LIOBA, ST.

Anglo-Saxon abbess, aide to Boniface in Germany; b. Wessex, England; d. Schornsheim, near Mainz, Germany, Sept. 28, 782. The daughter of Dynne and Ebba, West Saxons related to St. boniface, she was placed in Thanet Abbey when young and was professed at wimborne abbey when she came of age. Literature was for her a world of delight, and she wrote a letter to Boniface that concluded with a poetic passage and asked him to correct her writing and to pray for her. As a result of ensuing correspondence, some of which survives, 30 nuns including Saints Lioba (or Liobgytha), thecla, and walburga, were sent to Boniface in Mainz. Lioba was placed in charge of a monastic establishment called Tauberbischofsheim (735), and from that base she set up other convents in Germany. She was highly respected by the early carolingians and was often invited to attend at court, especially by Charlemagne's wife, hildegard of kempten. Boniface's regard for her carried over to his successors, especially to lull of mainz, and she alone was allowed to enter Fulda to pray, all other women being excluded. She was buried at Fulda at the specific behest of Boniface.

Feast: Sept. 28.

Bibliography: Vita by rudolf of fulda, Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Scriptores (Berlin 1826–) 15.1:118–131, Eng. trans. in The Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany, ed. and tr. c.h. talbot (New York 1954). Monumenta Germaniae Historica: Epistolae selectae (Berlin 1826–) 1:nn. 29, 67, 96, 100, letters. w. levison, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century (Oxford 1946) 70, 76–77, 150. t. schieffer, Winfrid-Bonifatius and die christliche Grundlegung Europas (Freiburg 1954) 162–166.

[j. l. druse]