Case file · Apparition / miracle
Tekle Haymanot, the saint who stood on one leg
Ethiopian hagiography says Saint Tekle Haymanot, founder of the Debre Libanos monastery in 1284, prayed standing in a cave for so long that one leg withered and fell off, and was given six wings in its place.
1284 CE · 9.71, 38.85 · status: legend
The account
He is one of the most venerated Ethiopian saints, and icons show him with wings and a single leg. The monastery he founded, first called Debre Atsbo, became the seat of the Ethiopian Church's leading abbot; pilgrims bathe in the holy water of the spring above it.
The sceptical view
The miracles come from a hagiography (gadl) written after his death; historians accept him as a real reforming monk of the 13th century.