Biography
His life is as little known as his works are celebrated. His date of birth is unknown. We have no certain knowledge of his native country; for in spite of his surname, "of Saxony", he may well, as Jacques Échard remarks, have been born either in the Diocese of Cologne or in the Diocese of Mainz, which then belonged to the Province of Saxony. He first joined the Dominicans, passed through an excellent course of literary and theological studies, and may have learnt the science of the spiritual life at the school of Johannes Tauler and Henry Suso, his contemporaries and companions in religion.
After about thirty years spent in the active life, he entered the Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery) of Strasburg towards the year 1340. Three years later he was called upon to govern the newly founded (1331) Charterhouse of Koblenz; but scruples of conscience led him to resign his office of prior in 1348. Having again become a simple monk, first at Mainz and afterwards at Strasburg, he spent the last thirty years of his life in retreat and prayer, and died on 13 April 1378 almost an octogenarian, universally esteemed for his sanctity, although he never seems to have been honoured with any public cult.
Read more about this topic: Ludolph Of Saxony
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