St. Lioba

St. Lioba was born around 710 in Wessex, England, a kinswoman of St. Boniface, and died in 782 near Mainz in Germany. Educated at the monastery of Wimborne, she became a Benedictine nun celebrated for her learning, her beauty of character, and her mastery of Scripture and the sacred sciences — rare gifts that made her one of the most cultivated women of her age.

When St. Boniface undertook the evangelization of the Germanic lands, he called upon Lioba to lead the women's part of the mission, and she crossed to Germany to become abbess of Tauberbischofsheim, from which many other convents were founded and staffed. She formed generations of nuns, was consulted even by bishops, and was so esteemed at the Frankish court that Charlemagne's queen counted her a friend. Boniface asked that she be buried near him at Fulda. She is venerated as a saint and a foundress of religious life for women in Germany.