Blessed Margaret Ebner
Blessed Margaret Ebner (German: Margaretha Ebner; born c. 1291 AD in Donauwörth, Bavaria, Germany; died June 20, 1351 AD at the convent of Maria Medingen, near Dillingen, Bavaria, Germany) was a German Dominican nun and mystic, one of the notable women of the medieval Rhineland-Bavarian mystical tradition. Her *Revelations* and her correspondence with the priest Henry of Nördlingen are important witnesses to the spirituality of her age. She is venerated as a Blessed of the Dominican Order. Her feast day is June 20.
A nun of Maria Medingen who endured many years of illness, Margaret Ebner recorded her mystical experiences and her devotion to the Passion and to the Child Jesus. She was the first person beatified by Pope John Paul II, in 1979.
Stored in Cargo: Blessed Margaret Ebner
| Blessed Margaret Ebner | |
|---|---|
| Feast Day | June 20 |
| Profession | Dominican nun; mystic; spiritual writer |
| Rel. Affiliation | Catholic Church; Order of Preachers (Dominican nuns) |
| Patronage | Mystics; those who bear long illness; the Rhineland-Bavarian mystical tradition |
| Attributes | Dominican habit; book of revelations; devotion to the Passion and the Child Jesus |
| Birthplace | Donauwörth, Bavaria, Germany |
| Death Place | Maria Medingen, near Dillingen, Bavaria, Germany |
| Cause of Death | Natural death; Dominican nun and mystic of Maria Medingen; died at her convent |
| Primary Shrine | Maria Medingen, Bavaria, Germany |
Biography
Margaret Ebner was born about 1291 at Donauwörth in Bavaria, into a well-to-do family. About 1305 she entered the Dominican convent of Maria Medingen, near Dillingen on the Danube, where she would spend the rest of her life.
Some years into her religious life she was struck by a severe and prolonged illness that left her an invalid for long periods and marked the rest of her days with suffering. Through these trials she was drawn into an ever deeper interior life. She experienced mystical graces—raptures, visions, and an intense devotion to the Passion of Christ and to the Christ Child, before whose image she prayed—which she later set down, at the urging of her spiritual director, in a book of *Revelations*.
Her director and friend was the secular priest Henry of Nördlingen, and the letters exchanged between them form the earliest surviving collection of correspondence in the German language and a precious document of the "Friends of God" movement and the flourishing of mysticism in fourteenth-century Germany. Through these connections Margaret's spirituality was linked to the wider mystical current associated with figures such as Meister Eckhart, John Tauler, and Henry Suso.
Margaret Ebner died at Maria Medingen on June 20, 1351. Long venerated, she was beatified on February 24, 1979, by Pope John Paul II—the first beatification of his pontificate. Her feast is kept on June 20.
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Feast day
June 20
Books
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- *Revelations* (Offenbarungen)
- Letters exchanged with Henry of Nördlingen
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