Did you know there is a patron saint of cats? And her feast day is in March which she shares with St Patrick! I am grateful to Mother Doreen for finding us a piece about Saint Gertrude of Nivelles, Patron Saint of Cats!
So, who was she? Born in 628 to a noble family in what is now Belgium, young Gerty was both God-loving and headstrong. At the age of 10, when presented with the prospect of marring a Duke, she announced not only that she was not going to marry him, but she was not going to marry anyone at all!
On the death of her father, some year’s later, Gertrude’s mother shaved her daughter’s head in the style of a monk’s tonsure and they set off for Nivelles, south of Brussels, and there they established a Benedictine nunnery. As a scholarly and charitable woman, Gertrude became Abbess, and is remembered for dedicating her time to helping the sick, elderly, and the poor. As a result she became patron saint of travellers, widows, and the mentally ill, as well as for warding off rats, fever, and insanity. She died at the remarkably young age of 33.
So where do the cats come in? In fact many places in the Middle Ages had a big problem with rats and mice. And whenever someone wanted to get rid of them, they invoked the name of Saint Gertrude, with the result that she is often depicted in art with rats and mice at her feet.
From that point onwards, it was not a giant leap from banisher of mice and rats to protector of cats! To quote Thomas J. Craughwell, “St. Gertrude is invoked against mice and rats, which has led cat lovers to assume that Gertrude was a cat person, and so the ideal patron of their favourite pet.”
Read the story of Saint Gertrude here.