, lib.I, xvi) that she was not born in the neighbourhood of Eisleben. [eng]
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Patron Saints Index: Gertrude the Great
Patron Saint Index profile of Saint Gertrude the Great; illustrated. Also known as
Gertrude of Helfta. [eng]
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St Gertrude
St Gertrude was of an illustrious family, born at Eisleben, or Islebe, in Upper Saxony, and sister to St. Mechtildes. At five years of age she was offered to God in the Benedictine nunnery of Rodalsdorf, and at thirty was chosen abbess of that house in 1251; and the year following was obliged to take upon her the government of the monastery of Heldelfs, to which she removed with her nuns. In her youth she studied Latin, as it was then customary for nuns to do; she wrote and composed in that language very well, and was versed in sacred literature. [eng]
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