Patron Saint Question

[SachieWhitby]

I read somewhere that St. Gertrude of Nivelles is the patron saint of cats. As I have a cats of my own, am always finding lost cats around my home, donate to charities dedicated to saving the lives of cats and have done volunteer work with cat-related charities… she seems like a good saint for me to add to saintly devotions. [Maybe she can pray with me that my allergies to cats will lesson.]

Anyway what I’m wondering if anyone knows what the connection between St. Gertrude of Nivelles and cats is?

 

[leahleah]

I just pulled out my giant saint encyclopedia.
In the patron saint list, it says she is indeed the patron saint of cats. That’s the only thing it has listed for her, actually.
But then in the biographical section it says:
Benedictine abbess, the daughter of Bl. Pepin of Landen and Bl. Itta of Ida. Itta founded Nivelles Abbey and installed Gertrude as abbess in 639. Gertrude was a mystic, gifted with visions. She befriended the Irish saints Follian and Ultan. Gertrude is a patroness of travelers and gardens. Feast Day: March 17.

It says something on this site about her being “against rats”: catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=3563

Maybe that has something to do with it? Maybe she got rats out of her garden by having cats? This is the best I could find.

 

[TarkanAttila]

Well, I don’t know. And neither does the writer of this article. But she has a guess:

catster.com/lifestyle/st-gertrude-patron-saint-of-cats

There’s no single story that links St. Gertrude to her patronage of cats. However, writings confirm that she and her nuns kept cats to control the rodent population. Some people believe her patronage most likely originated from the claim that water from her well and bread baked in her oven were thought to repel mice and rats. (And I thought I was a bad cook!)

Other accounts say she prayed for the mice to go away and they did. Because of the great mouse exodus, people referred to her as the patroness of cat lovers. She is often depicted with a cat near her or with mice running up her staff. The mice in her icons are said to represent souls trapped in Purgatory, whom she diligently prayed for. And we ailurophiles know that cats and mice go together like saints and Heaven.

 

[SachieWhitby]

Ah, I suppose that this just goes into a case where there isn’t a whole lot known about why a saint has a certain patronage because the saint isn’t well known.