Saint Gertrude of Nivelles

Pippin the Elder’s Daughter

AD 626-659

Born: Landen, Belgium

Died: Nivelles, Belgium

Patron Saint of travelers, gardeners, mentally ill, intercessor for souls, pestilence, and cats

Saint Gertrude has evolved as a patron saint throughout the ages because the symbolism of her icon has confused even the most faithful. Gertrude was known for her intercessory prayer for those in purgatory, which over the ages had been traditionally represented by mice. Over the years as people were not as attuned with the representation of iconography within religious art Saint Gertrude became the patron saint of pestilence, and eventually to represent that idea she was shown with a cat. The depiction of a cat then elevated her to a new status of sainthood that honors our domestic feline companions. Although Saint Gertrude’s original devotion has been hijacked, the core of her character has remained in tact.

In this representation of Gertrude the mice hang out at the bottom of her crosier pastoral staff in which she symbolically rules with the status as a shepherd of the flock of God. Even at the age of ten she angrily turned down a noble marriage for a devoted religious life. Partnered with her mother after the death of her father, Pepin the Elder, they built an abyss that was known for its hospitality for pilgrims in response to her unwavering fidelity. The garden scene depicted within the painting is in reference to Gertrude’s feast day marking the Spring planting season revealing her title of patroness to gardening.

Saint Gertrude’s adherence to holiness only ads to the humor attached to her transmogrify of saintliness.