SAINT: St Hildegard of Bingen – 17 September
By Catherine Sheehan
St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was a woman of remarkable gifts and talents. She was Benedictine nun, a mystic and visionary, a student of natural science and medicine, a poet and composer of sacred music.
Imbued with great love for the triune God, the Church, and creation, Hildegard had a significant influence on the Medieval Church. She is one of only four women declared a Doctor of the Church for her unique contribution to Catholic theology.
When she was born into a noble family in Bermersheim, Germany, her parents dedicated her to God. She began experiencing mystical visions from the time she was a child, predominantly on the theme of salvation history.
At just eight years of age, Hildegard was offered for religious service and was placed under the care of Jutta of Spanheim, prioress of the Benedictine monastery of St Disibodenberg. When she was 15 Hildegard began wearing the Benedictine habit and in 1115 she made her religious profession.
In 1136, following the death of Jutta, Hildegard was elected as prioress. It was at this time that she began dictating her visions to her trusted friend and spiritual advisor, Volmar, a Benedictine monk, who wrote down her visions.
She also wrote to St Bernard of Clairvaux in 1146, seeking his advice as to how she should respond to the visions she received. She wrote, “For I have great trouble with this visionary gift about how much I should say of what I have seen and heard.” St Bernard reassured her and encouraged her to accept with humility these experiences as gifts from God.
The spiritual insights she received through her visions were startling in their originality. For example, she wrote of “the brightness of the Father”, “the sacred sound through which all creation resounds” and “the sweet power of green vigour sent by the Word to the Virgin’s womb”.
In 1147 Pope Eugene III granted Hildegard permission to write down her visions and to speak about them publicly. She began preaching and her fame spread far and wide. In her old age she travelled across Germany preaching and was considered a prophetess.
Her descriptions of her visions were eventually collated into three volumes—Know the Ways (1151), The Book of Life’s Merits (1163), and The Book of Divine Works (1173).
Despite the fact she never formally studied music, Hildegard wrote 77 songs including 43 antiphons, 18 responsories, one kyrie, one alleluia, and one opera. Her musical compositions were compiled in 1158 into her masterpiece, the ‘Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations’.
She also studied and wrote about natural science and medicine. Some even consider her the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.
In 1150 Hildegard moved her community of nuns to Rupertsberg near Bingen, and in 1165 she founded another monastery in Eibingen.
Hildegard died at Bingen on 17 September 1179 at the age of 81.
When Pope Benedict XVI declared her a Doctor of the Church in 2012 he said, “This great woman truly stands out crystal clear against the horizon of history for her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching.
He added: “And, as with every authentic human and theological experience, her authority reaches far beyond the confines of a single epoch or society; despite the distance of time and culture, her thought has proven to be of lasting relevance.”