Ludolph of Saxony
Ludolph of Saxony (c. 1295 – 1378), also known as Ludolphus de Saxonia and Ludolph the Carthusian, was a German Roman Catholic theologian of the fourteenth century. His principal work, first printed in the 1470s, was the "Vita Christi" ("Life of Christ"). It had significant influence on the development of techniques for Christian meditation by introducing the concept of immersing and "projecting" oneself into a Biblical scene about the life of Jesus which became popular among the Devotio Moderna community, and later influenced Ignatius of Loyola. Biography. Little is known about Ludolph of Saxony's life. He may  have been born about 1295, but this is uncertain. We have no certain knowledge of his native country; for in spite of his surname, "of Saxony", he may well, as Jacques Échard remarks, have been born either in the Diocese of Cologne or in the Diocese of Mainz, which then belonged to the Province of Saxony. He first joined the Dominicans, possibly in about 1310, passed through an excellent course of literary and theological studies, and may have learnt the science of the spiritual life at the school of Johannes Tauler and Henry Suso, his contemporaries and companions in religion . After about thirty years spent in the active life, he was in 1340 given permission to become a Carthusian, on the grounds that he felt a calling to the stricter life of silence and solitude practiced by that order; in that year he entered the Charterhouse (Carthusian monastery) of Strasburg. Three years later he was called upon to govern the newly founded (1331) Charterhouse of Koblenz; but scruples of conscience led him to resign his office of prior in 1348. Having again become a simple monk, first at Mainz and afterwards at Strasburg, he spent the last thirty years of  his life in retreat and prayer, and died on 13 April 1378 an octogenarian, universally esteemed for his sanctity, although he never seems to have been honoured with any public cult. Works. Ludolph is principally remembered for two works: It is possible that Ludolph also wrote the "Speculum Humanae Salvationis". Other treatises and sermons now either lost or very doubtful have also been attributed to him. At times, the famous work "The Imitation of Christ" has been attributed to Ludolph of Saxony. Even though this is incorrect, it is certainly the case that the author of that work draws on  Ludolph's thought.