Saint Gertrude the Great, also known as St. Gertrude of Helfta, was model of grace, intelligence, and peace. She was born in Eisleben, a small town in the county of Mansfield, Germany on January 6, 1263. There is very little known about Gertrude’s childhood, not even the name of her parents, but it is believed that at age 4 she moved to Helfta and was enrolled in a Cistercian monastery that was under the teaching of Abbess Gertrude of Hackerborn. The Cistercian movement was an effort to bring the religious Benedictine community back to a stricter education and faithfulness that was originally intended by St. Benedict. Also, getting an education from an abbess who was so well respected and very devoted to her job inspired Gertrude and encouraged …show more content…
Augustine. She was named a Benedictine Abbess and dedicated her career as a theologian to God. Gertrude’s divine experiences and visions are so prominent in history because she was able to keep meticulous records. Not only did she write down the events that occurred in her visions, but the dates they came to her on. The first date was Monday, January 25, 1281, in which she was overcome with light, not only physically, but also spiritually, all of her darkness was driven out with light. The light brought by Jesus in her visions shone off of St. Gertrude and affected those around her. Her sisters, and closets companion were quick to see that Gertrude had a special calling and was very heavenly. These visions from God took place throughout the remainder of her life. St. Gertrude the Great has many miracles to her name and they normally occurred through prayer. A couple accounts transpired where a person troubled by temptations and darkness saw a dream that encouraged them to pray to St. Gertrude. After following the orders, their temptations were diminished and darkness left them. Accounts have also been written by righteous and faithful persons about their experience with St. Gertrude. In their prayer with Jesus they have received the message that St. Gertrude the Great is graced with divine love and
Shakespeare’s sinful woman in the tragedy Hamlet is named Gertrude. Wife of Claudius and mother of the prince, she is not selected by the ghost for vengeance by the protagonist. Let’s consider her story in this essay.
Queenie Volupides had an argument with her husband the night of his death and went to the country club. At 1 am she left the country club and invited her friends over for another drink. Queenie’s friends got there 10 minutes after she did. She claimed that Arthur fell down the stairs going to get another drink. The autopsy report showed that Author died from a wound in the back of his head, and that he was drunk. I believe that
Julian of Norwich is so humble and she tells us that God never gave her a sign that he loved her more than anybody else. Julian of Norwich states, “Indeed I was not shown that God loved me better than the lowest soul that is in a state of grace, for I am sure that there are many who never had a showing or vision, but only the normal teaching of Holy Church, who love God better than I do” (41). Julian of Norwich tells us that there are other people out there who have not experience such visions and only learn from the teachings of the Holy Church who love God more than she does. In addition, she also explained to us how she never received a sign from God that specifically stated that she was more loved or any more important than other people. Julian of Norwich believe people can receive God’s grace more spiritually than she can explain it. Julian of Norwich states, “But I neither can nor may show the spiritual vision as openly or as fully as I would like to. But I trust that our Lord God almighty will out of his own goodness and love for you make you receive it more spiritually and more sweetly than I can or may tell it” (41). Unfortunately, Julian of Norwich is unable to give us descriptions of the visions that God gave her. However, she wishes that people will
Her choices of metaphors are simplistic explanations providing the backdrop for the emotional and spiritual connection we seek in following Christ. The symbolic comparisons of Mary Magdalene, her relationship to Jesus, mirrors some of Julian of Norwich’s personal spiritual journey of prayerful contemplation while seeking intimacy in her relationship to God.
St. Boniface, originally named Winfrith, was an extremely studious man, a converted monk, priest, missionary and finally martyr. Born in 672, near Exeter, England, St. Boniface at an early age developed a desire to follow the path of God and live a monastic life. Through non-stop prayer and religious practices, he tuned his mind and body to reach beyond the obstacles and enticements of everyday life at his young adult age. He was a major influence on society during his life and affected the lives and history of Germany permanently. Often called the “Apostle of Germany”, St. Boniface was a strong believer in the principles of the Church and truly wanted to open any pagan believers minds to the knowledgeable and rewarding path of the Christian life.
When Catherine was six she saw a bridal chamber up in the heavens with Jesus Christ who bestowed upon her the sign of the cross and his eternal bene...
Queen Gertrude is the wife of the late King Hamlet and the mother of their son Hamlet; she is a simple yet important character in a play called Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Gertrude finds herself in a dilemma after the sudden death of her husband King Hamlet. She hastily decides to marry the former king's brother Claudius. Hamlet becomes incredibly angry over this state of affairs, but, rather than halt her engagement Gertrude continues on. The queen requests that Hamlet stays in the kingdom rather return to his studies. She must continue to make attempts to cover up Hamlet's behavior, which eventually cause her death at the end.
Gertrude Stein is one of the most celebrated authors and patrons of the arts. She encouraged, influenced and aided many literary and artistic figures through her support, investment and writings.
Teresa the Avila is the last of the most accomplished women of the Middle Age. She was a Spanish nun, like Hildegard, who had mystic visions. She viewed Jesus as a spouse. After a while in her convent she decided to go all through Spain sharing her religious faith. On this quest she was able to create 25 more monasteries throughout Spain. She suffered considerably because of her visions because her confessor told her to ignore them since they came from the devil. She did not challenge this in a direct confrontation, but instead decided to choose a different priest to be her confessor. Her vision, were finally given authority by the church when she got help from Peter de Alcantara.
By disposition, Gertrude turns to the positive side of life and can’t bear to face pain. The pain she felt after her adultery with Claudius may have been what motivated Claudius to murder her husband. When the conditions were right for her to marry her lover, she was most happy and wished for the difficulties of the past be forgotten.
St. Theophan of Vysha (+1894), better known as Theophan the Recluse, is one of the great 19th century Russian luminaries of the Orthodox Church whose light reaches even unto us in the present, heterodox West. Being virtually our contemporary, he was nevertheless steeped in the ancient Tradition of the Fathers. Having faced in his life existential and intellectual conditions very similar to our own, he is a bridge to authentic spiritual life in Christ, making the wisdom of the Christian Tradition easily accessible to us. This should not be particularly surprising, for as Christ himself tells us, a light is kindled not to be hidden under a basket but to be held aloft to shed light for all. One must stubbornly persist in blindness not to behold this Light Who has been providentially kindled in St. Theophan for our sake in these latter days.
Gertrude, as the Queen and mother of Hamlet, should exemplify the traits of the Superego defined by Freud. He states that the superego is the “internalized ideals that we have acquired from our parents or society.” (Freud) Given the roles that she plays throughout the play it is reasonable to expect that Gertrude would serve as a moral compass throughout the play and help to encourage righteous behaviors within the other characters. Instead of regulating the morality of her kingdom, Gertrude loses a sense of her role earlier than any of the other characters.
The Queen gives a remarkably detailed account of Ophelia’s death leaving one to believe that she may have witnessed the event. We know that she emphasized with Ophelia’s suffering to such an extent that perhaps she realized that the kindest action to take would be to let Ophelia decide her own fate, although she clearly was not in a fit state of mind to do this and was barely aware of her surroundings “incapable of her own distress.” Ophelia’s death is “beautified” as she dies in a romantic and beautiful scene befitting her character where she was surrounded by her garland of flowers. (Ophelia herself was “beautified” in a letter from Hamlet which Polonius found to be a “vile phrase.”) There is much detail, leading me to believe that Gertrude is trying to soften the blow for Laertes who is already enraged over his father’s death and his sister’s madness; the King says, “How much I had to do to clam his rage.” This is a typically selfish reaction of Claudius which serves to emphasize the need for Laertes to control his grief, as he is an extremely fiery character.
She is protected by the ghost, too, who commands Hamlet not to punish her and intervenes in the closet scene when Hamlet's attack on Gertrude is at its height. The ghost's instructions to his son are specific:
Hamlet goes to his mother’s closet room when she requests to see him. This is the one scene where we get to see Gertrude’s character, yet uninfluenced by Claudius’s presence. Hamlet at this point in the play is very strongly influenced by his Superego, while Gertrude is still in a flux that her ego has not sorted out yet. She is seemingly blind to the negatives of her actions influenced by her id.