Lioba (700–779)

English saint and missionary. Name variations: Leoba; Leobgyth; Liobgetha; Truthgeba. Born Liobgetha in 700 in Wessex, England; died in 779 at Bischofscheim also seen as Bischofsheim abbey in Mainz, Germany; educated at the nunnery of Minsterin-Thanet and then at Wimborne in Dorset; never married; no children.

The English saint Lioba came from a noble family of Wessex who sent her to the convent at Thanet for her education. Some years later, she transferred to another nunnery, at Wimborne. Around 748, she developed a friendship through correspondence with the missionary St. Boniface, a distant relative also born in Wessex, who was working in Germany. Boniface recognized the high level of education and extreme piety of this nun, and asked her to join him in his work in Germany. She agreed and traveled there with some of her sister nuns, including Walpurgis . Boniface and Lioba founded an abbey at Bischofscheim, and Lioba became its first abbess around 753. She was also put in indirect charge of several other Benedictine communities for women. In 754, her friend Boniface was murdered. From his letters, many still extant, we know how much he valued her. In one, he asked that she consent to be buried next to him "so that their bodies might await the day of resurrection together."

Lioba served as abbess for about 28 years. During this time, Bischofscheim became noted as a place of great learning and charity for the poor, and the abbess was often consulted by royal and noble German leaders on both religious and secular questions of government. Lioba's dedication to serving others led her to encourage her nuns and monks to pray in public for the benefit of the laity, and to develop and preside over the work of a large scriptorium. She died in 779, age 79, and was later canonized.

sources:

Anderson, Bonnie S., and Judith P. Zinsser. A History of Their Own. Vol. I. NY: Harper & Row, 1988.

Uglow, Jennifer, ed. International Dictionary of Women's Biography. NY: Continuum, 1989.

Laura York , Riverside, California