Gertrude did not acquire her great purity of heart and lowliness of spirit without effort. In the early days of her religious life she was almost carried away by her ardor for study, finding in it such delight that she sometimes shortened the time of prayer. But God, who was watching over her perfection, would not permit this state of things to continue. He allowed her mind to be overwhelmed with darkness, so that she knew not where to turn for comfort ; and even in her spiritual exercises, to which she was always faithful, she found no solace. When this spiritual desolation had lasted for about a month, our Lord deigned to come Himself to console her.

At the hour of Compline on the Tuesday before the feast of the Purification, in the dusk of the evening, Gertrude was on her way to the choir. Meeting a sister, she bent her head in the customary salute. On raising her eyes again she saw before her our Lord under the form of a youth of delicate beauty, who said to her, ” Your salvation is at hand ; why are you consumed with grief? Have you no counsellor that you are so changed by sadness?” –St Gertrude the Great, chapter 1 “The Herald of Divine Love”