November 16
The saints and feasts remembered on November 16, each with a short life, a Bible passage and a prayer.
Saint Gertrude the Great
German nun and mystic who wrote of the warmth of God’s love in Christ
Gertrude was born in 1256 and, at about the age of five, was placed in the convent of Helfta in Saxony, Germany. Nothing certain is known of her family. The nuns gave her an excellent education, and she grew into a gifted student of Latin and the liberal arts.
At twenty-five, in 1281, she went through a deep inner change. She later wrote that she had been more caught up in her studies than in God, and from then on she turned to Scripture and prayer. She described experiences of Christ’s closeness, especially of his loving heart. Part of her account survives in her own words in “The Herald of Divine Love,” a book her sisters completed. She also wrote “Spiritual Exercises.” She died at Helfta around 1302.
She was never formally canonised, but devotion to her spread in later centuries. Christians still read her for her confident trust that God’s love is gentle, personal and close.
Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
Psalm 73:25–26 · BSB
A prayer
Faithful God, you drew Gertrude from a love of learning alone to a living friendship with you, and filled her with trust in the tender love of Christ. Turn our hearts toward you, so that our study, work and prayer may lead us deeper into your love and outward to others. Amen.
Saint Margaret of Scotland
Scottish queen who fed the poor every day and served them with her own hands
Margaret was an English princess born in exile in Hungary around 1045. After the Norman conquest of 1066 her family fled north, and around 1070 she married Malcolm III, king of Scots. They had eight children, and three of their sons later became kings of Scotland.
As queen she fed orphans and poor people every day, often serving them herself, and paid to free captives. She brought Benedictine monks to Dunfermline, set up a ferry and shelters for pilgrims crossing the Forth on their way to St Andrews, and pushed for reforms in the Scottish Church. Turgot, her confessor and biographer, recalls that Malcolm could not read, yet he would kiss the books she prayed from and had them decorated with gold and jewels.
In November 1093 Malcolm and their eldest son were killed in battle in England. Margaret, already gravely ill, heard the news and died a few days later in Edinburgh. Christians remember her as a queen who used power and wealth to serve the poor.
For I was hungry and you gave Me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave Me something to drink, I was a stranger and you took Me in, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you looked after Me, I was in prison and you visited Me.’
Matthew 25:35–36 · BSB
A prayer
God of mercy, you made Margaret a queen who served the poor with her own hands and filled her home with prayer. Teach us to use what you have given us, our time, our money and our influence, for those in need, and to recognise you in them. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
The lives are written with AI help from public-domain histories and checked before publishing; the prayers are ours. Bible quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), in the public domain. How we write.