February 18: The Other St. Gertrude

Gertrude was born Catherine to an Italian Catholic family with ten children; however, only three girls survived, including Catherine.  She joined the Society of St. Angela Merici after secretly receiving her First Communion in 1867, and then founded (several years later) the Institute of the Sisters Adorers of the Blessed Sacrament (which was the origin of the Sisters Sacramentine), taking the name Sr. Gertrude.  Despite bouts of illness and hardship, which became impediments to her dream of honoring Jesus in the Eucharist through a religious order, she persevered and continued to listen to God’s call for her life.  The charisms she was most known for included prayer, sacrifice, mortification, obedience, humility, and charity (toward the poor).  St. Gertrude was canonized in 2009 by Pope Benedict XVI, and her feast day is February 18.