EBNER, 6b'ner, CHRISTINA: Prioress of En gelthal, near Nuremberg; b. at Nuremberg Mar. 28, 1277; d. at Engelthal Dec. 27, 1358. She was the daughter of a Nuremberg patrician. In 1289 she entered the convent of Engelthad, whence the fame of her holiness spread as early as 1297; in 1345 she became prioress. She lived for many years an ascetic life and had visions and inner experiences which have been preserved in her own records and those of her confessor, the Dominican Conrad von Füsaen. In her biographies of deceased sisters she introduces a circle of God-seeking women who had been filled with the spirit of mysticism. Christina's spiritual memoirs relate the events of the time and thus offer material useful for the historian. She also wrote on earthquakes and the Black Death (1348). The last days of her life were enlivened by a visit of Henry of Nördlingen (1351), whose congenial thought and feeling confirmed her inner life. Her memoirs are written in noble and at times poetical language and show a woman deeply in earnest and of fine taste and education.

(Philipp Strauch .)

Bibliography: G. W. S. Lochner , Leben and Geschichte der Christina E bner%n, Nuremberg. 1872; K. BchrSder, Der Nonne von Enpelthat Btichiein Von der Genaden Ueberiaat, Tübingen, 1871; R. A. Vaughan, Hours With the Mystics, i. 223-224, 8th ed., London [1905].

EBNER, MARGARETA: Fourteenth century mystic; b. at Donauwbrth (25 m. n. of Augsburg) c. 1291; d. at the convent of Maria Medingen near Dillingen (23 m. n.w. of Augsburg) June 20, 1351. She is not related to Christina Ebner, but descended from a patrician family at Donauworth and entered the monastery of Dominican nuns at Maria Medingen. On account of a lingering disease she retired from 1312 to 1315 more and more into herself and soon experienced supposed proofs of divine grace, but her life received its decisive tendency only in 1332 by her intercourse with Henry of Nördlingen (q.v.). In her diaries she has related the story of her sufferings and visions, and of her spiritual intercourse with Henry of Nördlingen. Her style lacks variety and a higher flight of thought. Like Christina, she touches historical events of the time. She was highly respected, not only in Medingen, but men like Tauter sought her acquaintance and entered into correspondence with her.

(Philipp Strauch.)

Bibliography: P. Strauch, Marpareta EMier and Hein rirA von Ndrdlinpen, T abingen, 1882; W. Prager, Geschichte der deutschen Myadik, ii. 247-261, 289-274, 277-308, Leipsic, 1881; R. A. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, i. 218, 8th ed_ London [1906j.