During this time in history, marriage was used to forge political alliances. Gertrude was asked at 10-years-old if she wanted to marry a prince. She was adamant in her refusal and she was not forced to marry. When her father and brother died, she turned to a monastic life.
Gertrude gave her life to charity and abstinence and was in her early thirties when she died. It was written that she was "exhausted by a life of charity, fasting and prayer" at the end of her short life; and that "because of too much abstinence and keeping of vigils . . . her body was sorrily exhausted with serious illness."
Christianity was not widespread in Gertrude's time and she was a participant in the earliest days of of evangelism and the development of monasteries as cities began to grow in Europe. Against the wishes of the local royal family, she and her mother established two monasteries, one for women and one for men. Eventually, they relocated to Nivelles and at 24, she took over the running the monastery there.
To be canonized as a saint, one must have performed at least two miracles.
The first miracle attributed to Gertrude was a miraculous vision at the altar of the martyr Pope Sixtus II (referred to as the "Vision of the True Light") where a flaming sphere illuminated the entire basilica.
The second miracle is called the "salvation of the sailors" and it is said that when a ship at sea foundered, and the sailors called out to pagan gods, one cried out to Gertrude who immediately quelled the storm.
She was canonized and her feast day declared by Pope Clement XII in 1677.
St. Gertrude of Nivelles, O.S.B., is the patron saint of Nivelles, travelers, gardeners, and her grace is requested to ward-off mental illness, rats, and mice. In more recent times, because of a painting of her cradling a cat, she is also known as the patron saint of cats.
I chose to write about Gertrude today, March 17, 2021, not because of my personal religious beliefs, any endorsement of churches, or a belief in miracles, but because this day is generally reserved for the celebration of a man: St. Patrick, a Roman slave raised in Ireland. During Women's History Month, it is important to acknowledge that women played a role in the establishment of Christianity, for better or worse, and that they rarely receive any credit for their work.
Image credit:
by a Flemish painter - Unknown source, Public Domain
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