Gertrude the Great

Gertrude the Great was a German Benedictine who lived 1256-1302. She is celebrated as a saint
by the Roman Catholic Church. She was brought to the covenant of Helfa as a child oblate,
dedicated to Gods service. She had a strong education including Latin and monastic writing
which gave her a firm background when she began to write about her visions.1 Gertrudes visions
emphasized her personal relationship with Christ she often asked questions and interacted with
Christ as an active participant.

Gertrudes covenant of nuns gained authority through their visions and served as consultants for
male clergy members. They even heard confessions of male members of religious orders.
Gertrude gave herself the authority to not partake in Holy Communion when she was ill. In
Gertrudes vision Jesus says:

Why are you troubled, my love? For as often as you desire of me, I, the sovereign priest
and true pontiff, will enter you and will renew in your soul all the seven sacraments in
one operation more efficaciously than any other priest or pontiff can do by seven separate
acts. For I baptise you in my precious blood; I confirm you in the power of my victory; I
take you for my spouse in the pledge of my love; I consecrate you in the perfection of my
most holy life; I absolve you from all stain of sin in the piety of my mercy; I feed you
with myself in the superfluity of my charity, and satisfy you with delights; and I penetrate
your entire being like ointment by the sweetness of my spirit that you may grow in
sanctity and aptitude for eternal life.2

According to the Medieval scholar, Caroline Bynum, Christ himself guaranteed the efficacy of
their prayers, particularly removing souls for purgatory. The basis for their authority and for their
utter serenity with which they exercised it lay in their mystical experiences.3 Therefore Gertrude
and her nuns objected to the order of the church, taking upon themselves the authority not even
given to ordained clergy.

Unlike Julian of Norwich or Hildegard of Bingen, Gertrude does not defend her gender or resort
to the modesty formula by saying I am a woman, ignorant, weak and frail as Julian of Norwich
did her in writings. Instead, Gertrude is boldly confident in her gender and takes on roles that she
should have been barred from due to her gender.4

1
Anna Harrison, The Nuns of Helfta, in The Wiley-Blackwell Companion To Christian
Mysticism, ed. Julia A. Lamm (Hoboken: Wiley-Backwell, 2013), 297-8.
2
Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle
Ages (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press), 202.
3
Caroline Walker Bynum, Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages,
181.
4
Grace M. Jantzen, Power, Gender And Christian Mysticism (Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 2004), 173.
Finally, Gertrude the Great used both maternal and paternal metaphors to refer to God. She used
paternal metaphors to speak of Gods tenderness and utilized maternal metaphors to express the
sometimes sternness of a mother. This flipped the common understanding that mothers are soft
and fathers are strict. In both metaphors, Gertrude focused on the intimacy she experienced with
God.5

Overall, Gertrude the Great challenged the patriarchy by being unapologetic of her gender, not
only taking roles only afforded to male clergy members but in some circumstances leading male
clergy members. Her authority came from her visions and through her writing she transferred
gender roles and expectations.

References

Bynum, Caroline Walker. Jesus as Mother: Studies in the Spirituality of the High Middle Ages.
Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Harrison, Anna. The Nuns of Helfta. In The Wiley-Blackwell Companion To Christian

Mysticism, edited by Julia A. Lamm, 297-310. Hoboken: Wiley-Backwell, 2013.

Jantzen, Grace M. Power, Gender and Christian Mysticism. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press, 1996.

5
Grace M. Jantzen, Power, Gender And Christian Mysticism, 298-9.