| Blessed Margareta Ebner, O.P. | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1291 Donauwörth |
| Died | June 20, 1351 Mödingen |
| Honored in | Roman Catholic Church |
| Beatified | February 24, 1979 by Pope John Paul II |
| Feast | June 20 |
| Attributes | Nun and Mystic |
Blessed Margareta Ebner, O.P., (1291 – 20 July 1351) was a German nun who is considered part of the tradition of German mysticism and a visionary. She seems to have been a niece of Christina Ebner, another Dominican nun and member of the group of mystics in the region at that time.
Born in Donauwörth, Bavaria, in 1291, she was descended from the aristocratic Ebner family and she received a thorough classical education in her home. When she was of age, she entered the monastery of cloistered nuns of the Dominican Order at Maria Medingen, near Dillingen, where she was received in 1306.
From 1312 onward she was dangerously ill for three years; subsequently, for a period of nearly seven years, she was mostly at the point of death. Hence she could exercise her desire for penance and mortification only by abstinence from wine, fruit and what was considered the luxury of bathing.
During this period of the Great Schism in the Catholic Church, when there was three different claimnants to the papal throne, the nuns of the monastery were loyal adherents of the Pope in Rome. As a result, the community was forced to disperse during the military campaign of the Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV against papal forces. Margareta took refuge at her family home. Upon return, her nurse died, and Margaretha grieved inconsolably until the secular priest Henry of Nördlingen assumed her spiritual direction in 1332.
Eventually Master Henry had to flee Germany due to his personal allegiance to the Avignon Papacy The correspondence that passed between them is the first collection of this kind in the German language. At his command, beginning during the Advent of 1344, she began to write with her own hand a full account of all her Revelations (German: Offenbarungeng) and her conversation with the Infant Jesus, as well as all answers she had received from Him, even in her sleep. From the intimate nature of her interaction with the Divine Child, she has become a leading example of what is termed "mother-mysticism".[1] She wrote her visions in the Swabian dialect.
This journal is preserved in a manuscript of the year 1353 at Medingen. She also had extensive correspondence with the noted Dominican theologian and preacher, Friar Johannes Tauler. Tauler was considered the leader of a lay spiritual movement known as the Friends of God. Through her connection with him, she has become identified as part of this movement. From her letters and diary we learn that she never abandoned her compassion for the Emperor Louis, whose soul she learned in a vision had been saved.
Sister Margareta Ebner was beatified by Pope John Paul II on 24 February 1979.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed (1913). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.