Ludolph of Saxony

He first joined the Dominicans, possibly in about 1310,[4] 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.

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.

The 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia assesses this attribution as mistaken, but agrees that the Imitation draws on Ludolph's thought.

[1] Pope Francis sees Ludolph's work as influencing the development of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus within monastic settings, in advance of its wider permeation throughout the Catholic church.