Hildegard against heresy

“There will be signs in the sun and the moon and the stars,” that is, portents in Christ so that those in error will oppose the humanity of the Savior, and in the church when heretics will attempt to attack the church, and among priests, teachers, and the spiritual people when they will turn away from the truth toward falsehood. (Hildegard, Homilies on the Gospels)

 The Cathars (Cathari) or Albigenses were a self-identified Christian group found mostly in Germany, France, and northern Italy. They called themselves Christopolitans or Bogomils (loved by God). Some leading ecclesiastical writers of the twelfth century, including Bernard of Clairvaux, Abbot Evervin of Novertine, Elizabeth of Schőnau, Ekbert of Schőnau, and Hildegard, accused the Cathars of heresy. These thinkers spoke for many medieval Christians, who thought of the movement as a revival of docetism, a form of gnosticism that plagued early Christianity. Cathar doctrine seems to resemble the spiritual dualism held by Manicheans of Augustine’s time. However, much of what we know comes from the Cathars’ Christian opponents, as we do not have any of their own writings until the late thirteenth century. 

VISIONS AGAINST SCHISMS

In her writings Hildegard primarily dealt with clergy corruption and neglect, which she felt made the laity much more susceptible to heretical teaching. Her principal concern was orthodoxy and being faithful to Christian truth and the Gregorian Reform. In the midst of papal schism and the rise of heretical groups, Hildegard cast her response in a visionary and apocalyptic manner. 

Four works of Hildegard reflect her attitude toward the Cathars. According to Beverly Kienzle, allusions to them are included in Vision 7 of Book 2 of Scivias (1151); a letter that was originally a sermon delivered in Cologne; another letter that was originally a sermon delivered at Kirchhiem; and a sermon that is based on Luke 21:25–33 that she includes in her Expositiones evangeliorum. These writings come principally from her four preaching tours (see pp. 22–23). 

One of her main criticisms of the Cathars deals with their belief that created reality cannot convey grace and is in fact, evil. They did not believe, therefore, in Christ’s Incarnation nor in the validity of the Eucharist and water baptism. Cathars were known for rejecting the Catholic Church because of its corruption; they believed that they themselves were living a purer form of Christianity. (Cathari derives from the Greek, meaning “pure ones.”) 

As one of a number of popular lay movements of the twelfth century, they sought to live the life of the apostles (vita apostolica). They also saw their sacramental life as principally a baptism in the Spirit by laying on of hands (consolamentum) that remitted all sins even at the moment of death. 

Given what Hildegard wrote about sacraments in Vision 6 of Book 2 of Scivias, it is consistent with her theology to strongly condemn as heretics those who deny the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist bread. Hildegard also rejected the Cathars’ promotion of celibacy, which she saw as an expression of their dualist beliefs as well as denying the good sacrament of marriage. Finally her great love of creation may have led her to determine that the Cathars were heretics. These errors inspired her to defend these essential Christian truths.