Biography
Born to a pious, powerful Thuringian noble family; her older sister was a nun. Convent-educated from age seven, Mechtilde became a nun at Rodersdorf, Switzerland. She moved to the Helfta monastery in 1258 where her sister served as abbess. Teacher and choir director at the convent school at Helfta. Visionary and mystic. Novice mistress for Saint Gertrude the Great who wrote The Book of Special Grace about Mechtilde's teachings; she was initially terrified that the book might cause trouble, but Christ appeared to her in prayer and told her not to worry. She became a much sought spiritual advisor to her sister nuns, laity and learned Dominicans. May have been the inspiration for the character Matelda in Dante's Purgatorio. Born: c.1241 at her family's castle of Helfta near Eisleben, Saxony, Germany Died: 19 November 1298 at Helfta monastery of natural causes