Ludger: Encyclopedia II - Ludger - Early Life to Ordination

Ludger - Early Life to Ordination

Ludger's parents, Thiadgrim and Liafburg, were wealthy Christian Frisians of noble descent.

In 753 Ludger saw the great Apostle of Germany, Saint Boniface, which, together with the subsequent martyrdom of the saint, made a deep impression on him. At his own request he was sent to the Utrecht Cathedral School (Martinsstift), founded by Saint Gregory of Utrecht in 756 or 757, and made good progress.

In 767 Gregory, who did not wish to receive episcopal consecration himself, sent Alubert, who had come from England to assist him in his missionary work, to York to be consecrated bishop. Ludger accompanied him to be ordained into the diaconate (as he duly was, by Ethelbert of York) and to study under Alcuin, but after a year he returned to Utrecht. Some time later he was granted an opportunity to continue his studies in the same school, when he developed a friendship with Alcuin which lasted throughout life.

In 772 friction arose between the Anglo-Saxons and the Frisians, and Ludger, for the sake his personal safety, left for home, taking with him a number of valuable books. He remained in the Martinsstift until the death of Gregory in 775, in honour of whose memory he wrote the biography Vita Gregorii.

He was then sent to Deventer to restore the chapel destroyed by the pagan Saxons and to find the relics of Saint Lebuinus, who had worked there as missionary, built the chapel, and died there in c775. Ludger was successful in these things, and then returned to teach in the Martinsstift, after which he and some others were sent north to destroy the pagan places of worship west of the Lauwers Zee.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Early Life to Ordination", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki