The Beinwil monks “took” St. Vincent as their patron saint when they moved their monastery to Mariastein in 1648. The original patron saint of Beinwil Abbey was All Saints (1147); a change of patron saint took place around 1150. This probably had to do with the acquisition of a large relic of the arm of St. Vincent, which is still in the monastery’s possession today and which accompanied the convent through all the crises in the monastery’s history, even in places of exile.
St. Vincent was the archdeacon of the speech-impaired Bishop Valerius of Saragossa in Spain. During the Diocletian persecution, he was exiled to Valencia with his bishop. There he and his bishop suffered a cruel martyrdom. He was roasted on a red-hot iron grid. This happened on January 22, around 304, and his attribute is the iron grate together with a raven, which played a role in his legend.
The patronal feast in Mariastein takes place on January 22nd.
In the Baroque period, second patrons were chosen in many monasteries. In Mariastein, the desire for a second patron saint arose when a new edition of a breviary (book for the Liturgy of the Hours) was planned. On September 22, 1684, the monastic community officially chose St. Gertrude of Helfta as the second patron saint of our monastery. St. Gertrude was thus included in the breviary and is celebrated in Mariastein on November 17.
Why St. Gertrude of Helfta in particular? She was obviously a popular saint at the time. This is probably also connected to the very popular and widespread devotion to the Sacred Heart at the time. Gertrude of Helfta is described as a theologian of the heart. For her, the divine heart is closely related to the human heart, which becomes the dwelling place of God. In addition, the celebration of the feast of St. Gertrude was permitted by Rome for the Benedictine order in 1674. And in 1678, Gertrude was included in the Catholic Church’s great book of saints, the Martyrologium Romanum. Her cult was thus officially recognized as a saint, although she was never canonized. Her popularity is also reflected in the many printed editions of her works in the 16th and then especially in the 17th century, including translations into German, French, Italian and Spanish. We can therefore assume that St. Gertrude of Helfta was already venerated at Mariastein Monastery before the decision of 1684, so that the monks could have proposed that this holy mystic be made the second patron saint of the monastery.
