Source: Textual EditionRudolf.VitLeobae

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Source Information
Author Rudolf
Source Title The Life of Saint Leoba
Date of composition c.836
Language Latin

Notes

*The division of chapters is slightly confusing.
The first short passage ihas a heading saying: De prolocutione Rodolfi ad Hadamotam de uita sanctae Leobae uirginis. Then the text opens with the heading Prologue, followed immediately by number 1. I have decided to call the first section Prol and subsequently I have used only numbers, including number 1. (Prol could refer also to prolocutio)

Edition(s)

Editor Article or Book Title Journal or Pub.Loc. Date pp.
Go to 
  Waitz, G. Vita Leobae abbatissae Biscofheimensis auctore Rudolfo Fuldensi Hannover 1887 118-31

Translation(s)

Editor Article or Book Title Journal or Pub.Loc. Date pp.
Talbot, C. H. The Life of Saint Leoba London and New York 1995 255-77

Event/Transaction List

Factoid Type Source Reference Short Description
1 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  Prol., 1 Rudolf 1 dedicated the book to Hadamout 1, a virgin of Christ. He says that he has been unable to discover all the facts of Leoba 1's life. He has therefore chosen to recount what he has learned from the writings of other venerable men who heard about her life from four of her disciples.
2 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  2 The kings of the English (Anonymi 729) founded two monasteries at Wimbourne, one for men and one for women.
3 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  4 Anonymous 284 died and was buried in her stubborn frame of mind.
4 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  4 When Tetta 1 heard of the young nuns' behaviour on the grave of Anonymous 284, she reprehended them for their presumption. She went to the grave and noticed that the earth over the corpse had subsided and lay about six inches below the surface of the surrounding ground. She called all the sisters together, reproached them and counselled them to lay aside their resentment. She ordered them to fast for three days and to give themselves to watching, prayer and the recitation of psalms for the repose of her soul. At the end of the third day the hole in the grave suddenly began to fill in and the ground rose.
5 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  5 The nun who looked after the chapel (Anonymous 285) lost her keys in the darkness. After searching in vain for them, she went to Tetta 1 who immediately recognized the work of the devil. She called the sisters together and recited the night-time vigils and the morning office in another building. While they were still at prayer, a little dead fox was seen at the door of the chapel holding the keys in his mouth.
6 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  6 Æbbe 4 had a dream in which she saw herself bearing in her bosom a church bell, which on being drawn out with her hand rang merrily. When she woke up she called her old nurse (Anonymous 286), who explained the meaning of the dream. Æbbe 4 would have had a daughter who had to be consecreted to God.
7 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  8 Leoba 1 had a dream in which she saw a purple thread issuing from her mouth. It seemed to her that when she tried to draw it out there was no end to it. She rolled the thread round and round and made a ball of it. Then, she woke up.
8 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  9 Gregory 2 ordained Boniface 5 bishop and sent him to the people of Germany.
9 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  9 With the help of the clergy who came from England (Anonymi 732) Boniface 5 carried out the mission with which he was charged.
10 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  9 As he had few labourers who worked with him in Germany, Boniface 5 sent messengers and letters to England.
11 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  10-11 Boniface 5 began to build monasteries so that the people would be attracted to the Church not only by the beauty of its religion but also by the communities of monk and nuns.
12 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  10 Boniface 5 sent Sturm 2 to Monte Cassino, so that he could study the regular discipline.
13 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  10 Boniface 5 sent messengers with letters to Tetta 1, asking her to send Leoba 1 to accompany Sturm 2 to Monte Cassino.
14 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  11 Boniface 5 placed Sturm 2 as abbot over the monks
15 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  11 Boniface 5 placed Leoba 1 as abbess over the nuns. He gave her the monastery at Bischofsheim, where there was a large community of nuns.
16 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  12 Anonymous 289 wrapped her child in swaddling clothes and cast it at night into a pool by the river.
17 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  12 A woman (Anonymous 290) came to the pool to draw water and discovered the corpse of the child cast by Anonymous 289. She started to cry and blame the nuns. After a period of prayer Leoba 1 and her nuns managed to free themselves from the accusation. The little girl (Anonymous 289) who had killed the child confessed the crime and a great shout rose to heaven.
18 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  13 A fire broke out in a part of the village. The villagers ran to the abbess (Leoba 1) and begged her to avert the danger. She took some salt that had been blessed by Boniface 5 and sprinkled it in some water taken from the river that flowed by the monastery. Then she told them to pour the water in the river and let all the people draw water lower down the stream and throw it on the fire. After they had done this the fire was extinguished.
19 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  14 One day a great storm arose. The people took refuge with their wives and children in the church, despairing of their lives. Leoba 1 went out to them and exhorted them to join her in prayer. In the meantime the storm raged. Tecla 1, her kinswoman, spoke to her asking her to pray the Mother of God to save them by her intercession. Leoba 1 opened the doors of the church and three times invoked the mercy of Christ through the intercession of the Virgin. At that point the storm died away.
20 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  15 When Williswind 1 was no longer able to remain in the common dormitory because of her illness, she was taken to the house of her parents. As the lower part of her body had lost all sense of feeling, Leoba 1 came to see her. With the little spoon that she used at table, she poured milk down the throat of the sick nun. At that point Williswind 1 recovered and before the end of the week, she walked on her feet to the monastery.
21 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  17 Boniface 5 summoned Lull 1 to his presence and entrusted everything to his care. He ordered him to complete the building of the monastery at Fulda and commanded him also to remove his body thither after his death. Then, he summoned Leoba 1 to him and exhorted her not to abandon her adopted land. He commended her to Lull 1 and the senior monks of the monastery who were present and reaffirmed his wish that after his death her bones should be placed next to his in the tomb. He also gave her his cowl and set out for Frisia.
22 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  17 Boniface 5 began the construction of the monastery in the wilderness of Bochonia, a work undertaken under the authority of Zacharias 1 and with the support of Carloman 2.
23 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  18 Leoba 1 was held in veneration by all who knew her, even by kings. Pippin 2 and his sons treated her with profound respect, particularly Charlemagne 1.
24 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  19 Leoba 1 was granted permission to go to Fulda, a privilege never granted to a woman either before or since. Permission was granted to her because Boniface 5 had recommended her to the seniors of the monastery and because he had ordered her remains to be buried there.
25 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  19 Leoba 1 went to Scoranesheim on Lull 1's advice. There she took up residence with some of her nuns (Anonymi 737).
26 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  20 Hildegard 1 sent a message to Leoba 1 begging her to come and visit her.
27 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  21 After receiving the viaticum from Torahtbraht 1, Leoba 1 died.
28 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  21 Leoba 1 was carried by the monks of Fulda to their monastery. They remembered that Boniface 5 had ordered to bury her next to his bones, but they were afraid to open the tomb of the martyr. They decided to bury her on the north side of the altar consecrated in honour of the Saviour and the Twelve Apostles.
29 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  21 Leoba 1's bones were .transferred and placed in the west porch near the shrine of St Ignatius
30 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  22-3 A certain man (Anonymous 291) had his arms tightly bound by iron rings. One of these had already come off one arm. He went to the church where Leoba 1 was buried and went round the shrines of the saints. When he reached Leoba 1's tomb some hidden force expanded the iron ring and cast it from his arm.
31 Event Rudolf.VitLeobae  23 After travelling in France and Italy Anonymous 292 came to Fulda. He stayed three days there praying that God would restore him to his former state of health. On the third, day he came to the shrine of Leoba 1 and fell asleep in the western crypt above which the body of Boniface 5 was buried. Firmandus 1 a priest who used to sit there, noticed that he was not twitching as he usually did when he slept. Suddenly the man got up and was cured.
32 Transaction Rudolf.VitLeobae  12 she received her food from Leoba 1's table, her clothing from the nuns and all other necessities
33 Transaction Rudolf.VitLeobae  17 Boniface 5's cowl