Gertrude And The Epiphany

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On the feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1256, in Eisleben, Thuringia (located in Holy Roman Empire), Gertrude was born. At the young age of four [1] Gertrude joined monastery school at the monastery school of St. Mary at Helfta, under the direction of abbess, Gertrude of Hackeborn. Gertrude may have been offered as a child oblate to the Church by devout parent, but there is also a strong possibility that the joined the monastery school as an orphan. St. Mechtilde, younger sister of the Abbess Gertrude, took care of Gertrude who later joined the monastic community in 1266. She was thoroughly familiar with scripture and her writing illustrates how well-versed she was in rhetoric. Gertrude was also extremely fluent in Latin. [2] At the age of