EBNER, MARGARETH, blessed. — Dominican, born ca. 1291 at Donauwörth (Swabia), died on 20 June 1351 at Medingen. Descended from the distinguished family of Verda and endowed with remarkable qualities of spirit, the frail M. entered at the age of fifteen the flourishing monastery of Medingen, which through her merit became one of the centers of Dominican spirituality. From 1311 she was intimately abandoned to God; from 1312 to 1313 she was gravely ill, and from 1314 to 1332 she was confined to bed for half of the time, yet consoled by God. In 1332 the secular priest Enrico di Nördlingen gave her mystical direction. Incapable of severe external penances, M. mortified herself in food, bearing, and sleep, devoting herself to a life of prayer and oration inspired by the liturgical cycle and characterized by meditation on the mysteries of the Lord’s life, with additions of Pater and Ave, a method called the Pater Noster.
Most devoted to the Eucharist, to the name and Heart of Jesus, she cherished the Asima Christi sanctifica me etc. She devoted herself particularly to intercession for the dead. In 1344 a statue of the Child Jesus was given to her from Vienna. At Nördlingen’s urging, from December 1344 M. compiled or dictated in the Revelations many notes on her spiritual life from 1312 to 1348. Even from afar (Avignon, Constance, Basel, Strasbourg, Cologne), Nördlingen remembered M., making his acquaintances her friends and maintaining an exchange of letters with her. Having become a central figure among the “Friends of God,” Tauler himself commended himself to M.’s prayers. This correspondence, the Revelations, and the Pater Noster “are an indispensable document for knowledge of the religious life of the period” (G. Gabetti). M.’s life and spirituality were always marked by a cheerful and obliging disposition. Throughout a life tried by sufferings and illnesses, accepted with unaltered Christian fortitude, and rich in supernatural charisms, M. already enjoyed during her lifetime a widespread reputation for holiness. As regards the cult, concerning which the process begun in 1686 before the diocesan tribunal of Augsburg received an affirmative judgment on 4 November 1910, confirmation by the Holy See is awaited.