The virgin Gertrude, born at Isleben, in the
neighborhood of Mansfield of most noble parents, at the age of five consecrated
her virginity to Christ, to whom she was already mature and marriageable, in
the monastery of the Order of our holy Father Benedict in the city of Rodard.
From her very entrance into the religious life she began a form of angelic
life, and being educated in the more advanced and divine studies, she came to
that perfection of doctrine which the most erudite reasonably look upon with
admiration. Outstanding was her contemplation, through which, being illumined
with many revelations and heavenly visions by God, she wrote under His
inspiration books full of divine wisdom.
Although she shone with such great gifts of nature and grace, although she enjoyed divine colloquies and was distinguished by the gift of prophecy and by many miracles, nevertheless, she go belittled herself that, among the outstanding wonders of the Divine Power, she believed this one to be singular—that the earth should sustain her, the most unworthy sinner, as she often called herself. When she was thirty years old, she was elected Abbess, first of the monastery where she made her profession, and then of Heldefs, or as they call it, Helfta. She exercised this office for forty years with charity, prudence, and perfect regularity of discipline, so that the community seemed to be the house of God, in which angels lived in human form under their mistress Gertrude, who, although she was mother of all, yet showed herself to be the servant of all.
The heavenly Spouse placed His delights in her purest heart, on which the divine Lover also branded the stigmata of His own wounds with the burning lance of love. From that time on she spoke of nothing but Christ whom she carried in her heart, and who declared that He would nowhere be found more at home than in the Sacrament of the Altar, and, after that, in the heart and soul of His beloved one. He attested to the holiness of this game dearest spouse by a word from His own divine mouth when He made it known that, at that time, there was no soul living which was closer to Him, or more pleasing and acceptable.
She venerated with an especial love the Virgin Mother of God, given to her in a particular way by Christ as mother and protectress, whom, together with other citizens of heaven, she frequently beheld. She was so permeated with a burning love and gratitude toward the most holy Sacrament of the Eucharist and the Passion of Christ, that she wholly melted away in tears. By daily suffrages and constant prayers, she freed souls subjected to the flames of purgatory. She burned continually with zeal to promote the divine honor and to win salvation for her neighbor. And so, when she languished rather from her most fervent love of God than from sickness, Christ, accompanied by His most holy Mother, the beloved disciple, and a most beautiful choir of virgins, came to her, and led her soul, freed from the bonds of the body and taken into the secret recesses of His Heart by a marvelous opening in His breast, to the heavenly bridal chamber
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