Alubert came to Utrecht in 766, or 767, being sent by the bishop of York to preach the Gospel in Frisia. Gregory besought him to be made a bishop. He consented after some reluctance, provided Gregory would despatch him to England with some native clergy. Accordingly he received as companions Sigibod and Ludger. Sigibod was ordained priest, Ludger deacon, and Alubert bishop at York, probably by Elbert, who succeeded Egbert in that see on his death in 766. Elbert on his accession had ordained Alcuin, who was his favourite pupil, deacon, and made him master of the cathedral seminary. His fame as a teacher spread far and wide; and students from all parts eagerly sought in York that instruction which no other master could supply. Ludger assiduously drank of the stream of knowledge which flowed from his lips, and it was with reluctance that he accompanied his friends at the end of a year to Utrecht, which they reached in 768.
His first act was to petition Gregory for leave to return to Alcuin, and sate himself "with the honey which he had tasted." Gregory gently but firmly refused his request: finding that in spite of all persuasion he cherished the determination of journeying to York, he sent for his father to induce him to desist from his purpose. But the studious Ludger remained firm, and at last vanquished all opposition by entreaty. He was accordingly furnished with all necessaries for his journey.
He stayed three years and a half at York, under Alcuin, where he was beloved by all for his good character and holy studies.
At this time, when the citizens of York were going forth to battle against their enemies, the son of an earl of that province was killed in a quarrel by a Frisian merchant. All Frisians deemed it prudent to quit England for fear of the wrath of his relatives. Alcuin sent his deacon Patal with Ludger, lest his love of learning should induce him to go to some other town of those parts, and he should there fall a victim to the vengeance of the young earl's friends. He returned home, in 774, with a large stock of learning and books, and was received warmly by Gregory.
About or before this time, Liafwin or Lebuin, a learned priest, was sent from England to Utrecht. He desired to preach the gospel to the people who dwelt by the river Yssel. The faithful of those parts first built him a church at Wulfre, on the west side of that river. Afterwards one was erected at Deventer, on the east side. He gained so many converts there that the Saxons made a furious attack on the place, drove out the Christians, and burned the church. When the enemy had retired, he returned, and rebuilt the church, and laboured there peacefully and successfully till his death, when he was buried in the church. Then the Saxons again sacked and burned the church, after making an ineffectual search for his body.
Albric succeeded his uncle Gregory, who had died about this time. Ludger gives a touching account of the old man's death. "He had been smitten with paralysis some years before: as he grew weaker, he eagerly looked forward for his nephew's return from Italy. When Albric arrived, he entrusted the monastery to his charge, and prophesied his own immediate decease. He bade them carry him to the oratory of S. Saviour, and set him in front of the tabernacle; there he prayed for a time, and then received the Lord's Body; then, with his eyes fixed on the altar, and his soul fixed on heaven, he departed to the Lord, whom he had served so long in sincerity." His death occurred in 776, according to the Bollandists; in 781 according to the editors of the Benedictine Acta Sanctorum.
Albric besought Ludger to assume Liafwin's charge, and to rebuild the church over his body. Being unable to discover his remains, he laid the foundations of the church within the space in which he thought they lay. Liafwin appeared to him in a vision of the night, telling him that his body was buried deep beneath the south wall of the foundations. The next day it was found in the spot pointed out, and the foundations were transferred so as to include the saint's tomb within the church. Many miracles were afterwards wrought at it. Perhaps the Romanesque crypt of the present vast church of S. Lubien at Deventer marks the site of this tomb.
Afterwards Albric sent Ludger and others to destroy the heathen temples and places of worship throughout Friesland. They found a vast quantity of treasure in them, of which Charlemagne reserved two-thirds, and gave the other to Albric for his own uses.
When Albric, in 778, was consecrated bishop at Cologne, he caused Ludger to be raised to the priesthood at the same time, and then sent him to be teacher of the Church in the canton of Ostracha, where S. Boniface was martyred. It seems that Ludger erected a church on the site of his martyrdom, near Dockum, for Alcuin afterwards sent him some Latin heroic verses to be inscribed on it.
These verses will be found in Migne's edition of Alcuin's works. The two first of the fourteen lines run thus:—