Sometimes the heart is displayed on her breast, surrounded by golden rays, and containing within it either a cross, or an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus or a small figure of the Child Jesus. Patronage In compliance with a petition from King Philip IV of Spain she was declared Patroness of the West Indies; in Peru her feast is celebrated with great pomp, and in New Mexico the town Santa Gertrudis de lo de Mora was built in her honor and bears her name. Legacy The Monastery of St. Gertrude in Cottonwood, Idaho, is home to a community of some 50 professed Benedictine nuns. Parishes are dedicated to Saint Gertrude in Washington, Missouri; Cincinnati, Ohio; Kingsville, Texas; Woodstock, New Brunswick, Canada; Franklin Park, Illinois; Vandergrift, Pennsylvania; and Chicago, Illinois. St. Gertrude High School is a Catholic college preparatory day school for young women in grades 9–12 in Richmond, Virginia. Saint Gertrude Church in Firies, Killarney, County Kerry, Ireland. Saint Gertrude the Great Catholic School (TK-8th Grade) and Parish in Bell Gardens, California. Church of St. Gertrude, Kaunas, Lithuania. See also Christian mystics Saint Mechtilde of Hackeborn Blessed Mary of the Divine Heart Notes References Gertrude of Helfta, The Herald of Divine Love, translated and edited by Margaret Winkworth, introduced by Sister Maximilian Marnau, preface by Louis Bouyer. Classics of Western Spirituality. (New York: Paulist Press, 1993) [This contains a full translation of Books 1 and 2, and a partial translation of Book 3.] Further reading Gertrude the Great of Helfta, Spiritual Exercises, Translated, with an Introduction, by Gertrud Jaron Lewis and Jack Lewis. Cistercian Fathers series no. 49, (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Publications, 1989) Gertrud the Great of Helfta, The Herald of God's Loving-Kindness, books 1 and 2, translated, with an Introduction, by Alexandra Barratt. Cistercian Fathers series no. 35, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1991) Gertrud the Great of Helfta, The Herald of God's Loving-Kindness, book 3, translated, with an Introduction, by Alexandra Barratt. Cistercian Fathers series no. 63, (Kalamazoo, MI: Cistercian Publications, 1999) External links Benedict XVI, "On St. Gertrude", General audience, October 6, 2010 The Life and Revelations of Saint Gertrude the Great - the full text online. Dolan, Gilbert. St. Gertrude the Great, Sands & Co., London, 1913 St. Gertrude of Helfta at the Christian Iconography web site. 1256 births 1302 deaths 13th-century Christian mystics 13th-century Christian saints 13th-century German women writers 14th-century Christian mystics 14th-century Christian