Lutgardis of Aywières ( nl, Sint-Ludgardis; 1182 – 16 June 1246; also spelled Lutgarde) is a
saint from the medieval
Low Countries
The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...
. She was born in
Tongeren
Tongeren (; french: Tongres ; german: Tongern ; li, Tóngere ) is a city and municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg, in the southeastern corner of the Flemish region of Belgium. Tongeren is the oldest town in Belgium, as the onl ...
, known as Tongres in French (which is why she is also called Lutgardis of Tongres or Luitgard of Tonger(e)n), and entered monastic life at the age of twelve. During her life various
miracles
A miracle is an event that is inexplicable by natural or scientific lawsOne dictionary define"Miracle"as: "A surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws and is therefore considered to be the work of a divin ...
were attributed to her, and she is known to have experienced
religious ecstasy
Religious ecstasy is a type of altered state of consciousness characterized by greatly reduced external awareness and expanded interior mental and spiritual awareness, frequently accompanied by visions and emotional (and sometimes physical) euph ...
. Her feast day is June 16.
Life
Lutgardis was born at Tongeren in 1182. She was admitted into the
Benedictine
, image = Medalla San Benito.PNG
, caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal
, abbreviation = OSB
, formation =
, motto = (English: 'Pray and Work')
, foun ...
monastery of St. Catherine near
Sint-Truiden
Sint-Truiden (; french: link=no, Saint-Trond ; li, Sintruin ) is a city and municipality located in the province of Limburg, Flemish Region, Belgium, and has over 41,500 inhabitants, which makes it one of the largest cities in Limburg. The mun ...
at the age of twelve, not because of a vocation but because her
dowry
A dowry is a payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. Dowry contrasts with the related concepts of bride price and dower. While bride price or bride service is a payment ...
had been lost in a failed business venture. She was attractive, fond of nice clothes and liked to enjoy herself. For Lutgarde the cloister represented a socially acceptable alternative to the disgrace of unmarried life in the world.
[ She lived in the convent for several years without having much interest in religious life. She could come and go and receive visitors as she pleased.][Staley, Tony. "From fancy clothes to visions and levitation", ''The Compass News'', 11 June 2004, Diocese of Green Bay Wisconsin]
/ref>
According to her ''Vita'', it was in the parlour, a welcome break in the monotony of monastic observance, that she was visited with a vision
Vision, Visions, or The Vision may refer to:
Perception Optical perception
* Visual perception, the sense of sight
* Visual system, the physical mechanism of eyesight
* Computer vision, a field dealing with how computers can be made to gain und ...
of Jesus Christ showing her his wounds, and at age twenty she made her solemn vow
A solemn vow is a certain vow ("a deliberate and free promise made to God about a possible and better good") taken by an individual during or after novitiate in a Catholic religious institute. It is solemn insofar as the Church recognizes it ...
s as a Benedictine.[ Some of the sisters predicted that her change in behavior would not last. Instead, she became even more devout. Over the next dozen years, she had many visions of Christ, Mary and St. John the Evangelist.][ ]Robert Bellarmine
Robert Bellarmine, SJ ( it, Roberto Francesco Romolo Bellarmino; 4 October 1542 – 17 September 1621) was an Italian Jesuit and a cardinal of the Catholic Church. He was canonized a saint in 1930 and named Doctor of the Church, one of only 37. ...
relates a story that Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III ( la, Innocentius III; 1160 or 1161 – 16 July 1216), born Lotario dei Conti di Segni (anglicized as Lothar of Segni), was the head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1198 to his death in 16 ...
, when recently deceased, appeared to Lutgardis in her monastery to thank her for the prayers and sacrifices she had offered for him during his reign as Roman Pontiff.
Accounts of her life state that she experienced ecstasies, levitated, and dripped blood from her forehead and hair when entranced. She refused the honor of serving as abbess
An abbess (Latin: ''abbatissa''), also known as a mother superior, is the female superior of a community of Catholic nuns in an abbey.
Description
In the Catholic Church (both the Latin Church and Eastern Catholic), Eastern Orthodox, Copt ...
. However, in 1205, she was chosen to be prioress of her community.["St. Lutgardis", Christ in the Desert Monastery]
In 1208, at Aywières (Awirs), near Liège, she joined the Cistercians, a stricter order, on the advice of her friend Christina. The nuns of Aywières spoke French, not Lutgarde's native Flemish. Lutgard deliberately didn't learn French in order to live in greater silence. Living, working, and praying in the midst of her sisters she experienced a loneliness and solitude that she had never known before.[ Nonetheless, she contributed powerful images to the developing Christocentric mysticism.
The prolific multiplication of Cistercian monasteries of women in the Low Countries obliged the White Nuns to turn to the newly founded friars, disciples of Francis and Dominic, rather than to their brother monks, for spiritual and sacramental assistance. Lutgarde was a friend and mother to the early Dominicans and Franciscans, supporting their preaching by her prayer and fasting, offering them hospitality, ever eager for news of their missions and spiritual conquests. Her first biographer relates that the friars named her ''mater praedicatorum'', the mother of preachers.][Kirby, Dom Mark Daniel. "Draw Me to Thy Piercèd Side", June 15, 2008, Silverstream Priory, Stamullen, County Meath, Ireland]
/ref>
Lutgardis was one of the great precursors of the devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. The first recorded mystic revelation of Christ's heart is that of Lutgardis. According to Thomas Merton, Lutgardis "…entered upon the mystical life with a vision of the pierced Heart of the Saviour, and had concluded her mystical espousals with the Incarnate Word by an exchange of hearts with Him."[Merton, Thomas. ''What are These Wounds?: The Life of a Cistercian Mystic, Saint Lutgarde of Aywières'', Clonmore and Reynolds Ltd., Dublin, 1948]
/ref> When, in a visitation, Christ came to Lutgarde, offering her whatever gift of grace she should desire, she asked for a better grasp of Latin, that she might better understand the Word of God and lift her voice in choral praise. Christ granted her request and, after a few days, Lutgarde's mind was flooded with the riches of psalms, antiphons, readings and responsories. However, a painful emptiness persisted. With disarming candour she returned to Christ, asking to return his gift, and wondering if she might, just possibly, exchange it for another. “And for what would you exchange it?” Christ asked. “Lord, said Lutgarde, I would exchange it for your Heart.” Christ then reached into Lutgarde and, removing her heart, replaced it with his own, at the same time hiding her heart within his breast.[
During this time she is known to have shown gifts of ]healing
With physical trauma or disease suffered by an organism, healing involves the repairing of damaged tissue(s), organs and the biological system as a whole and resumption of (normal) functioning. Medicine includes the process by which the cells ...
and prophecy
In religion, a prophecy is a message that has been communicated to a person (typically called a '' prophet'') by a supernatural entity. Prophecies are a feature of many cultures and belief systems and usually contain divine will or law, or pr ...
, and was an adept at teaching the Gospels.[ She was blind for the last eleven years of her life, and died of natural causes at Aywières. According to tradition, she experienced a vision in which Christ informed her of her forthcoming death. She died on June 16, 1246, the day after the ]Feast of the Holy Trinity
Trinity Sunday is the first Sunday after Pentecost in the Western Christian liturgical calendar, and the Sunday of Pentecost in Eastern Christianity. Trinity Sunday celebrates the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, the three Persons of God: the ...
, at the age of 64.
Veneration
Lutgardis is considered one of the leading mystics of the 13th century.[ A life of Lutgardis, ''Vita Lutgardis'', was composed less than two years after her death by Thomas of Cantimpre, a Dominican friar and a theologian of some ability.][ A ]Middle Dutch
Middle Dutch is a collective name for a number of closely related West Germanic dialects whose ancestor was Old Dutch. It was spoken and written between 1150 and 1500. Until the advent of Modern Dutch after 1500 or c. 1550, there was no overarc ...
verse translation of this, the '' Leven van Lutgart'', was produced in the second half of the 13th century and is now regarded as one of the canonical works of Dutch literature. Lutgardis was venerated at Aywières for centuries, and her relics were exhumed in the 16th century. On December 4, 1796, as a result of the French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in coup of 18 Brumaire, November 1799. Many of its ...
, her relics
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tang ...
were sheltered at Ittre
Ittre (; wa, Ite; nl, Itter, ) is a municipality of Wallonia located in the Belgian province of Walloon Brabant. Since the Fusion of the Belgian municipalities in 1977, the municipality is composed of three districts: Haut-Ittre, Ittre and Virg ...
, where they remain.Farmer, David. "Lutgardis", ''Oxford Dictionary of Saints'', 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 2011
Works of art depicting the saint include a baroque statue of Lutgardis by Matthias Braun
Matthias Bernard Braun (Czech: ''Matyáš Bernard Braun'', 24 February 1684 in Sautens near Innsbruck – 15 February 1738 in Prague) was a sculptor and carver active in the Czech lands, one of the most prominent late baroque style sculptors ...
on Charles Bridge
Charles Bridge ( cs, Karlův most ) is a medieval stone arch bridge that crosses the Vltava river in Prague, Czech Republic. Its construction started in 1357 under the auspices of King Charles IV, and finished in the early 15th century.; The ...
in Prague
Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
and a painting by Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...
. The statue on Charles Bridge (''socha sv. Luitgardy'') was sculpted by Braun in 1710 as a commission from Evžen Tyttl, the abbot of the Cistercian monastery in Plasy
Plasy (; german: Plass) is a town in Plzeň-North District in the Plzeň Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 2,800 inhabitants. It is known for its former monastery.
Administrative parts
Villages of Babina, Horní Hradiště, Lomnička, Neb ...
.
Lutgardis is the patron saint of the blind and physically disabled.["St. Lutgardis", Catholic News Agency]
/ref> In the 19th century, she was also taken as a patron of the Flemish movement
The Flemish Movement ( nl, Vlaamse Beweging) is an umbrella term which encompasses various political groups in the Belgium, Belgian region of Flanders and, less commonly, in French Flanders. Ideologically, it encompasses groups which have sought ...
because of her inability to speak Walloon.
References
Further reading
*Thomas Merton, ''The Life of a Cistercian Mystic: Saint Lutgarde of Aywières'' (Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Company, 1950)
External links
Lutgardis of Aywières
Saint Lutgardis on BALaT – Belgian Art Links and Tools (KIK-IRPA, Brussels)
Archives of Parish church Sint-Lutgardis, Tongeren
i
ODIS - Online Database for Intermediary Structures
{{Authority control
13th-century Christian saints
1182 births
1246 deaths
Women of medieval Belgium
Belgian Roman Catholic saints
Cistercian nuns
Belgian blind people
13th-century Christian mystics
Roman Catholic mystics
Christian female saints of the Middle Ages
People from Tongeren