Fr. Andre Prevot - Love, Peace and Joy: Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus According to St. Gertrude the Great (with Supplemental Reading: Confession:Its Fruitful Practice) [Illustrated]

This is an engraving of the miraculous Spanish painting of St. Gertrude. In the late 1500s, Bishop Diego Yepes of Tarragona asked an artist to produce a portrait of St. Gertrude by copying a painting of another nun of her order, distinguishing the portrait of Gertrude by adding the Infant Jesus in her heart, a scroll, and seven rings, representing some of Gertrudes mystical graces. This the artist did. However, he found that except for the habit, he was mysteriously unable to make an accurate copy of the original portrait; what he painted far surpassed what he could have thought or imagined.

Bishop Yepes had this miraculous picture painted in many places. Its fame spread throughout Europe.

Nihil Obstat: Henricus S. Bowden
Censor Deputatus

Imprimatur: Edm. Can Surmont
Vicarius Generalis
Westmonasterii,
Die 7 Decembris, 1911

Originally published by R. & T. Washbourne, Ltd., London, under the title Love, Peace, and Joy: A Month of the Sacred Heart According to St. Gertrude. Published by TAN by arrangement with Burns & Oates. The first TAN edition (1984) was photographically reproduced from the Third Edition, with the addition of About St. Gertrude. Retypeset by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc. in 2007.

Cover design by Milo Persic.

ISBN: 978-0-89555-255-6

Library of Congress Catalog Card No.: 84-51822

Printed and bound in the United States of America.

TAN Books
Charlotte, North Carolina
2012

PRAYER

O God, who in the heart of the holy virgin Gertude didst provide a dwelling well pleasing unto Thee; through her merits and intercession do Thou, in Thy mercy, wash away the stains from our hearts and grant that we may enjoy fellowship with her. Through Jesus Christ Our Lord. Amen.

(Mass for the feast of St. Gertrude)

CONTENTS

About St. Gertrude

S T. Gertrude is one of the greatest saints in the Church. She is the only female saint honored with the title the Great. A woman of the Middle Ages, St. Gertrude the Great lived in the 13th century, the golden century of the medieval age, when the Church was rich in both scholars and mystics, including St. Albert the Great, St. Bonaventure, St. Thomas Aquinas, St. Dominic, St. Francis of Assisi, and St. Clare of Assisi. This was also the age of Dante Alighieri, whose masterpiece, The Divine Comedy, ranks him as the greatest Christian poet of all time. St. Gertrude herself spent her youth in scholarly studies, but then Our Lord Himself intervened to draw her away from all worldly forms of learning.

Gertrude was born in Germany on the Feast of Epiphany, January 6, in the year 1256. Records of her origins are very scanty; she may have been orphaned at an early age. At the age of five, she was placed with the Benedictine nuns at their abbey in Helfta to be raised and educated. The community was governed by the wise and devout abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn (with whom St. Gertrude is often confused). In the abbey, St. Gertrude was confided to the care of St. Mechtilde of Hackeborn, the sister of the abbess; St. Mechtilde exerted a deep influence on St. Gertrude. The two became intimate friends and both were favored by God with revelations. (St. Mechtilde is not to be confused with Mechtilde of Magdeburg, another mystic who lived as a nun in the abbey of Helfta at this time.) Gertrude was a very intelligent child, and she progressed quickly in both sacred and profane learning. At an early age she learned to read and converse in Latin. When she reached the proper age, Gertrude joined the community as a Benedictine nun.

When Gertrude was in her 26th year, she received the first of the many visions of Our Lord which she experienced in her lifetime. This first vision came after a month-long period of affliction of soul which Gertrude had undergone; she states that this had been a preparation for Our Lords visit.

As she describes in her Revelations, the vision occurred in the evening. In accord with monastic custom, Gertrude had bowed to an elderly religious she passed. Upon arising, she beheld not the nun, but Our Lord, who appeared to her as a youth more beautiful than all the children of men. He spoke to her in words full of tenderness and sweetness: Thy salvation is at hand; why art thou consumed with grief? Hast thou no counsellor, that thou art so changed by sadness? Then Gertrude found herself transported in spirit to the choir, where the nuns were accustomed to offer their daily prayers, and Our Lord continued: I will save thee, I will deliver thee; fear not. He placed His hand in Gertrudes as if to ratify the promise. Then He said, You have licked the dust with My enemies, and you have sucked honey amidst thorns; but return now to MeI will receive you, and inebriate you with the torrent of My celestial delights.

Gertrudes heart melted within her, and she desired to approach Our Lord, but she saw a great hedge, which she assumed to represent her faults and crimes, separating her from Him. But Our Lord in His great kindness reached her His hand, and Gertrude found herself instantly by His side.

By this and other illuminations, God enlightened and softened her mind, detaching her from her love of literature and all vanities, which no longer appealed to her. Henceforth God alone was pleasing to her soul, and the yoke of Our Lord became to her sweet, and His burden light, whereas before, Gertrude says she had found them hard, and almost unbearable. She praised God for bringing about this wonderful transformation in her soul, by composing a beverage suitable to my temperament.

During her life St. Gertrude received many other spiritual favors from Our Lord, who took great delight in dwelling in her soul. Our Lord granted Gertrude a most tender familiarity with His Sacred Heart. One of His gifts to her was a mysterious imprinting of His five wounds deep within her heart. On another occasion, St. Gertrude experienced the Infant Jesus reposing within her bosom. Our Lord told her to share His gifts, which she did through writing, and also through her wise and holy counselfor which she had been given a special talent. St. Gertrude faithfully prayed for everyone. She exclaimed to Our Lord, O my Savior, I wish to bring to Thee every soul, that Thou mightest take delight in each.

This great saint died at Helfta, near Eisleben, on November 17 of either 1301 or 1302, at the age of 45 or 46. In the year 1677 Gertrudes name was inserted in the Roman Martyrology, the official catalogue of saints honored by the Church. The entry for her reads as follows: On the 17th of November, in Germany [the Feast] of St. Gertrude, Virgin, of the Order of St. Benedict, who was illustrious for the gift of revelations. In response to a petition from the King of Spain, she was declared a patroness of the West Indies. In the 20th century, St. Gertrudes feast day has been celebrated on November 16.

Three books by St. Gertrude exist today. They are 1) Legatus Divinae Pietatis, that is, The Herald of Divine Love, also called Insinuationes Divinae Pietatis, but usually known in English as the Revelations; this consists of five parts, only the second of which was actually written by St. Gertrude, the others having been compiled by members of her community; 2) the Exercises (or Spiritual Exercises ); and 3) the Liber Specialis Gratiae (of St. Mechtilde). This Book of Special Grace regarding the graces received by St. Mechtilde is considered to have been written by St, Gertrude and another nun. There is a little book known as The Prayers of St. Gertrude, but this is not considered actually to have been written by St. Gertrude; it is said to have been first published in the 17th century. In the 20th century, a little book of prayers was composed out of excerpts from St. Gertrudes Revelations and the Book of Special Grace, adapted from narrative style into the style of direct address; in English this goes by the title of The True Prayers of St. Gertrude and St. Mechtilde.