The Tradition of the Sacred Heart 2: St. Lutgarde and St. Mechthild of Hackeborn

St. Lutgarde of Aywieres, Belgium (1182-1246) is the first person who reported a “heart exchange” with Jesus Christ. A Cistercian nun, she reported a number of religious encounters and ecstatic moments with Christ. Most important is the heart exchange between Lutgarde and Jesus.

Saint Mechthild of Hackeborn (1240-1298) was the second woman on record to experience a “heart exchange” with Jesus Christ. She was born into a noble family in Germany and entered a Cistercian monastery at age seven to join her elder sister, Gertrude. Later they transferred to the monastery at Helfta, where great spiritual encounters were to take place. She had a real gift of singing, and was called “the nightingale of Helfta.”