Ancestors, advisors, approvers, and antagonists

DISIBOD (619–700) and RUPERT (c. 712–732), SAINTLY FORERUNNERS

One of the hagiographies that Hildegard wrote later in life was dedicated to Saint Disibod. Hildegard tells the reader that she was requested and commanded to write Disibod’s vita, or biography, “as God wished I looked in mystic vision upon the life and merits of that same
blessed father.” 

The Irishman lived an exemplary Christian life as a child and became a priest at 33 years old. Though he preferred the life of solitude, he was chosen to be the local bishop, a position that he reluctantly accepted. This leadership position was difficult for Disibod as a plethora of local deviant and heretical groups prevented him from maintaining Christian unity. Because of the strong resistance to his teaching on Christian justice, he left Ireland with a group of supportive religious brothers. They ended up in Germany and settled in a hilly area—the place where Hildegard would eventually enter religious life—near the Glan and Nahe Rivers. He lived as a hermit, whereas the others embraced a communal life based on the Rule of Benedict.

Hildegard also wrote a vita of Saint Rupert of Bingen, who was linked with the location of the new monastery where Hildegard and her monastic community eventually moved. She said that she had a vision from God that justified this move from Disibodenberg and also supported the saintliness of Rupert.

Rupert was born to a worldly pagan father and a pious Christian mother. He followed in his mother’s footsteps, living a holy and moral life even as a youth. When he was 15 years old, he went on pilgrimage to Rome where he was advised by some religious individuals to live as a true disciple by selling all his goods, giving everything to the poor, and following Christ. When he returned home, he used his money to build churches and hospices for the poor. He died at the age of 20, and his burial place became known as Rupertsberg (the Mount of Saint Rupert).

Hildegard honored Rupert’s holiness but also made her justification for the monastery’s move to the new site by stating in her biography of him that 

[H]e labored in good works and served God in chastity, humility, and holiness, trading perishable and temporal goods for eternal rewards. I will speak of him as the living light showed me in true vision and as it taught me. . . . In blessed Rupert there was true holiness, as the divine majesty has made clear, for it transferred me and some sisters with me to the resting place of his relics by a great miracle of great wisdom, as is apparent to all who see and wish to know. 

JUTTA OF SPONHEIM (c. 1091–1136),
NOBLE MAGISTRA

The noblewoman Jutta of Sponheim was the daughter of Count Stephen of Sponheim in the Rhineland of Germany. When she was 14 years old, she became an anchoress—a woman who chooses to withdraw from society and live in seclusion (usually enclosed in a small room built within a monastery or church) to focus intently on spiritual disciplines. Hildegard joined her enclosure around 1106, and in 1112 they took their religious vows together. Their educational program led by Jutta included the Scriptures (especially the Psalms) and various forms of writing. Jutta continued to be Hildegard’s magistra when they both entered the enclosure of the new convent of Disibodenberg, a teacher-student relationship that lasted 30 years. Jutta’s spiritual program was unusually rigorous; it went well beyond ascetical practices outlined in the Rule of Benedict. Hildegard succeeded her as magistra of Disibodenberg when Jutta died in 1136.

ARNOLD OF SELENHOFEN (c. 1095–1160), AUTHORITARIAN ARCHBISHOP 

When Hildegard moved to Rupertsberg from Disibodenberg, she came under the spiritual authority of the archbishop of Mainz, Arnold of Selenhofen (r. 1153–1160) who was chosen for this position by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa. Arnold’s sternness with the citizens of his area and his support for Frederick’s war against Italy (funded by taxing the people of the archdiocese) led the citizens of Mainz to murder him. 

Arnold supported the almost complete independence of Hildegard’s new monastery at Rupertsberg from the one at Disibodenberg. Two existing documents from Arnold testify to this support (see p. 9). The archbishop provided secular and ecclesiastical support to the sisters under the care of Hildegard; still, Disibodenberg was required to provide spiritual care in terms of priestly ministry for the nuns at Rupertsberg. 

BERNARD OF CLAIRVAUX (1090–1153),
FAMOUS FRIEND

Bernard of Clairvaux was a Cistercian monk and one of the most significant characters of the twelfth century. He was an advisor of popes, preacher of the Second Crusade, defender of the faith, healer of a schism (by lending his support to Innocent II against the supporters of the antipope Anacletus II in 1130), reformer of the Benedictine tradition, Scripture scholar, theologian, and eloquent preacher. He was one of the most influential writers of the twelfth century, composing many theological texts, sermons, and letters. His most noteworthy writings are On Loving God, The Steps of Humility and Pride, On Grace and Free Choice, and his commentary on the Song of Songs. Hildegard sent her incomplete Scivias to him, and he responded to her in a letter in which he recognized her visionary gifts: 

I congratulate you on the grace of God that is in you and admonish you to regard it as a gift and respond to it with all humility and devotion in the sure knowledge that “God flouts the scornful and gives the humble man his grace.” 

KUNO OF DISIBODENBERG (d. 1155),
ADVERSARIAL ABBOT

Abbot Kuno became the spiritual leader at Disibodenberg at some point during Hildegard’s monastic life there. After Jutta died, Hildegard was elected magistra of the monastery. Hildegard received a divine message while at prayer in 1147 that she should move the nuns to a new monastery at Rupertsberg. Abbot Kuno, for various reasons, did not support this move. When Hildegard experienced a severe, paralyzing illness that Kuno interpreted as a divine sign, he then allowed the nuns to move. 

VOLMAR (d. 1173),
FRIEND AND FATHER CONFESSOR

Little is known about Volmar, the Benedictine monk who was one of Hildegard’s most trusted friends as well as her father confessor and collaborator for nearly 30 years before his death. He served an especially important role in her life as a transcriber of her visions and editor of her writings. Concerning Volmar, Hildegard wrote in her preface to Scivias: 

Hence in My [God’s] love she [Hildegard, referring to herself in the third person] searched in her mind as to where she could find some who would run in the path of salvation. And she found such a one and loved him, knowing that he was a faithful man, working like herself on another part of the work that leads to Me. And, holding fast to him, she worked with him in great zeal so that My hidden miracles might be revealed.

Their relationship shows how collaboration between monks and nuns was essential to medieval spirituality. 

RICHARDIS VON STADE (c. 1124–1152),
ADVISOR AND ABBESS

Richardis von Stade was a nun who acted as secretary and advisor to Hildegard at both the abbeys of Disibodenberg and Rupertsberg. She did much for the literary production of Hildegard’s works, and she is especially associated with Hildegard’s first work, Scivias. Richardis was elected abbess of Bussum Abbey in 1151, with great support from her brother Hartwig who was the bishop of the Diocese of Bremen. But Richardis’s move did not please Hildegard. In fact she wrote to Hartwig that this transfer and elevation was not in accordance with God’s will:

 May God grant you the blessing of the dew of heaven and may all the choirs of angels bless you if you listen to me, God’s servant, and if you fulfill God’s will in this matter. 

Hildegard wrote to a number of ecclesiastical and civil leaders—including Pope Eugenius—without any effect as Richardis remained abbess at Bussum Abbey. As it turns out, after having expressed her desire to return to Rupertsberg, Richardis died before that could happen. 

ELISABETH OF SCHöNAU (1129–1164),
PEER PROPHETESS

Elisabeth of Schönau was a German Benedictine nun and the abbess of the Schönau monastery during the last seven years of her life. Like Hildegard of Bingen, she was an author of several works that were published in the twelfth century. These books are called The Three Books of Visions (Liber revelationum), The Book of the Ways of God (Liber viarum Dei), Revelations about the Sacred Company of the Virgins of Cologne (Liber revelationum Elisabeth de sacro exercitu virginum Coloniensium), and The Resurrection of the Blessed Virgin (Visio de resurrection beate virginis Mariae). Many of these works were edited and promoted by her brother Eckebert, who was the abbot at the monastery of Schönau from 1166 to 1184.

Elisabeth wrote letters to many individuals—among  whom were abbots. Of 22 that survive, two were written to Hildegard. Elisabeth and Hildegard not only wrote to each other but also conversed with many leading figures of the twelfth century by letter. In her letters to Hildegard, Elisabeth sought reassurance about the authenticity of her visions and her perception concerning the corruption of the contemporary church.

Much of her spirituality reflected her strict following of the Rule of Benedict. She observed a penitential lifestyle that many considered too severe. For example Hildegard wrote to Elisabeth cautioning her about her extreme mortification. Like Hildegard, Elisabeth was very concerned about the spiritual renewal of the church, the corruption of the clergy, and the heresies of the Cathars. 

Elisabeth started to experience visions right after Hildegard published Scivias in 1151. These visions usually occurred during communal worship and on holy days. Elisabeth is remembered for her remarkable eucharistic piety, her devotion to the humanity of Christ, and her identification with Christ’s physical suffering during the Passion in her own spiritual experience.

BERNARDO PIGNATELLI (d. 1153),
POPE AND PROMOTER

Pope Eugenius III was born Bernardo Pignatelli near Pisa at the beginning of the twelfth century. He was the prior at Saint Zeno before meeting Bernard of Clairvaux and becoming a Cistercian monk, and as such he eventually became the abbot of Saint Anastasio in Rome. He became the first Cistercian pope when he was elected in 1145. 

During his pontificate he supported the Second Crusade and was a promoter of the moral reform of the clergy. He began his support of Hildegard at the Synod of Trier (1147–1148) and, after a theological investigation, confirmed her spiritual gifts. This synod was convened to deal with such issues as the condemnation of the Breton heretic Éon de l’Étoile and the Anacletans who supported the antipope Anacletus II (who died in 1138). Eugenius’s affirmation, along with the support of Bernard of Clairvaux and other church leaders, gave Hildegard the ecclesiastical endorsement that her writings deserved. 

FREDERICK BARBAROSSA (1123–1190),
ANTAGONIZED EMPEROR

Frederick I (Barbarossa) became duke of Swabia in 1147 and Holy Roman Emperor in 1152; he served in that role until he died in 1190 on the Third Crusade. He was involved in many conflicts between the civil and ecclesial powers throughout his reign. Hildegard was summoned to the royal court at Ingelheim where Frederick recognized her spiritual gifts. He gave support to the new convent at Rupertsberg in 1163. This story reveals that she received support from ecclesiastical and secular authorities based on her charismatic life and writings. 

However, Frederick and Hildegard’s relationship became strained when her support of Pope Alexander III came into conflict with Frederick’s support of a succession of antipopes. Hildegard wrote four letters to Frederick in which she warned him of his worldly and vain ways (see p. 16). In one of these letters, she reminded him that he was responsible for protecting the poor and weak in his realm and that he must uphold divine justice. Her final letter to him, in which she sounded much like an ancient prophet, stated that he was behaving like an infant under the influence of the devil and warned him about divine justice. 

VICTOR, PASCAL, AND CALLIXTUS, ANTIPOPES

The twelfth century witnessed a number of contentious issues between church and state, including the Investiture Controversy (see pp. 12–15) and the appearance of certain antipopes who opposed the established papacy. The three main antipopes arose during the reign of Pope Alexander III (r. 1159–1181). After the legitimate election of Alexander III, five cardinals, the clergy of St. Peter’s, and the Roman populace refused to recognize him, and they elected their own candidate. Victor IV was antipope from 1159 to 1164 and was supported by Emperor Frederick. 

Pascal III followed Victor and ruled until 1168; he is remembered as the pope who canonized Charlemagne at Aachen in 1165. This canonization was subsequently annulled at the Third Lateran Council (1179). Callixtus III was elected in 1168 and reigned until 1178 when he surrendered his claim to the papacy. CH