Ludolf of Saxony

LUDOLF OF SAXONY. - Ascetic and exegete, b. ca. 1295, d. at Strasbourg on 10 April 1377. At the age of 18 he entered the Dominicans and remained there for about 26 years, distinguishing himself by learning and piety. In 1340 he passed to the Carthusians at Strasbourg, where he remained until 1343; then he was appointed prior of Koblenz, but in 1348 he resigned, withdrawing to Mainz and then once more to Strasbourg, where he died in repute of sanctity.

Very famous is his Vita Domini nostri Iesu Christi ex quatuor Evangelii, a celebrated work that immortalized the name of L. The first edition was made at Strasbourg in 1474; more than 420 followed thereafter; among the most recent are those of Bologna (1867, 2 vols.), Parma (1871-1873, 2 vols.), Paris (1870-99, 7 vols.). This work is still considered today as one of the best commentaries on the Gospels, coordinated and fused into a single narrative. Even before the invention of printing it was spread everywhere and provided priests and the more devout faithful with a precious mine, rich in spiritual instructions and meditations based on Scripture and the Fathers. Also published several times have been: the collection of prayers with which L. ends the chapters of his work, and they are a substantial summary of the doctrine and the events contained in each (Venice 1557), and the Expositio in Psalterium Davidis (Paris 1491), drawn from the commentaries of St. Jerome, St. Augustine, Cassiodorus and Peter Lombard.