LUDOLPH OF SAXONY

Carthusian spiritual writer; b. c. 1295; d. Strassburg, April 10, 1377. Ludolph began his religious life as a Dominican, but entered the carthusians in 1340 at Strassburg. He was prior at Coblenz from 1343 to 1348, then retired to the charterhouse at Mainz, and finally to that of Strassburg.

Ludolph was the author of one of the most widely read books of the later Middle Ages: Vita Domini nostri Jesu Christi ex quatuor Evangeliis. In this life of Christ, Ludolph dwelt at length upon the events and teachings recorded in the Gospels and commented upon them abundantly from the Fathers of the Church and later spiritual authors, such as St. Bernard, Pseudo-Bonaventure, and James of Voragine. St. Ignatius Loyola was influenced in his conversion by reading the Vita Christi, and Ludolph's method of meditation left its mark on the one adopted in the Spiritual Exercises.

The Vita was first printed in 1474 by the Carthusians of Strassburg, and French translations were circulating in manuscript before 1485. During the 16th century there were innumerable editions in several languages. St. teresa of avila prescribed that a copy of the book should be in every Carmelite house. Ludolph also wrote Expositio in Psalterium Davidis, in which he drew most of his material from the commentaries of St. jerome, St. augustine, cassiodorus, and peter lombard. It was first printed at Paris in 1491 and has since been reprinted frequently. In both the Vita and the Expositio Ludolph's interpretations of Scripture are allegorical and moralizing.

Bibliography: s. autore, Dictionnaire de théologie catholique, ed. a. vacant et al., (Paris 1903–50). 9.1:1067–70. a. passmann, "Probleme um Ludolph von Sachsen," Archiv für elsässische Kirchengeschichte, 3 v. (1949–50) 13–34. m. i. bodenstedt, The Vita Christi of Ludolphus the Carthusian (Washington 1944). e. r. von frentz, "Ludolphe le chartreux et les Exercices de Saint Ignace de Loyola," Revue d'ascétique et de mystique (1949) 375–388.

[b. du moustier]