GERTRUDE
533
GERTRUDE
too pompous a display of incongruous quotations.
From the point of view of doctrine he treats, for the
greater part, ethical subjects, and inveighs against
intemperance and the dissokiteness of nioral.s. He
labours mainly for reform within, frequently exhorts
to penance, and threatens his flock with the judgments
of God, but does not leave them without words of hope
and consolation. His style is far from imiform and
differs according to his hearers. Cold and accurate in
the setting forth of dogma, he most frequently stirs
the passions ami resorts largely to allegory and word-
painting; his language, although having all the
piquancy, naivete, and originality of the old French
chronicles, is always dignified and becoming.
Gerson's works were pubUshed directly after the introduction of printing, first at Cologne in 1483 (4 vols, in fol., for details consult Schwab, op. cit. ad finem). Both French editions, the one by Richer (Paris, 1606, 4 vols.), the other by Ellies-Dupin (Ant- werp, or rather .Amsterdam, 1706, 5 vols, in fol.) were prepared under the influence of Galilean ideas and with a view to religious polemics. They were hastily and confusedly compiled without any great care and contain serious defects. However, the one by Ellies- Dupin is fairly complete and the first four volumes embody over 400 of Gerson's treatises. The refer- ences to Gerson's works in this article are to this edi- tion.
Bess, Johannes Gerson und die kirchenpoUtischen Parteien Frankreichs vor dem Konzil zu Pisa (1890); Boileau in Revue du Monde Calholique (ISSI),X. 60-80, 394-116, 627-45; Borix, Tractatus de Papa (1870), I; Bourret, Essai hislorique et critique sur les sermons fran^aii de Gerson (Paris, ISoS); Fou- GERE, Discours at Academic franc. (Paris. 1838, 1843); Jad.irt, Jean de Gerson, 1363-1429 (Reims, 1882); Jourdaix, Doctrina Johannis Gersonii de theologia mystica (Paris, 1838) in Diet, scien. phiios, (1875). 61(5-9; Masson, Jean Gerson, sa vie, son temps, ses (euvres (Lyons, 1894); Re yxolds. Early Reprints for English Readers: John Gerson (London, 1880); Richerius, Apologia pro Joanne Gersonis pro suprema EcclcsicE et concilii generalis auctoritatc (Leyden, 1676J; Salembier, Pelrus de Alliaco (Lille. 18S6); Idem, Le grand schisme d' Occident (Paris, 1900), tr. Mitchell (London. 1908); Schwab, Johannes Ger- son, Professor der Theoloffie und Kanzler der Universitdt Paris, eine Monographic (Wiirzburg, 1878); Thomassy, Jean Gerson et le grand scttisme d'Occident (2n<i ed. 1872); Valois. La France et le grand schisme (Paris, 1896. 1902). IV; Wixkel- MANN, Gerson, Wiclefus. Hussus, inter se et cum reformatoribus comparali (Gotlingen, 1857). LOUIS SaleMBIEH.
Gertrude of Aldenberir, Blessed, Abbess of the Premonstratensian convent of Aldenberg, near Wetz- lar, in the Diocese of Trier; b. about 1227; d. 13 August. 1297. She was the youngest of the three daughters of Louis VI, margrave of Thuringia, and his wife St. Elizabeth of Hungary. Gertrude's father died on his way to the Holy Land shorth" before she was bom. She was scarcely two years old, when St. Elizabeth brought her to the convent of Aldenberg, where she afterwards became a nun. In 1248, being then only twenty-one years old. she was elected Abbess of Alden- berg, over which she ruled forty-nine }-ears. ^\'ith the inheritance which she received from her uncle, the Margrave of Meissen, she erected a church and a poor- house. She took personal charge of the inmates of the poorhouse and led a life of extreme mortification. When Urban VI published a crusade against the Sara- cens, Gertrutle and her nuns took the cross and obliged themselves to contribute their share to the success of the crusade by prayer and acts of mortification. In 1270 she began to observe the feast of Corpus Christi in her convent, thus becoming one of the first to intro- duce it into Germany. Clement VI permitted the ecclesiastical celebration of her feast to the convent of Aldenberg, and granted some indulgences to those who visit her relics at that convent.
Thuringia Sacra (Frankfurt, 1737). 296-300; Acta SS., Au- gust, III; Dunbar. Dictionan/ of Saintly Women (London, 1904)» I, 345 sq.; Kessel in Kirchenlex., s, v.
Michael Ott.
Gertxude of Hackebom, Cistercian Abbess of Helfta, near Eisleben; b. near Halberstadt in 1232; d.
towards the end of 1292. She belonged to the noble
Thuringian family of Hackebom and was a sister of
St. Mechtild. At an early age she entered the Cister-
cian convent of Kodersdorf, of which she was elected
abbess in 1251 when she was onh' nineteen years old.
In 1253 she founded, with the assistance of her two
brothers, Albert and Louis, the convent of Hedersle-
ben. Because her own consent suftered from want of
water she obtained from her brothers the castle of
Helpeda, or Helfta. with its surrounding land, and
transferred her community to that place in 1258.
During her rule, the convent of Helfta became the
most famous abode of asceticism and mysticism in
Gerrnanj-. She required her nuns to be educated in
the liberal arts, but insisted especially on the study of
Holy Scripture. Gertrude was a model abbess, remark-
able for her piety as well as the prudent direction of her
nuns. About a year anil a half before her death, the ab-
bess was seized with apoplexy, and during her sickness
gave to all her nuns an example of heroic patience and
resignation to the will of God. The Abbess Gertrude
must not be confounded withSt. Gertrude "theGreat".
The Abbess Gertrude, quite in contrast with St.
Gertrude " the Great", never WTote anything, received
no extraordinarj' revelations from God. and has not
been canonized. She was born more than 20 years
before Gertrude " the Great", who lived as an ordinary
nun in the same convent.
St. Mechtild, Liber specialis gratice, pars V, i, ii, and the whole of pars VI; St. Gertrude, Legatus divince gratia, lib. V, c. 1. in the Solesmes edition of Reielationes Gertrudiana ac Mech- tildiana (Paris. 1875. 1877), I, 497-517; II, 373-390, and the Praiatw to I; Disbar. Diet, of Saintly Women (London. 1904), I. 346 sq.; Michael. Gesch. des deutsch. Volkes seit dem IS. Jahrh. (Freiburg im Br., 1903), III, 175 sq.
Michael Ott.
Gertrude of Nivelles, Saint, Virgin, and Abbess of the Benedict inemonasterv- of Nivelles near Brussels: b. in 626; d. 17 JIarch, 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 old, her father invited King Dagobert and some noblemen to a bancjuet. When on this occasion she was asked to marry the son of the Duke of Austrasia she indignantly replied that she would marr}- 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 ap- pointed her daughter Gertrude as its first abbess, while she herself Hved there as a nun, assisting the young abbess by her advice. Among the numerous pilgrims that ^Tsited the monasterj- of NiveUes, there were the two brothers St. FoUlan and St. Lltan, both of whom were Irish monks and were on their way from Rome to Peronne, where their brother, St. Furseus, lay buried. Gertrude and her mother gave them a tract of land called Fosse on which they built a monas- tery. LUtan was made superior of "the new house, while FoUlan remained at NiveUes, instructing the monks and nuns in Holy Scripture. After the death of Itta in 652, Gertrude entrusted the interior manage- ment of her monastery to a few pious nuns, and ap- pointed some capable monks to attend to the outer affairs, in order that she might gain more time for the study of Holy Scripture, which she almost knew by heart. The large property left by her mother she used for building churches, monasteries and hospices. .At the age of thirty-two she became so weak through her continuous abstinence from food and sleep that she found it necessary to resign her office. After asking the advice of her monks and nuns, she appointed her niece, Wulfetrude, as her successor, in December, 658. A day before her death she sent one of the monks to St. Ultan at Fosse to ask whether God had made known to him the hour of her death. The saint answered that she would die the following day during Holy
