MATILDE (MECHTILD) di HACKEBORN. – Cistercian mystic, born in the ancestral castle of Helfta (Saxony) around 1241, died in the monastery of Helfta on 19 November 1299. At the age of seven she was taken 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 with her to the new monastery of Helfta, donated to her by her two brothers Luigi and Alberto. There M. was of valuable assistance to her sister, who entrusted her with the direction of the school and sacred singing (domna cantrix). In 1261 she had among her pupils the future St. Gertrude the Great. Her remarkable virtues, which she wished to center on the praise and love of God, with heroic constancy despite the piercing pains of continuous physical suffering, earned her ascent to the highest peaks of mysticism.
At the age of 50 she learned that some of her pupils had assiduously recorded everything they had learned from her concerning the favors and teachings received in contemplation. At first disturbed, she was immediately reassured by the Savior, who, calling her “his nightingale,” told her that everything had happened by his will and inspiration, and that many graces would be bestowed on those who read those pages. M. then asked for the manuscript and set about correcting II. Eight years later M. died, offering “her heart to the Savior and immersing it in his.”
M.’s work bears the title Liber specialis Gratiae and, in its five books, contains, besides descriptions of the visions and graces obtained in contemplation, also dialogues with the Savior, reflections encouraging love of him and the most trusting devotion to him, and a glimpse of the future life; an added sixth book describes the virtues and death of M. and of her sister Gertrude. Many passages of the work speak of the love and graces of the Heart of Jesus in such an intimate and vivid manner, and are accompanied by prayers and practices of devotion to the Sacred Heart so penetrating and trusting, that from the 14th century to the present they have greatly helped to spread and deepen devotion to the Sacred Heart. M. may therefore be regarded as a true precursor of St. Maria M. Alacoque. M. di H. was never canonized; but her feast (16 February or 19 November) is celebrated in several Benedictine monasteries.