St. Lutgardis (1182–1246) was a Flemish noblewoman who entered the Benedictines of St. Catherine of Saint-Trond at fifteen, and later (1206) transferred to the Cistercian abbey of Aywières (in modern Walloon Brabant). She would never learn French — the abbey's language — and lived in French-speaking community speaking only Dutch for forty years; the language barrier was itself a discipline.
From 1216, Lutgardis received an extended series of visions of the crucified Christ. He showed her the wound in his side and invited her to drink from the fountain of his Heart. She made the 'exchange of hearts' with him — receiving in mystical anticipation what Gertrude of Helfta would receive 65 years later, and Margaret Mary 457 years later. The Lutgardis vision is the earliest sustained Sacred Heart vision in Western Christianity. She became blind in her last decade and spent that time in continuous mental prayer. Canonised by Innocent IV in 1247.