MATILDE (MECHTHILD) OF HACKEBORN. - Cistercian mystic, born in the ancestral castle of Helfta (Saxony) c. 1241, died in the monastery of Helfta on 19 November 1298. Taken at the age of seven to visit her elder sister Gertrude in the monastery of Rodersdorf, she wished to remain there, and several years later Gertrude, having been elected abbess, brought her to the new monastery of Helfta, which had been donated to the community by her two brothers, Louis and Albert. There Matilde proved a valuable help to her sister, who entrusted her with the direction of the school and sacred chant (domna cantrix). In 1261 she had among her pupils the future St Gertrude the Great. Her remarkable virtues, which she sought to centre upon the praise and love of God with heroic constancy despite the piercing of continual physical pains, earned her a place among the highest peaks of mysticism.
At the age of fifty she learned that some of her pupils had assiduously noted all that they had learned from her concerning the favours and teachings received in contemplation. At first disturbed, she was soon reassured by the Saviour, who, calling her “his nightingale,” told her that all had happened by his will and inspiration, and that many graces would be bestowed upon those who read those pages. Matilde then desired the manuscript and set about correcting II. Eight years later she died, offering “her heart to the Saviour and immersing it in his.”
Matilde’s work bears the title Liber specialis Gratiae and, in its five books, contains not only the description of visions and graces received in contemplation but also colloquies with the Saviour, reflections that stimulate love for him and the most trusting dedication to him, and a gaze upon the life to come; a sixth book, added later, describes the virtues and death of Matilde and of her sister Gertrude. Many passages of the work speak of the love and graces of the Heart of Jesus in so intimate and vivid a manner, accompanied by prayers and devotional practices to the Sacred Heart so penetrating and trusting, that they served greatly, from the fourteenth century to the present day, to spread and deepen devotion to the Sacred Heart. Matilde may therefore be considered a true forerunner of St Margaret Mary Alacoque. Matilde of Hackeborn was never canonized; yet her feast (16 February or 19 November) is celebrated in several Benedictine monasteries.