Samuel of Waldebba

Samuel of Waldebba (Ge'ez ሳሙኤል ዘሀገረ ወልድባ sāmū'ēl za-hagara waldibbā) was a late fourteenth- and early fifteenth-century Ethiopian saint of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church. He is considered the founder of Waldəbba Monastery in northern Ethiopia and is one of Ethiopia's most prominent saints.[1][2][3][4]

Samuel of Waldebba
Born	15th century Ethiopia
Died	early 15th century Ethiopia
Venerated in	Ethiopian Orthodox Church
Feast	December 21
Attributes	riding a lion

The Gädlä Samuˀel, written in the fifteenth-century and with both long and short versions, states that he was born in Aksum and had a brother. His mother left her husband to become a nun and Samuel followed her example by refusing to marry. He to went to the monastery called Däbrä Bänkʷal, where he became a monk. After his father died, he became a coenobitic monk, living alone in the wilderness among the wild beasts. He tamed lions and performed many miracles. He walked through water without his book getting wet and Saint Michael flew him through the air to visit Jerusalem.[4] He was an extreme ascetic; for instance, standing in a pit praying for months, wearing sackcloth, and not eating for forty days.[5] He is said to have died at the age of 100.[1]

Stories about Samuel also appear in the Ethiopian Miracles of Mary.