Born
in the Netherlands in 1182, Lutgardis was sent to a Benedictine convent
at the age of twelve because her merchant father had lost the money
meant for her dowry, and marriage without it seemed unlikely.
She
was fond of worldly things, and had no inclination toward a religious
life. However, one afternoon she had a vision of Our Lord, Who showed
her His sacred wounds and asked her to love Him and Him alone.
Lutgardis
immediately renounced all worldly pleasures and became a religious. She
often saw Christ while engaged in prayer, and was allowed to share in
His sufferings: her forehead and hair were often made wet with drops of
blood when she meditated on The Passion.
Desiring to live under a
stricter rule, Lutgardis later joined a Cistercian convent at Aywieres.
There she spent the final thirty years of her life, becoming known as a
mystic with the gifts of healing and prophecy. During the last eleven
years prior to her death she was totally blind, an affliction which she
treated as an extraordinary gift from God because it reduced the
distractions of the outside world.
Before she died, Our Lord
appeared to her to warn her of her approaching death, and asked her to
prepare for this event in three ways. She was to give praise to God for
what she had received, pray constantly for the conversion of sinners and
rely in all things on God alone. She died soon after the vision on June
16, 1246.
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
St. Lutgardis
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