but there is some speculation. Ultan prophesied that Gertrude would die on 17 March, the very next day, and also the feast day of Saint Patrick. Furthermore, Ultan prophesied that "she may pass joyously because blessed Bishop Patrick with the chosen angels of God... are prepared to receive her." True to the prophecy, Gertrude died the next day after praying all night and taking communion. Shortly after her death, the monk Rinchinus as well as the author of the Vita noticed a pleasant odor in cell with her body. Just before her death in 659, Gertrude instructed the nuns at Nivelles to bury her in an old veil left behind by a traveling pilgrim and Gertrude's own hair shirt. She died in poverty, 17 March 659, at the age, we are told, of thirty-three years. Gertrude's choice of burial clothing is a pattern in medieval hagiography as an expression of humility and piety. Her death and the image of her weak and humble figure is, in fact, a critical point in her biographer's narrative. Her monastery also benefitted from this portrayal because the haircloth and veil in which Gertrude was interred became relics. Bonnie Effros contends that identification with tombs like Gertrude's signaled higher privilege and prestige within the church. Tombs covered with cloths often functioned as altars for those who had access to them. At Nivelles, her relics were only publicly displayed for feast days, Easter, and other holy days. Veneration Gertrude is the patron saint of the City of Nivelles, The towns of Geertruidenberg, Breda, and Bergen-op-Zoom in North Brabant, also are under her patronage. Gertrude was also the patron saint of the Order of the Holy Cross (Crosiers or Crutched Friars). In the Crosier Church in Maastricht, the Netherlands, a large mural from the 16th century depicts eight scenes from her life and legend. The legend of Gertrude's vision of the ocean voyage led her to be as well the patron saint of travelers. In memory of this event, medieval travelers drank a so-called "Sinte Geerts Minne" or "Gertrudenminne" before setting out on their journey. Her attention to the care of her garden led her assistance to be invoked by gardeners, and also against rats and mental illness. Le Tour Sainte-Gertrude is a traditional procession around Nivelles. The abbesses and the canons used to regularly make a long journey outside the walls of the abbey in emulation