Saint Gertrude the Great, Virgin

Gertrude was born in 1256 and at the age of four was entrusted to the convent of Helfta in Saxony, a house famous for learning, where she was taught by Mechthild of Hackeborn. She became an accomplished Latin scholar. At 25, in January 1281, she had an experience she described as a vision of Christ, after which she turned from secular studies to Scripture and the Fathers. Her writings, the Herald of Divine Love and the Spiritual Exercises, set down her visions and prayers and are among the early witnesses to devotion to the heart of Jesus. She never held office in the convent. She died at Helfta about 1301 or 1302. She was never formally canonized; her feast was extended to the whole Church in 1738.