Renaissance woman

Canonized as a saint on May 10, 2012, Hildegard von (of) Bingen was declared a doctor (teacher) of the Catholic Church only five months later, on October 7, by Pope Benedict XVI. She is only the fourth woman to receive this exceptional honor. Today her music, which can be heard on YouTube, is also being performed across America and Europe, yet she is still relatively little-known. So, who is Hildegard?

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) stood as a spiritual, intellectual, and cultural giant of the twelfth century, with accomplishments so wide ranging that she defies most classifications. Later referred to as a “Renaissance woman,” Hildegard was a polymath (one knowledgeable of and skilled at many disciplines) centuries before the Renaissance really began. 

She wrote on herbal medicine and natural philosophy (the older term for what we would now call “science”), serving as a pharmacist-physician.She also cultivated a deep spiritual life, interpreted Scripture, wrote three large volumes of theology, and served as the mother superior over two monasteries that she founded. Hildegard also composed liturgical music for worship, wrote the earliest surviving morality play of the Middle Ages, and, like J. R. R. Tolkien eight centuries later, created her own language, the Lingua Ignota (Unknown Language), which was likely used in her monasteries. 

This gifted woman also traveled as an itinerant preacher on four tours (in her sixties and early seventies, no less!) confronting the immorality and laxity of clergy, monks, nuns, theologians, and laypeople. Toward the end of her life, she engaged in a heated dispute with the powerful emperor Frederick Barbarossa and even rebuked him as a mother would a child.

First let us look at her extraordinary life. Then let us explore several interpretive keys that help us understand Hildegard’s abounding energy and how the wide-ranging activities in her life fit together as a whole.

 A NOBLE CHILD 

Hildegard was born in 1098 to Mechtild and Hildebert of Bermersheim, a family of the lower nobility in the Rhineland area of Germany (see pp. 22–23). Hildegard was one of the youngest children of a large family, and her parents decided to offer her as a “tithe” to the church, a relatively common practice among the nobility in her day. At eight years old, she was entrusted to the care of Jutta (1091–1136), a hermitess and friend of the family who taught Hildegard how to read and write in Latin, as well as developing Hildegard’s devotional life, helping her to memorize the psalms and to recite them throughout the day (see pp. 12–15). 

When Hildegard was 14 years old, both she and Jutta took formal vows to become Benedictine nuns associated with the monastery of St. Disibod, which was being reconstructed on the ruins of an older monastery. Jutta served as magistra (mother superior and teacher, see “Did you know?,” inside front cover) under the jurisdiction of St. Disibod’s abbot. In time some 20 young women of noble families joined their number, bringing with them substantial dowries and gifts that helped with the construction of a comfortable life at the monastery. 

Establishing monasteries and endowing them with such funds was standard practice among the nobility of the day. In the High Middle Ages, all Europe was Christian, at least in name. While the relative powers of church and state were fiercely contested, “secular” nobility often appointed bishops, and archbishops helped to elect emperors. 

This was also the era of European feudalism (see p. 11). Before the establishment of nation-states as we know them, noble families owned the vast majority of the land and governed their various territories. Wealthy nobility of all ranks not only protected the people of their territories, they also helped build churches and found monasteries for monks and nuns, often installing their daughter or son as abbess or abbot in charge. When Hildegard was 38, Jutta died and Hildegard was elected as magistra by the other nuns, who recognized Hildegard for her holy way of life and close connection with Jutta. Hildegard led in this capacity under the auspices of Abbot Kuno of Disibod (d. 1155). 

“know the ways”

At 42 Hildegard had a vision of fiery light that suffused her whole heart and mind. She had seen visions since she was a small child but had not known how to interpret them. At this time, however, Hildegard tells us that she was given understanding of the vision as well as of all Scripture. Moreover she was charged to “cry out and write!” Thus, with fear and trepidation, Hildegard began to compose her first and most famous work, Scivias (a contraction of Scito vias Domini: “Know the Ways of the Lord”). This was the first of her three visionary theological writings covering creation, the fall of Satan, the fall of humanity, the Incarnation, redemption, spiritual growth through the cultivation of virtues, and the end times (see pp. 25–29).

Hildegard was undoubtedly fearful about embarking on such writing. She did not want to propagate any theological error and displease God, nor did she want to face a heresy trial. As a woman in this age, she was not officially allowed to interpret Scripture; instead she had to lean on the authority of her prophetic visions. To ensure that her writing was orthodox, Hildegard sent a copy of her unfinished Scivias to the famous Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) for theological review. 

Not only did Bernard approve of the accuracy of her writing, he passed it on to one of his former disciples, now Pope Eugenius III (r. 1145–1153). Likewise pleased with Hildegard’s work, Pope Eugenius had some of it read before the powerful prelates and noblemen gathered at the Council of Trier in 1147–1148 (see pp. 36–39). The approval of Bernard, as well as encouragement from the pope to continue, gave Hildegard the confidence to keep writing, which she did for the remainder of her life. Thus, in a very short time, she became well known throughout the Rhineland and beyond.

When Hildegard was 50, she received a revelation from God to leave Disibodenberg. She founded her own abbey in Bingen, rebuilding a long-abandoned monastery on Rupertsberg Mountain (Mount St. Rupert). Many of the noble families with daughters under Hildegard’s care looked on the move with disfavor. They had already given large sums of money for the rebuilding project and did not want their daughters to live in hardship while the work took place. In addition Abbot Kuno of the Disibod monastery refused to allow her to relocate the women from under his authority. It took the intervention of Archbishop Henry of Mainz (r. 1142–1153)—and Hildegard’s sickness from God (see pp. 12–15)—to convince the abbot to allow the move. 

Thus, when Hildegard was 52, she and 18 of the nuns gave up their comforts of the now-established living quarters at Disibodenberg to found a new abbey. Archbishop Henry supplied her with a charter for her abbey, helping to secure the abbey as well as donations from noble families. A decade later Holy Roman Emperor Frederick Barbarossa (r. 1155–1190) likewise provided her with a charter of imperial protection, highlighting the interlinking of church and state.

Because the number of nuns at Mount St. Rupert grew quickly, Hildegard founded a daughter house across the river at Eibingen when she was 67. Normally Hildegard would have been installed as abbess over both houses. However, wanting to maintain authority over the new monastic houses as well as retain dowries, Abbot Kuno blocked Hildegard’s monasteries from becoming independent abbeys. After the involvement of more than one archbishop in the affair, Hildegard received the dowries to help her rebuild her monasteries, but she never received the title of abbess, retaining instead the designation of magistra under the auspices of the Disibodenberg monastery. 

NO REST FOR THE WEARY

All the while Hildegard continued writing extensively, as well as conducting preaching tours along all four compass directions. From 1158 to 1163, she wrote her second theological work, Liber vitae meritorum (Book of Life’s Merits), which could be considered a work on practical theology—guiding Christians, and especially her nuns, to make progress in their spiritual life. She emphasized the battle between vices and virtues that all believers face, noting the spiritual warfare between angelic and demonic hosts that accompanies our human struggle. Hildegard drew upon psychological insights that she gained from directing others spiritually, stressing the importance of confession and penance to break free from the flaws of our human fallenness.

When Hildegard was 65 years old, she had a vision that she described in her memoirs: “I saw the height and depth and breadth of the firmament, and how the sun, moon, and stars are arranged in it.” From this vision in 1163, Hildegard spent 10 years writing her third and final theological tome, the Liber divinorum operum (Book of Divine Works). This work, her magnum opus, synthesized her understanding not only of the created universe but also of salvation history, the Incarnation, and the Trinity. All the while Hildegard continued to compose liturgical music and to write on natural medicine. 

Despite her renown and her friendship with so many church and secular authorities, challenges lasted to the very end of the magistra’s life. Ever the prophetic voice, Hildegard confronted her friend Emperor Frederick Barbarossa for his support of several antipopes (see pp. 36–39). Then in 1178 the canons of the archbishop of Mainz placed an interdict (a formal church prohibition) on the Rupertsberg Abbey for allegedly allowing a man outside the church to be buried on monastery grounds. A crushing blow to Hildegard and her nuns, the interdict prevented them from receiving the sacraments or singing the liturgy. Finally in March 1179, Hildegard’s friend, Archbishop Philip of Cologne (r. 1167–1191), came to her rescue and lifted the interdict. Six months later Hildegard passed away on September 17 at 81. 

GOD, THE SUFFUSING FIRE

To understand Hildegard and all her diverse interests, we must get a glimpse of her grand vision of reality. 

First Hildegard was enthralled with the cosmos. She never tired of telling how God the Father not only fashioned the universe in the beginning through his Word, God the Son, but also remains immanent in creation. “Any and all creation takes its being from him,” wrote Hildegard. God is “the unique Life from which all life breathes; he is the Fire that suffuses every created thing.” In Liber divinorum operum, Hildegard wrote that the Spirit of God declares: 

I am . . . the fiery life of the essence of the divinity; I flame above the beauty of the fields, and I shine in the waters, and I burn in the sun, the moon, and the stars. . . . Therefore I, the fiery force, lie hidden within things, and they burn because of me, just as breath continually moves a human being and a flickering flame exists within the fire.

Precisely because creation came through the Word, the cosmos was established in reason and logic, since words convey reason. The Son of God is “the ordering principle of all order, the light of every light,” endowing the material world with value and establishing purpose for each individual thing in the universe. The material realm and all that fills it was created good, and man is “the signature work and light of God,” created to reveal the Trinity. The cosmos was made to serve humanity, who is charged to oversee and tend this garden, while the garden is meant to supply our needs. Humanity is the microcosm, and the universe is the macrocosm, fashioned to correspond to humankind.

As a result all of Hildegard’s works—ranging from natural cures to theology to sacred music—reverberate with her grand vision of reality in which God not only created the cosmos, but the universe discloses the Creator. Even more, humanity reveals God, since we were created in his image and likeness (Gen. 1:26–27). 

In light of this understanding, Hildegard likely wrote on natural philosophy and medicine in two works, the Physica (or Liber simplicis medicinae, the Book of Simple Medicine) and Causae et curae (Causes and Cures). And as a pharmacist-physician, she helped many with illness (see pp. 17–20). She also wrote beautiful music to accompany liturgical gatherings for prayer throughout the day and oversaw the colorful illustrations of her visions that enriched her works of theology (see pp. 31–34). 

The second key to Hildegard’s grand vision is the narrative of God’s love for humanity—the story of salvation history—which Hildegard told repeatedly. Beginning with the fall of Lucifer and the angels who joined in his rebellion, she proceeded to describe the fall of Adam and Eve, placing the greatest blame on the serpent, symbolizing Lucifer. 

Because of the fall, some parts of nature were corrupted and became harmful to humanity. Nevertheless much of the goodness of creation remained. Through the wholesome earth, God provided not only food and drink but also herbs and natural cures for the humanity that he loved and created in his image.

Salvation history then moved on to God’s election of Israel, leading up to the Incarnation in which God the Son—the Word through whom the world was created—became part of this world to bring redemption. God’s saving work continues on through his church, moving toward the end of the age when the Creator will draw us to himself.

The third theme of Hildegard’s grand vision brings the storyline down to each believer. As spiritual mother Hildegard guided the young women in her monastery to learn Scripture and prayer and exhorted them to obedience and the cultivation of the virtues as they struggled against temptations and vices. She even wrote a musical drama illustrating the struggle of spiritual growth entitled Ordo virtutum (Play of Virtues see p. 35). This is the first extant European morality play, a genre that became popular in the late Middle Ages. 

Likewise Hildegard wrote a number of significant works as aids to those in her monastic community. She penned a vita (a book on a saint’s life, deeds, and miracles) on the lives and miracles of both St. Rupert, patron saint of the Rupertsberg abbey, and St. Disibod. She also wrote an explanation of the Rule of St. Benedict for the benefit of her nuns, since this rule governed all Benedictine communities. In addition she also penned a commentary on the Athanasian Creed to guide the women in understanding their trinitarian faith. 

To serve her community in their corporate worship throughout the day and in the middle of night, Hildegard wrote both words and music for many parts of the liturgy, including hymns, antiphons, sequences, and responsories. With their hauntingly beautiful melodies, 77 of these were compiled as the Symphonia. 

THE ETERNAL SYMPHONY

It is little wonder Hildegard has been declared a doctor of the church: she has so much to teach us. Hildegard’s visions, music, theology, musings on natural medicine, morality play, scriptural interpretations, spiritual direction, and leadership come together in one grand vision of reality in which the heavenly realm permeates the world. God not only created the universe and placed it under the care of humankind, the Maker also continues to fill the cosmos with his fiery presence that sustains it, revealing himself and drawing humanity to himself. 

Hildegard understood that Christians are called to live out their salvation through practical obedience, cultivation of the virtues, and continuous worship. In the end, Hildegard’s grand vision culminates in a new heaven and earth in the eternal symphony of God’s worship. Indeed the full title of Hildegard’s Symphonia is the Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations. In it creation, music, worship, and theology merge to declare the glory of the Lord and to draw humanity into eternal worship of our triune God of love.  CH