Gertrude van der Oosten
Dutch mystic
Feast: 6 January (not on the universal Roman calendar; kept in the Roman Martyrology or local calendars)
Who they were
Gertrude, of peasant family at Voorburg, worked as a servant at Delft, giving herself to prayer and charity. She was called 'of the East' from a hymn she sang, 'Day breaketh in the East'.
She entered the Beguinage of Delft and reached a high degree of contemplation, with great devotion to the Incarnation and the Passion; she is said to have received the stigmata. She died on the feast of the Epiphany, 6 January 1358.
The miracles
She is honoured as Blessed by long-standing veneration; the Catholic Encyclopedia does not describe a formal cause.
Why that counted as sanctity
A servant girl who became a contemplative devoted to Christ's Passion.
The cause
The cause continues. No postulation address is published here yet. Favours received through this person’s intercession, and offers of help, are best sent to the religious order or congregation they belonged to, or to the diocese where the cause was opened; either will pass them to the postulation.
- Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), via New Advent - Gertrude van der Oosten
- Wikidata Q5553421 — dates, feast day and identifiers (CC0)
- English Wikipedia — Gertrude van der Oosten (CC BY-SA)
Checked against the sources listed on 21 September 2026. Corrections welcome.