Christina Ebner (also Christine), (26 March 1277 – 27 December 1356) was a German Dominican

nun A nun is a woman who vows to dedicate her life to religious service and contemplation, typically living under vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience in the enclosure of a monastery or convent.''The Oxford English Dictionary'', vol. X, page 5 ...

, writer and mystic.

Life

Ebner was born in the Imperial City of Nuremberg, the child of the patrician Seyfried Ebner and his wife, Elizabeth Kuhdorf. In 1289, at the age of twelve, she entered the

Monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of Monasticism, monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in Cenobitic monasticism, communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a ...

St. John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...

in Engelthal, which was a community of

s of the Dominican Second Order outside the city, in the

Burgraviate of Nuremberg The Burgraviate of Nuremberg () was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from the early 12th to the late 15th centuries. As a burgraviate, it was a county seated in the town of Nuremberg; almost two centuries passed before the burgraviate lost ...

. Founded as a

beguinage A beguinage, from the French language, French term , is an architectural complex which was created to house beguines: lay religious women who lived in community without taking vows or retiring from the world. Originally the beguine institution w ...

some fifty years earlier, over the next hundred years this monastery was to become a much-renowned center of spirituality and learning. According to some, it might very well have been the foremost center of mystical life during the early fourteenth century in Germany, if not all of Europe. Less than a year later after her admission, Ebner fell gravely ill. This affliction would reappear up to three times a year for the next decade. Also, later, she frequently suffered from various illnesses. About this time, she began experiencing frequent religious visions, which her

confessor In a number of Christian traditions, including Eastern Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Lutheranism and Anglicanism, a confessor is a priest who hears the confessions of penitents and pronounces absolution. History During the Diocletianic Persecut ...

, the

friar A friar is a member of one of the mendicant orders in the Catholic Church. There are also friars outside of the Catholic Church, such as within the Anglican Communion. The term, first used in the 12th or 13th century, distinguishes the mendi ...

Conrad of

Füssen Füssen () is a Town#Germany, town in Bavaria, Germany, in the district of Ostallgäu, situated one kilometre from the Austrian border. The town is known for violin manufacturing and as the closest transportation hub for the Neuschwanstein and Sc ...

, encouraged her to write down. So she began writing her first book, ''Leben und Offenbarungen'' ('' Life and Revelations'') in 1317. She continued to work on it at least until 1324. In 1338, she began a correspondence with the secular priest

Henry of Nördlingen Henry of Nördlingen () was a German people, German Catholic priest from Bavaria, who lived in the 14th century, his date of death being unknown. He was the spiritual adviser of Margaretha Ebner (died 1351), the mystic nun of Medingen Abbey, Meding ...

, who was an enthusiastic propagator of mystic

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape o ...

and literature. Through him, she started a correspondence with Margareta Ebner, who was also a Dominican nun actively involved in the spiritual movement of the period; but Margareta was no relative of Ebner's in spite of the same family name "Ebner". Around 1340, Ebner started compiling the ''Book of Sisters'' (''Schwesternbuch''), a record of the mystical visions and life experiences of the other nuns in her monastery, called ''Von der genaden uberlast'' (''Of the Burden of Grace''). It can be attributed to Ebner based on a 1451 manuscript and belongs to a genre known as the Sister-books. Between 1344 and 1352, she wrote a second book of ''Revelations'' (''Offenbarungen''). In it, she deals with historical and political events of the time such as the riots at Nuremberg in 1348; the earthquake of the same year; the outbreak of the

Black Death The Black Death was a bubonic plague pandemic that occurred in Europe from 1346 to 1353. It was one of the list of epidemics, most fatal pandemics in human history; as many as people perished, perhaps 50% of Europe's 14th century population. ...

; the

Flagellants Flagellants are practitioners of a form of mortification of the flesh by whipping their skin with various instruments of penance. Many Christian confraternities of penitents have flagellants, who beat themselves, both in the privacy of their dw ...

' processions of 1349; and the long quarrel between the

Holy Roman Emperor The Holy Roman Emperor, originally and officially the Emperor of the Romans (disambiguation), Emperor of the Romans (; ) during the Middle Ages, and also known as the Roman-German Emperor since the early modern period (; ), was the ruler and h ...

Louis IV and the

Holy See The Holy See (, ; ), also called the See of Rome, the Petrine See or the Apostolic See, is the central governing body of the Catholic Church and Vatican City. It encompasses the office of the pope as the Bishops in the Catholic Church, bishop ...

. Ebner does not limit herself to the role of a bystander. Instead, she takes a deep interest in the events, develops her own opinions about them and even actively tries to influence their course. By that time, her reputation had spread widely through Northern Europe. In 1350, the Emperor Charles IV himself came to visit her at the monastery, seeking her guidance and prayers. In 1351 she was finally visited for the first time by her long-time confidant, Henry of Nördlingen, who spent three weeks as a visitor to the monastery. At that time he gave her a copy of Mechthild's of Magdeburg mystic work ''Das fließende Licht der Gottheit'' (''The Flowing Light of the Godhead''), which is found reflected in her own later works and in those of the other nuns in the community.Monastic Matrix "Christine Ebner"
Ebner died in her monastery at Engelthal on 27 December 1356, in her 67th year of monastic life.

Works

References

Literature

* ''This article incorporates text from the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Catholic Encyclopedia ''The'' ''Catholic Encyclopedia: An International Work of Reference on the Constitution, Doctrine, Discipline, and History of the Catholic Church'', also referred to as the ''Old Catholic Encyclopedia'' and the ''Original Catholic Encyclopedi ...

''.''

External links

*
Monastic Matrix
* Rebecca LR Garber (1996)

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ebner, Christina 1277 births 1355 deaths 13th-century German nuns 14th-century Christian mystics 14th-century German nuns 14th-century German women writers Dominican mystics Dominican nuns German Christian mystics German Roman Catholic writers German spiritual writers German women diarists Rhineland mystics Roman Catholic mystics Writers from Nuremberg