She is known by the title “the Great,” which sets her apart from others with the same name. At the age of five, she entered the Cistercian monastery of Helfta (near Eisleben, in northern Thuringia). There, under the guidance of Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn (with whom she is often confused), she received a solid humanistic and theological education.
When she was twenty-five, one night after Compline, she had her first vision, which completely transformed her life. From that moment on, Gertrude became deeply contemplative, focusing her heart and spirit on the Heart of Jesus and on the Eucharist. Even so, her mystical experiences always remained within the framework of liturgy and the Benedictine spirituality that shaped her.
She died on November 17, 1302 or 1303. She was never formally canonized, but in 1674 her liturgical celebration was granted to all Benedictines, and in 1738 to the whole Latin Church. At first her feast was set for November 15; later, in 1932, it was moved to the 16th because of the feast of Saint Albert, though in earlier Benedictine calendars it had also been kept on the 17th.
