Saint of the Day – 13 August – Blessed Gertrude O.Praem. (1227-1297) Princess, Abbess of Premonstratensian Monastery at Altenberg, Germany, Ascetric, gifted with the charism of prophecy and penance. Born on 29 September 1227, died on 13 August 1297.
In the Monastery of Altenburg near Vetzlar, in Germany, blessed Gertrude, the Abbess of the Premonstratensian Order, who, while still a child, was offered to God in this place by her holy mother St Elizabeth, Queen of Hungary.
Gertrude’s father, Louis XIV, Landgrave of Thuringia, had died on a Crusade. Gertrude was entrusted by her mother to the Premonstratensian Nuns of Altenberg near Wetzlar, in Germany. She became the Abbess of this ascetic Order in 1248. Under her government a beautiful Church dedicated to the Virgin and to St Michael was built and, at the same time, a house was erected to give hospitality to the poor and wayfarers.
As early as 1270, she introduced to Altenberg, the Feast of the Holy Sacrament. She was distinguished by her spirit of penance and her gift of predicting future events.
Not long after her death, in 1311, Pope Clement VI authorised her public veneration at the Nonastery of Altenberg. Her Feast was extended by Pope Benedict XIII to the whole Order on 11 July 1729, enriched with Indulgences. It is celebrated today, on 13 August.
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