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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Lioba

b. 710, Wessex, England; d. 782, Schornsheim, Germany

Born to a noble family in Wessex, Lioba became a nun at Wimbourne monastery in Dorsetshire, England. She was recruited by the papal missionary Boniface, related to Lioba through her mother, to establish Benedictine monasteries for women in Germany. She served as abbess at Bischofheim in Mainz, founded other monasteries in the country, and became a spiritual advisor and friend to Hildegard, the wife of Charlemagne. Lioba was canonized by the Roman Catholic Church.