Saint Mechtilde

Mechtilde of Hackeborn, OSB, also known as Mechtilde of Helfta (born Matilda von Hackeborn-Wippra; 1240/1241 – 19 November 1298), was a Saxon Benedictine nun known for her musical talents and spiritual revelations. At the age of 50, Mechtilde went through a grave spiritual crisis, as well as physical suffering. In the modern Benedictine calendar, her feast is celebrated on the anniversary of her death, November 19. She died in the convent of Helfta, near Eisleben. Born Matilda von Hackeborn-Wippra, in 1240 or 1241, she belonged to one of the noblest and most powerful Thuringian families; her sister was the illustrious Abbess Gertrude of Hackeborn. The family of Hackeborn belonged to a dynasty of Barons in Thuringia who were related to the Hohenstaufen family and had possessions in northern Thuringia and in the Harz Mountains. Some writers have considered that Mechtilde von Hackeborn and Mechtilde von Wippra were two distinct persons, but, as the Barons of Hackeborn were also Lords of Wippra, it was customary for members of that family to take their name indifferently from either, or both of these estates. Mechtilde was considered so fragile at birth that the attendants, fearing she might die unbaptized, hurried her off to a priest who was preparing to say Mass. He was thought to be a person of "great sanctity," and, after baptizing the child, is reported to have said "What do you fear? This child most certainly will not die, but she will become a saintly religious in whom God will work many wonders, and she will end her days in a good old age." When Mechtilde was seven years old, she was taken by her mother on a visit to her elder sister Gertrude, who at that time was a nun in the Cistercian monastery in Rodersdorf. Mechtilde became so enamoured of the cloister that her parents yielded to her requests and allowed her to enter the novitiate. Here, being highly gifted in mind as well as in body, she made remarkable progress in virtue and learning.