Saint Lioba

Saint Leoba
St. Leoba's statue in Schornsheim
Born	~710 Wessex, England
Died	28 September 782 Schornsheim, Germany
Venerated in	Roman Catholic Church; Eastern Orthodox Church
Major shrine	Fulda
Feast	28 September

Leoba (also Lioba and Leofgyth) (c. 710 – 28 September 782) was an Anglo-Saxon nun who was part of Boniface's mission to the Germans, and a saint.

She was born Leofgyth in Wessex to a noble family. Her mother was related to Boniface (they were distant cousins), and Boniface was a friend of her father's. Though her birth date is unknown, her actual birth is regarded as a miracle. Leoba was conceived to old parents who were barren. Her mother had a dream in which she would conceive "the chosen/ beloved" child of Christ. This dream also told her mother that her offspring was to lead a spiritual life, and to serve the church. Leofgyth was trained first by abbess Eadburg at Minster.

She entered Wimborne Minster as an oblate and corresponded with Boniface. Archbishop Boniface later sought out Leoba, who was widely acclaimed for being virtuous, to help him with his mission of spreading Christianity throughout Germany. Archbishop Boniface repeatedly requested for Leoba to accompany him because he thought that many would benefit from her holiness and example. Leoba agreed to accompany him because of a dream that she had. This dream signified "that by her teaching and good example she will confer benefits on many people. ... and carry out in her actions whatever she expressed in her words.". She arrived in Germany in 748.

Leoba once experienced a dream in which a purple thread was coming from her mouth. She pulled the thread repeatedly until she rolled it into a ball. The labor of this caused her extreme fatigue and resulted in her waking up from her dream. Out of curiosity, she employed a fellow nun to seek out a nun who was known to reveal prophecies. This nun listened to the explanation of the dream and said that this dream represented the life of leadership that Leoba was to live and that she was destined to be a wise teacher and a great counselor.

Boniface established a convent in the Franconian town Tauberbischofsheim, where she became the abbess. Boniface, whose relationship to her could be as near as that of uncle, entrusted Leoba with a great deal of authority, and Rudolf of Fulda indicates that she was not merely in charge of her own house, but all of the nuns who worked for Boniface. In 754, when Boniface was preparing a missionary trip to Frisia, he gave his monastic cowl to Leoba to indicate that, when he was away, she was his delegate.