Virgin, Benedictine nun and mystic writer, born Germany, 1256; died Helfta, Saxony, 1302. At the age of five she entered the monastery of Helfta, where she lived for the rest of her life, devoting herself to study and to writing. In her twenty-sixth year there was granted to her the first of that series of visions which continued until her death. Saint Gertrude's piety is characterized by her devotion to the Sacred Heart. She was buried at the monastery of Helfta where doubtless her body still lies. Many of her works have perished but those now extant are: the "Legatus Divinae Pietatis," the "Exercises of Saint Gertrude," and the "Liber Specialis Gratiae" of Saint Mechtilde. Patroness of the West Indies. Emblems: crown, taper, lily. Equipollent canonization, 1677. Relics in the old monastery at Helfta. Feast, Roman Calendar, November 15,.