EBNER, CHRISTINA

EBNER, CHRISTINA. – Dominican mystic, born in Nuremberg on 26 March 1277, died at Engeltal on 27 December 1356. The daughter of pious patricians, at the age of 7 she devoted herself to the poor; at 12 she joined a sister in the monastery of Engeltal. A generous and passionate soul, she carved the name of Jesus on her breast and vigorously subdued her self-love. From 1314 she was consoled by visions and ecstasies, which, at the behest of her confessor, the Dominican Corrado da Füssen, she began to record in writing from 1317 to 1324; her fellow sisters continued the record from 1344 to 1352. She was known to the «Friends of God», spoke to the flagellants in 1349, and in 1350 blessed Emperor Carlo IV, together with his retinue, who knelt before her. Her tomb fell into oblivion in the 16th century.