About St. Hildegard

Saint Hildegard of Bingen (German: Hildegard von Bingen), also known as the "Sibyl of the Rhine" or as the "miracle of the 12th century", was a German Benedictine nun, doctor of the church, mystic and visionary, writer, composer and scientist, one of the most important figures of the Middle Ages. Her feast day is September 17.

She was born in 1098 in Bermesheim near Alzey (diocese of Mainz, province of Rhineland-Palatinate) as the tenth child of the nobles Hildebert and Mechtilde. At the age of eight, her parents gave her to the nuns to be raised in the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenberg. At the age of 15, Hildegard herself became a Benedictine nun. Already as a girl she had visions. According to Hildegard herself, her main educator was the wisdom of God, to which she attributed all her extraordinary knowledge of theology, medicine and music. At the age of 40, she began to write down her visions. Some of them are apocalyptic descriptions, and their starting point, in addition to the Bible, is religious truth and the life of the Church.

The first collection of the saint's visions was called "Scivias" (Know the ways of the Lord). In 1147, a papal commission examined this collection, and Pope Eugene III confirmed that there was nothing in it that contradicted the teachings of the Church. He encouraged Hildegard to continue, and she became increasingly famous. Many sought her advice and help, from abbots (Saint Bernard of Clairvaux) and priests to laypeople. They often asked for her prayers, which were considered very effective, or would ask her for advice and opinion.

Hildegard was already respected by her contemporaries as a messenger of God. She had the charisma of mystical visions, and she saw images as if on a screen and heard explanations in Latin. A heavenly voice commanded her to record these visions, and thus all of Hildegard's books were created. She wrote herself, or dictated to a sister or her secretary, Volmar. She possessed the gift of prophecy and miraculous healing, wrote sermons and biographies of saints, interpretations of the Gospel and the Rule of St. Benedict; about 300 of her letters have been preserved. She maintained a rich correspondence with popes, emperors, bishops and other prominent figures of her time. She was an advisor to many notables. A large number of her letters and treatises have been preserved, which, along with her poems in Latin, are interesting documents from the period of the Crusades. She published many works and was scientifically involved in theology, medicine, botany, music, ethics and cosmology.

Hildegard visited numerous monasteries and gave speeches to the clergy and the people in the squares. After the death of her teacher and superior Jutta von Sponheim, she became the abbess of the monastery in Disibodenberg in 1136, and later founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg (1150) and Eibingen (1165), where she remained abbess until the end of her life.

She brought joy, cheerfulness, and music to her religious community and tried to help all her sisters serve the Lord with joy. She showed special tenderness towards the sick, provided them with medicine, and when that was not enough, she turned to the Lord to heal them with His miracle.

After a very rich life, Hildegard began to fall seriously ill in the first days of September 1179. The illness became increasingly severe, and on September 17, 1179, at the age of 81, she completely collapsed in the Rupertsberg monastery near Bingen, where she had spent 40 years of her life.

One of Hildegard's biographers wrote: "A love that did not exclude any man burned in her breast." Her book "Vita" states that God revealed to her in a vision that she would die, which she then communicated to her sisters. After her death, according to eyewitness accounts, a light shone over her grave for days, and this was not the only miraculous phenomenon after her death. Miraculous healings occurred at her grave, which led to people coming in droves to pray for healing. However, this multitude of pilgrims brought unrest into the life of the monastery, which led to the Bishop of Mainz being called in to help. He visited St. Hildegard's grave and forbade her to perform any more miracles. The deceased obeyed him, and no more healings occurred at the grave. In this way, even after her death, she remained faithful to the principle of obedience to spiritual superiors.

Hildegard's relics are kept in the parish church in Rüdesheim, near Bingen. She is venerated by both Protestants and Catholics.

Pope John XXII beatified Hildegard in 1326, and Pope Benedict XVI confirmed her sanctity in 2012 and proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church ("Doctor Ecclasiae universalis").

Hildegard's life and rich life's work still amaze us today with their uniqueness. She was consistent in her faith, courageous and personally engaged in pointing out the connection between man's physical and spiritual dimensions, and between man, nature and God. Her works on medicine and natural healing made her famous throughout the world.

Dr. med. G. Hertzka studied Hildegard's health books with about 2000 medicinal preparations for 40 years and successfully proved that her instructions are practically applicable and that they coincide with many of the findings of modern medicine. St. Hildegard is considered the founder of phytotherapy in the West.

Her message to people was: "Many of you are looking for medicines, but it is important to start with yourself, because many of your physical illnesses are the result of psychological injuries. Forgive and move on."

Hildegard's works are:

 Visionary trilogy:

Know the Ways (Scivias, between 1141 and 1151) - about the creation and redemption of the world,

Book of Life Merits (Liber vitae meritorum, between 1158 and 1163) - Hildegard's psychotherapy - a presentation of virtues and vices

Book of Divine Works (Liber Divinorum operum, between 1165 and 1174) - about the history of salvation

Medical and natural philosophical works:

On Nature (Physica) - about health from nature

Causes and Cures (Causae et curae) - about the causes and treatment of diseases.

Musical works:

Symphony of the Harmony of Heavenly Revelations (Symphonia harmoniae caelestium revelationum, a total of 77 works, including 43 antiphons, 18 responsories, 7 hymns, 7 sequences and other liturgical and devotional compositions)

Order of the Virtues (Ordo virtutum) - liturgical drama with moral lessons, composed in 1150 or 1151.

Her works feature a specific hermeneutical interpretation of the Holy Scriptures, and the visions, distinctive, impressive, picturesque and dramatic in style, are unique in medieval European literature in content, form and theological depth.

CHRONOLOGY

1098

 Hildegard was born into a noble family in Bermersheim near Alzey (Rhineland)

February 1, 1106

 Her parents sent her to a nunnery in Disibodenberg

1112-1115

 Hildegard takes her vows as a Benedictine nun

1136

 Hildegard becomes abbess of a convent that grew out of a women's cloister (enclosed space) in Disibodenberg

1141

 "Vocational vision" - Hildegard is to write down her visions

1141-1151

 Work on the Scivias (Know the Ways), then on numerous cantos and probably on a stage performance of the Ordo virtutum (Order of Virtues)

1147-1148

 At the reform synod in Trier, Pope Eugene III praised Hildegard's visionary talent

1150

 Hildegard moves with twenty nuns to Rupertsberg, where land had to be cleared and a monastery built

1151-1158

 Work on natural science (Physica) and natural healing (Causae et curae)

May 1, 1152

 Consecration of the monastery church in Rupertsberg by Archbishop Henry of Mainz

around 1158

 First missionary journey to Mainz, Würzburg, Bamberg and other places

1158-1163

 Work on the Liber vitae meritorum (Book of Life's Merits)

around 1160

 Second missionary journey to Trier, Metz and other places

1161-1163

 Third missionary journey to Boppard, Andernach, Cologne and other places

1163-1173

 Work on the Liber divinorum operum (Book of Divine Works)

1165

 Hildegard founded a monastery in Eibingen near Rüdesheim

around 1170

 Fourth missionary journey to Maulbronn, Hirsau and other places

1174-1175

 Monk Gottfried begins writing Hildegard's biography

1178

 Conflict with the episcopal authority in Mainz, which forbade the Rupertsberg monastery from performing certain acts of worship

September 17, 1179

 Hildegard died in the Rupertsberg monastery

1180-1190

 Monk Theodorich completed the biography of Hildegard begun by Monk Gottfried

1233-1237

 Procedure for Hildegard's beatification postponed

1326

Pope John XXII beatified Hildegard

1632

Rupertsberg Monastery destroyed in the Thirty Years' War

1814

 In the rush of secularization, the Benedictines had to leave the monastery in Eibingen

1855

New edition of Hildegard's works in Paris

1904

The Benedictine nuns from Prague founded and arranged a new abbey of St. Hildegard near the old monastery in Rupertsberg.

in 1979

A working group of Catholic women's unions in Germany launched the initiative to declare Hildegard a Doctor of the Church

2012

Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed Hildegard a saint and Doctor of the Universal Church