View source for Lebuinus

{{short description|8th-century Christian saint}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox saint
|name= Lebuinus
|birth_date=
|death_date= 775
|feast_day= 12 November
|venerated_in= [[Roman Catholic Church]]<br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]<br>[[Anglican Communion]]
|image= Lebuinus.jpg
|imagesize=
|caption= Fresco of Saint Lebuinus
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|titles=
|beatified_date=
|beatified_place=
|beatified_by=
|canonized_date=
|canonized_place=
|canonized_by=
|attributes=
|patronage=
|major_shrine=
|suppressed_date=
|issues=
}}
'''Lebuinus''' (also known as '''Lebuin''', '''Lebwin''' or '''Liafwin[e]'''; died {{c.}} 775) was a medieval Christian monk who is the Apostle of the [[Frisians]] and patron saint of the city of [[Deventer]] in the [[Netherlands]]. He was born in [[England]] to [[Anglo-Saxons|Anglo-Saxon]] parents, date unknown, and died at Deventer about 775.
==Life==
Lebuinus was a monk in [[Wilfrid]]'s monastery at [[Ripon]]. Inspired by the examples of [[Saint Boniface|Boniface]], [[Willibrord]], and other great English missionaries, he resolved to devote his life to the conversion of the [[Germany|Germans]]. After his ordination, he proceeded in 754 to [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Utrecht|Utrecht]], and was welcomed by [[Gregory of Utrecht|Gregory]], acting bishop of that place, who entrusted him with the mission of [[Overijssel]] on the borders of [[Westphalia]], and gave him a companion - Marchelm (or Marcellinus), a disciple of Willibrord.{{sfn|Kennedy|1913}}
Lebuinus preached the Gospel among the tribes of the district, and erected a little chapel at Wilp (see: [[Voorst]]) (''Wilpa'') on the west bank of the [[IJssel]]. His venerable personality and deep learning quickly won many to [[Christianity]], even among the nobles, and it soon became necessary to build at Deventer on the east bank of the river a larger church. However, Lebuinus's great success aroused hostility among the pagans. Ascribing his conversions to witchcraft, they formed an alliance with the anti-Christian [[Saxons]], burned the church at Deventer and dispersed the converts.{{sfn|Kennedy|1913}}
After escaping with difficulty, Lebuinus determined to voice the claims of Christianity at the national assembly (''Allthing'') of the Saxons at [[Marklo]] near the [[Weser]] (Northwestern Germany).<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=6sH7llB_CQ8C&dq=saint+Lebuinus&pg=PA434 Howorth, H.H., "The Ethnology of Germany", ''Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland'', Volume 9, 1880, p. 434]{{PD-notice}}</ref>
The ''Vitae'' of Lebuinus describes in great details, his appearance before the assembly, where, it is claimed, he pointed out to the Saxons the inefficacy of their deities. It also describes how he warned them of impending destruction at the hands of a powerful king unless they converted to Christianity. With the intercession of the nobleman Buto, he persuaded them sufficiently of the power of his mission that they not only allowed him to escape with his life, but allowed him to preach unmolested in the territory allotted him. His life may have been a source of inspiration in the creation of the cultus of [[Livinus]] of [[Ghent]].
==Death==
On his return to Friesland, Lebuinus rebuilt the church at Deventer where he was later buried.<ref>[http://hlub.dyndns.org/pub/webplek/ike/ike_reserve/saints/Lebuinus_st.htm "Lebuinus", The Medieval Liturgy of the Low Countries]</ref> The exact date of his death is unknown, however it is almost certain that it occurred before 776, because during that year, the Saxons attacked and burnt the church at Deventer and yet could not identify his remains inside of the church after three days. His body and a copy of the Gospels presumed to have been written by his hand were still in Deventer, in a church bearing his name, until 882 when it was again destroyed by the Normans. The relics of St. Livinus (whose feast also is on 12 November) are probably those of Lebuinus. [[Ludger|Saint Ludger]] rebuilt the church a few years later, and in doing so rediscovered the saint's remains beneath the site.{{sfn|Kennedy|1913}}
==Veneration==
* Lebuinus is commemorated by the Church on 12 November, mostly in the [[Netherlands]].
* The [[Lebuïnuskerk, Deventer]] was consecrated in his name.{{sfn|Hunt|1892}}
==References==
{{reflist}}
;Attribution
*{{Catholic|wstitle=St. Lebwin|first=Thomas |last=Kennedy}}
*{{DNB|wstitle=Lebwin|first=William |last=Hunt|volume=32}}
==Primary sources==
*''Lives'' of St Lebuinus:
**''Vita (Lebuini) antiqua'', earliest ''Life'' (9th or early 10th century)
***ed. {{Cite book |author=A. Hofmeister |title=Vita Lebuini antiqua |series=[[Monumenta Germaniae Historica|MGH]] Scriptores 30.2 |pages=789–95 }}
***tr. {{Cite book |author=C.H. Talbot |title=Anglo-Saxon Missionaries in Germany |year=1954 }} [http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/basis/lebuin.html]
**Hucbald of Saint-Amand, ''Vita Lebuini'' (between 918 and 930).
***ed. {{Cite book |author=Laurentius [[Surius]] |title=Vitæ Sanctorum |volume=6 |pages=277–86}} ; ed. ''[[Patrologia Latina]]'' 132, pp.&nbsp;877–94; MGH Scriptores 2, pp.&nbsp;360–4, in abbreviated form.
***tr. {{Cite book |author=Serenus Cressy |title=Church History of Brittany 24.7 }}
**15th-century ''Life''
***ed. M. Coens, 'Vie de S. Lebuin', in: Analecta bollandiana, 34/35 (1915-1916) 319–330.
*Radbod, ''Ecloga et Sermo'' (on Lebuinus), in Surius, VI, 839
*[[Altfrid]], ''Vita Liutgeri'' in MGH Scriptores, II, 360 sqq.
==Further reading==
*{{Cite book |last=Hesterman |first=F. |title=Der hl. Lebuin |year=1935}}
*{{Cite book |last=Levison |first=W. |title=England and the Continent in the 8th Century |year=1956 |pages=108–10 }}
==External links==
* {{PASE|3396|Lebuin 1}}
<!-- strong association-->
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:8th-century Frankish saints]]
[[Category:770s deaths]]
[[Category:Northumbrian saints]]
[[Category:Dutch Roman Catholic missionaries]]
[[Category:Dutch Roman Catholic saints]]
[[Category:People from Deventer]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:8th-century English people]]