ST GERTRUDE OF DELFT, VIRGIN

ST GERTRUDE OF DELFT, VIRGIN - 6 JANUARY

SAINT GERTRUDE OF DELFT, VIRGIN

One of the saints remembered by the Church this weekend is Saint Gertrude of Delft. She was born in Voorburcht, now in Holland, to peasant parents around the beginning of the 14th century. Saint Gertrude went into domestic service at Delft. After living a pious life for many years, Saint Gertrude was engaged to be married. But her fiancé broke with her and married another woman. Broken-hearted at first, Saint Gertrude gradually overcame her anguish and chose a new direction in life. She joined the Beguinage in Delft.

The Beguines were sisterhoods of celibate women who lived in common households, prayed together, and dedicated themselves to works of mercy. Beguines could hold property and leave the community to marry. Here, though not a nun, or bound by religious vows, Saint Gertrude profited from the ample opportunities for contemplation and prayer and all thoughts of marriage evaporated. She wrote the following, "With my evening prayers before retiring to rest, this passage of the gospel came suddenly to my mind: 'Anyone who loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we shall come to him and make our home with him.' At these words my heart felt your presence, O my sweet God and my delight... may I remain inseparably attached to you even when I am obliged to perform external duties for my neighbour’s good. And afterwards may I return to seek you within me."

Saint Gertrude had a great devotion to the Passion of Christ, and it is said that on Good Friday 1340, images of Christ’s wounds appeared on her body as she lay prostrate before a Crucifix. Often her wounds would gush blood from her hands, feet, and side. Word of Saint Gertrude’s stigmata spread throughout the countryside and many people came to her, interrupting her prayerful solitude and wishing to see her wounds. She begged God to do something about this and eventually the bleeding stopped, but the visible wounds remained with her for the rest of her life. Saint Gertrude died in Delft in 1358 on the Solemnity of the Epiphany.

From Spiritual Thought from Fr Chris

PRAYER:

Grant, we beseech you, almighty God, that the venerable feast of Saint Gertrude may increase our devotion and promote our salvation. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

➡️ More information about Saint Gertrude of Delft

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