Saint Lutgard of Aywières

Having returned to this monastery, she began a life so penitent, so withdrawn, and so devoted to prayer, that the other nuns said it would not last, and that it was but a fire that would pass. These words filled Lutgard with fear and distrust of herself, and caused her to shed many tears; but the Blessed Virgin appeared to her and assured her that she would never lose the grace she had received from her Son, and that, on the contrary, she would receive continuous increases of it. From that time on, she entered into such great familiarity with her Spouse that she spoke to Him heart to heart, and when she was obliged by obedience to attend to some business, she would say to Him with a simplicity full of love: "Wait for me, I pray You, my divine Spouse; when I have dispatched this business for Your glory, I will return at once to find You."

Saint Catherine, martyr, patroness of the monastery, consoled her with a visit and told her to have good courage, because Our Lord had resolved to raise her to the merit of the most excellent among virgins. But, so that the community might no longer doubt the excellence of her vocation, on the day of Pentecost, when the Veni Creator was being sung in the choir, she was seen raised from the ground by two cubits through the fervor of her prayer, and, shortly after, there appeared above her head, in the middle of the night, a flame whose bright light surpassed that of the sun.

God also gave her the grace to heal all kinds of diseases; her saliva was an effective remedy; but, as the great number of people who came to implore her help interrupted her silence, she prayed to her dear Spouse to change this grace for another more useful for her salvation: He asked her what she wished; she told Him that it was the understanding of the entire Psalter, so that, by understanding what she was saying while singing His divine praises, she might do so with more fervor and devotion. This favor was immediately granted to her, and she entered in an admirable way into the hidden meanings of these sacred canticles; but she knew by experience that her humble ignorance, which obliged her to unite herself to her Spouse in Himself, was no less advantageous to her than the knowledge of the meaning of Scripture; thus she returned to our Savior and said to Him: "What is it necessary, Lord, that a poor sister like me should penetrate the secrets of your divine words? Change this grace for me again, I pray you." — "What do you want then?" her Beloved said to her. — "What I want and what I ask of you," she said, "is your heart." — "But I," said the Savior, "would rather have yours." This answer, far from afflicting her, filled her with incomparable joy: "Let it be so!" she said immediately; "take my heart, purify it by the fire of your love, place it in your sacred breast, and may I never possess it except in you and for you!" So that there was made between Jesus and Lutgarde a happy exchange of hearts, not in a bodily manner, but spiritually: that is to say, there was such a close and perfect union of the created spirit with the uncreated spirit, that Jesus was always in Lutgarde to occupy and inflame her, and that Lutgarde was always outside of herself to live only in Jesus and for Jesus. This meant that her heart was so well guarded and so perfectly provided for, that no temptation of the flesh, and no other evil thought dared to approach it.

A few days later, a great sister having taken her during the night, she thought it appropriate to excuse herself from Matins, so as not to go there all soaked, and not to expose herself to the danger of falling ill; but she heard a voice that said to her: "Why do you remain in bed like this? rise promptly; you must not have regard for this sister, but begin to do penance for sinners."

She rose promptly and all terrified; then, when she was at the door of the choir where Matins were already being sung, Our Lord appeared to her attached to the cross and all covered in blood; and, approaching her, he detached one of his arms to embrace her with much love, and made her press her lips to the bloody wound in his side. This grace filled her with so much sweetness that the greatest austerities no longer seemed like anything to her, and her mouth had contracted, through the touch of the sacred wound of the Son of God, a marvelous sweetness.

When she felt some pain, either of body or spirit, her only consolation was to place herself before the image of Jesus Christ crucified; and then this wound in the side opening in her favor, it poured into her soul such a great fullness of joy and unction that all her pains dissipated in an instant. One day when she was afflicted with an intermittent fever, she consoled herself by thinking of Saint John the Evangelist, who had the happiness of laying his head on the sacred breast of Our Lord, and of drawing from it the salutary waters of the Gospel. At that moment, a great eagle appeared to her in spirit; it had wings so brilliant that they were capable of illuminating the whole world with their splendor; and, having put its beak into her mouth, it filled her soul with such light that it revealed to her the greatest mysteries of our religion and of God's guidance of souls. Thus the pious Thomas of Cantimpré, who wrote her life, assures us that wh at she said was so Thomas de Cantimpré Hagiographer contemporary to the saint and author of her biography. profound and so elevated, and that she mingled in it words so effective and so inflamed, that he could not hear her without extreme astonishment, and that, if the ecstasy into which her conversation put him had lasted long, he could never have endured it without dying.

She also sometimes entered into that state which we call spiritual drunkenness, which caused her, being entirely beside herself, to go here and there inviting everyone to the love of her Spouse: this happened to her especially one day when she was in the hermitage of a recluse. This great fervor, with which she was filled, made her wish to receive the virginal consecration from the hands of her prelate, named Huart, Bishop of Liège; for, although she was a religious, she had not yet received this blessing. Several other young women received this favor with her; but, although the bishop placed on them all the same crown made of thread, there was nevertheless a holy man who saw him place one of gold of extraordinary beauty on the head of Lutgarde. His admiration was all the greater because, having asked the chaplain why this difference was made, the chaplain assured him that none was made. From that moment she attached herself to Jesus Christ with an even closer union; and she was one of those chaste souls who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. Her humility was so perfect that nothing was capable of giving her a feeling of pride; no one was poorer than she; and she was even detached from what was most necessary for life, all her joy being to suffer something for God; but she did everything possible so that others would not suffer, because mercy and compassion had taken entire possession of her heart.

The prioress, who was then governing the monastery of Saint Catherine, having died, the nuns elected her as their prioress. She discharged this duty for some time with much vigilance and perfection; but her humility giving her a horror of command, and being moreover warned by God to leave it, she moved to the monastery of Aywières, of the Order of Cîteaux, in Brabant: so as not to be elected superior, neither in that house nor in others of the same Order that were being founded in F rance, she asked Our monastère d'Aywières Cistercian abbey where the saint spent the majority of her life. Lord f or an inability Ordre de Cîteaux Monastic order to which Bertrand and the Abbey of Grandselve belong. to learn the French language; this favor was granted to her to such a point that, in the space of forty years that she was with nuns who spoke it, she could barely learn to ask for bread in French; this meant that she was not occupied with external ministries, and that she was given all the time to apply herself to contemplation.

At that time, the Albigensian heretics were causing terrible devastation in many provinces of Europe, and especially in Languedoc. The Blessed Virgin, to whom is given this praise, that it is she who fights, who overcomes, and who conquers all heresies, wishing to make the Church victorious over this one, appeared to Lutgarde with a sad and disfigured face, and with mourning clothes and a completely neglected appearance. The Saint asked her why, being beautiful as the moon and radiant as the sun, she was in such a state worthy of compassion? She said to her: The subject of my affliction is that the Albigensian heretics are crucifying my Son anew; in punishment for such a great crime, the wrath of God is about to burst upon the earth and exercise terrible and unheard-of vengeance everywhere; to remedy these evils, you must undertake a fast of seven years, with no other food than bread and water; and during this same time, strive to appease the rigor of this formidable justice with your tears. Lutgarde offered herself to it with a very great heart, and indeed observed this long fast with invincible courage and patience. When she had finished it, Our Lord commanded her another as long and as severe, in favor of the Catholics who were living in sin, allowing her only to add a few vegetables; and to oblige her with more sweetness, He appeared to her all covered with wounds and blood, and said to her: "Do you see, my daughter, in what state I present myself to my Father to draw his mercy upon sinners? I also want you to suffer for them, and that you offer me every day in the sacrifice of the Mass, to reconcile them with him." She accomplished this second seven-year period with the same fervor as the first, and she conceived, following the example of her divine Spouse, such a great tenderness for sinners, whom he calls his own because they have been given to him to make them just, that she never ceased to pray and weep for them.

Moreover, her prayers were so effective that the blessed Mary of Oignies asserted that there was no one on earth who ha d as much power Marie d'Oignies Thirteenth-century mystic saint, famous for her gift of tears and her asceticism. to obtain the conversion of sinners and the deliverance of souls from purgatory as this faithful lover of Jesus. Her holy confidence went to the point of sometimes saying to Our Lord, in the ardor of her prayers: "Lord, either blot me out of your book, or have mercy on this creature for whom I pray to you." And by this holy importunity, she obtained for many people, both religious and secular, a perfect contrition of heart. We also have many examples of souls in purgatory whose pains she shortened, or whom she entirely delivered by the strength of her intercession and her tears; such were an abbot of the Order of Cîteaux, named Simon, who was condemned to eleven years of torments, and the prior of Oignies, called Baudoin, who, at the hour of his death, was recommended to her in a heavenly vision.

Throughout her life, she was the terror of demons, and these monsters of hell feared her so greatly that they dared not even approach her, nor the oratory where she usually made her prayer. It was enough, to put them to flight, for her to say, in spirit, this first verse of Psalm LXIX: "O God, come to my assistance; O Lord, make haste to help me!" Whatever pain or temptation those who had recourse to her might have, she delivered them from it easily through her conversations or her prayers; even those whom the various agitations of their hearts had brought to despair, she calmed with the sweetness of her words and filled with a firm trust in God. She possessed in an excellent degree the gift of prophecy and the grace of knowing hidden or distant things, and the most secret thoughts of the heart. By this means, she predicted that the Tartars, who had thrown themselves upon Poland, Russia, and Bohemia, would not pass further and would not come into the Low Countries, and she also learned of the death, precious before God, of the blessed Jordan, General of the Order of Preachers, and of Cardinal Jacques de Vitry. Although she did not know th e French languag Jacques de Vitry Cardinal whose death was revealed to Lutgard. e, when people speaking only that language needed her consolations, she understood them and made herself understood to them by miracle, by speaking the Teutonic language. She often healed many sick people who were recommended to her. Mathilde, a great lady of the land of Liège, was so deaf that she did not even hear the singing of the nuns in the choir: Lutgarde, by touching her ears with her finger, immediately gave her the use of hearing. A nun named Elizabeth could not rise from her bed because of the great weakness of her limbs: she obtained her former strength through these words, which Our Lord said to her: "Arise, arise, daughter of Jerusalem, who have drunk until now the chalice of the wrath of God." A child being extremely tormented by the falling sickness, she placed a finger in his mouth, imprinted the sign of the cross on his chest, and, from that time on, he felt no further attack.

The visits of angels and blessed souls were ordinary for her; but nothing was capable of satisfying her except the sight and possession of her Spouse. As she spent her life in continual groaning and weeping for sinners, so that her eyes seemed to be two inexhaustible fountains of tears, this infinitely lovable Lord appeared to her one day, and, after thanking her for having so well pleaded the cause of his sinners, he wiped her face with that same hand which he extended for them on the cross, and dispensed her from weeping thereafter, assuring her that she would obtain no less through the fervor of a tranquil prayer than through her sighs and the continual cries that she had for so long sent toward heaven.

Furthermore, despite all these favors, she lived in such humility of heart that she feared in all things to displease God; so that she could say, like Job, that she "watched over all her works." She had especially great pains regarding the recitation of her canonical hours; and, although she never voluntarily stopped at any distraction, nevertheless, when she recognized that some foreign thought had occupied her mind, she repeated once or twice what she had already said. But Our Lord delivered her from this scruple: a shepherd came to tell Lutgarde on his behalf to no longer worry about this subject. He also told her himself in a vision: "Fear nothing, my daughter; I will supply this defect." Finally, he assured her another time, through a heavenly ambassador who came to speak to her in the form of a very venerable man, that her life was according to his heart, and that she should be at rest. Following these assurances, she had a great desire to leave this world to go and enjoy her Beloved; she prayed to him day and night to shorten her exile, to make her enjoy his divine embraces; but he taught her, in a rapture where she saw him all covered with wounds, and his feet, hands, and side all bloodied, that she should rather wish to suffer for the glory of God and for the salvation of souls than to die for her own consolation.

The desire for martyrdom also embraced her in such a way that she urgently asked her Spouse to shed her blood for him, like Saint Agnes. She was answered in some manner: for, one day when this desire was so vehement that it almost made her die, she ruptured a vein near her heart, which caused her to shed such a great abundance of blood that all her clothes were stained by it. She kept this wound until death, and Our Lord promised her that, for this blood which the desire for martyrdom had caused her to shed, she would have in heaven a reward similar to that of Saint Agnes.

She had yet other crosses by which her celestial Spouse purified her entirely and led her to a most eminent degree of holiness. Her custom was to receive communion every Sunday, according to the counsel of Saint Augustine, who exhorts the faithful not to approach the holy table less frequently; but, although for a soul as inflamed as hers with the fire of divine love, these long intervals from one communion to another might seem unbearable, her abbess, named Agnes, influenced by the laxity and lack of devotion of that time, believed that she was receiving communion too often and prescribed another rule for her as she saw fit. Lutgarde received the orders of her superior with much gentleness and submission; she only warned her that Our Lord would punish her for it; indeed, He sent to this abbess an unbearable ailment that confined her to bed and made it impossible for her, not only to receive communion, but also to go to the church and attend the sacrifice of the Mass: which lasted until she had acknowledged her fault and permitted Lutgarde to receive communion as was her custom.

Eleven years before her death, God visited her with a scourge that would have seemed intolerable to any other person, but which she received with marvelous joy: that of blindness; she was thus deprived of the sight of all sensible and external things, and could only walk by groping; but her soul was, in reward, enlightened with an admirable light, which revealed to her the truths of the other life and the mysteries of the Divinity. She did not cease, during this time, to attend the choir and to sing there with extraordinary ardor and joy: which caused a nun to see one day a great fire coming out of her mouth. In the fourth year of her blindness, Our Lord commanded her to perform a third septenary of fasts, that is to say, to fast for another seven years, to avert a great evil with which the Church was threatened: she did it with the same ardor as she had done the other two, and only ended it with her life. God, having regard for this penance, broke the designs and snares of a secret enemy of the Christian people. Two years later, that is to say five years before her passing, she predicted to her companion that she would die on the Sunday after the feast of the Holy Trinity, on which one reads the parable of a man who gave a great feast: which effectively happened. The rest of the time that she lived, and especially the last two years, Our Lord appeared to her often to warn her that the hour and the moment of her reward were approaching. He said to her one day "that He did not want her to be separated from Him any longer, but that, as a disposition for their consummated union, He asked three things of her: the first, that she render infinite thanks to His eternal Father for the favors she had received from Him; and that, as she was not capable of acknowledging His mercies, she should invite all the angels and Saints to help her in this duty of justice; the second, that she should not cease to pray to Him for sinners, so that they might be converted; the third, that she should rest in Him for all things, and that all her occupation should be to desire ardently and to wait with a holy impatience to possess Him".

Her infirmities did not prevent her from offering charitable correction to her sisters when she saw them in a state of laxity. Among other things, she often reproved them for the lack of devotion and the irreverence with which they sang the divine offices, representing to them that the majesty of a God, to whom they were speaking, well deserved that they do so with attention and with a holy fear; but as she saw that they did not amend themselves, she assured them that God would punish them severely. Indeed, shortly after her death, the plague broke out in this convent, and fourteen of the most prominent nuns were struck by it and died.

Finally, the time that had so often been predicted to her having arrived, she had various ecstasies, in which she saw things that were entirely supernatural; and her eyes, which had been closed for eleven years, opened miraculously to perceive an army of the blessed who came to congratulate her on the glory she was soon to possess. She received all the Sacraments with a devotion worthy of her great love; and in the midst of a joy with which she was as if flooded, her soul flew into the bosom of God, to reign there eternally with Him. This death occurred on June 16 of the year 1246, on the Saturday evening after the Holy Trinity, the office of Sunday having already begun, according to her prediction. Her body was at that instant of a whiteness so brilliant that it surpassed that of lilies, and her eyes remained very beautiful and open toward heaven, without anyone ever being able to close them.

So many miracles occurred at her tomb that, although she was not canonized with the ordinary ceremonies, she is nonetheless recognized and published as a Saint in the Roman Martyrology. Surius recorded her life, composed, as we have already said, by Thomas of Cantimpré. Those who have written about the saints of the Order of Cîteaux also speak of her with great honor. Her relics currently rest at Bas-Ittre, near Nivelles; their authentic ity was r Bas-Ittre Current location where the saint's relics are preserved. ecognized by the Bishop of Mechelen.

Saint Lutgarde is depicted facing Our Lord, who appears to her and shows her his wounded heart to make her renounce all love other than his. She is also depicted with Our Lord appearing to her and showing his wounds to God, his Father, in order to stop his anger, which was ready to strike the earth because of the crimes of the Albigensians.

Life of Saint Lutgarde, by Thomas of Cantimpré. — Cf. Godescard, Brussels ed.