GERTRUDE DI NIVELLES, saint. - B. c. 626 at Nivelles (Belgium), d. there on 17 May 659, aged 33.
Daughter of Pipino il Vecchio, mayor of the palace of the king of Austrasia, and of Itta or Iduberga, she was piously brought up by her mother and, while still very young, refused an offer of marriage to a dignitary of the court. At her father's death, on the advice of s. Amando, Iduberga and G. founded a monastery at Nivelles, overcoming hostility at court. In 652 Iduberga died, and G., already abbess before then, governed the monastery until a few months before her death, when, in order to devote herself more fully to contemplation and to the mystical gifts with which she was favoured, she resigned her office. Her cult enjoyed wide diffusion, and various popular legends became associated with her name.
JERUSALEM — Archaeological plan by G. In the German caption, the first hatching indicates the city wall in the Bronze Age (ca. 1500–1200 B.C.); the second, that in the period of Solomon (ca. 965–926); the third, that in the 9th–5th centuries; the letters A, B, C indicate the parts of the city under Herod (ca. 73–74 B.C.); the subsequent hatching, the wall of the present-day city; and the numbers from 1 to 13, the gates.