Gertrude of Nivelles
Virgin, and Abbess of the Benedictine monastery of Nivelles;
From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, “St. Gertrude of Nivelles”
Patronages
According to Catholic tradition, as recorded in the sources cited for each patronage:
Departed souls
She, therefore, became the patroness and protector of departed souls.
Recorded as patron of departed souls in:
- Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, 1897, S. GERTRUDE, V. ABSS. OF NIVELLES.
Fever
She is also patron of travellers, and is invoked against fever, rats, and mice, paticularly field-mice.
Recorded as patron of fever in:
Mice
She is also patron of travellers, and is invoked against fever, rats, and mice, paticularly field-mice.
Recorded as patron of mice in:
Nivelles
Recorded as patron of Nivelles in:
- Husenbeth, Emblems of Saints, 1882, PATRONS OF COUNTRIES AND CITIES.
Rats
She is also patron of travellers, and is invoked against fever, rats, and mice, paticularly field-mice.
Recorded as patron of rats in:
Travelers
She is also patron of travellers, and is invoked against fever, rats, and mice, paticularly field-mice.
Recorded as patron of travelers in:
- Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, St. Gertrude of Nivelles
- Baring-Gould, The Lives of the Saints, 1897, S. GERTRUDE, V. ABSS. OF NIVELLES.
Also recorded as patron:
Feast day
- March 17 · Traditional date, Butler, Lives of the Saints, 1812
From Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, “St. Gertrude of Nivelles”
born in 626;
died 17 March, 659.
She was a daughter of Pepin I of Landen, and a younger sister of St. Begga, Abbess of Andenne.
One day, when she was about ten years of old, her father invited King Dagobert and some noblemen to a banquet.
When on this occasion she was asked to marry the son of the Duke of Austrasia she indignantly replied that she would marry neither him nor any other man, but that Christ alone would be her bridegroom.
After the death of her father in 639, her mother Itta, following the advice of St. Amandus, Bishop of Maestricht, erected a double monastery, one for men, the other for women, at Nivelles.
She appointed her daughter Gertrude as its first abbess, while she herself lived there as a nun, assisting the young abbess by her advice.
Works of art
