GERTRUDE VAN OOSTEN. - Mystic, b. ca. 1300 at Voorburg (Holland), d. at Delft on 6 Jan. 1358. Various writers call her either a saint or a blessed; Bollandus gives her the title of venerable. Her poor parents placed her in service with a family at Delft. Humble work did not prevent her from having a very intense interior life hidden from the world. She formed a friendship with some pious young women, with whom she performed religious songs in the public squares to stir passers-by to love of her Divine Spouse.
Disappointed in an honorable engagement, G. entered the Beguinage of the same city, where her spiritual life knew new impetus. She had a particular devotion to the Passion of Jesus, which impressed on her the stigmata, already 18 years before her death. Her mystical life is characterized by many extraordinary phenomena, and her humility and purity, her self-denial and mortification, her life of charity and zeal, her union with God seem to demonstrate its divine origin. Of her songs only two remain, whose authenticity, however, is still debated. It is claimed that from the first verse of the best-known song: Het déghiet in den Oosten ("The day dawns in the east") her nickname (van Oosten) would have been derived. Gedolfo, still in 1631, affirms that he knows of the existence of her manuscript poems, which today, however, are considered lost.
Bibliography3 worksActa SS. Ianuarii, I, Antwerp 1643, pp. 348-53; J. Geldolf, di Ryckel, Vita Bregge, Louvain 1631, pp. 357-93; R. Pennink in Prosper Verheyde
BIBL.: Acta SS. Ianuarii, I, Antwerp 1643, pp. 348-53; J. Geldolf, di Ryckel, Vita Bregge, Louvain 1631, pp. 357-93; R. Pennink in Prosper Verheyden gehuldigd, 21 Oct. 1943, Antwerp 1943, pp. 245-54.
Ampe, Alberto. “Gertrude Van Oosten.” In Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, coll. 195–196. Città del Vaticano: Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951. https://azioneromana.com/article/gertrude-van-oosten.
MLA
Ampe, Alberto. “Gertrude Van Oosten.” Enciclopedia Cattolica, vol. VI, Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico, 1951, coll. 195–196. Azione Romana, https://azioneromana.com/article/gertrude-van-oosten.
BibTeX
@incollection{ec6_gertrude_van_oosten,
author = {Ampe, Alberto},
title = {Gertrude Van Oosten},
booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica},
volume = {VI},
pages = {195--196},
note = {Cited by column},
publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico},
address = {Città del Vaticano},
year = {1951},
url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/gertrude-van-oosten}
}
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