Saint hildegard von bingen biography auf

Image: Hildegard von Bingen | Line engraving by W. Marshall | Wellcome Images

Saint of the Day for December 17

(September 16, – September 17, )

Saint Hildegard of Bingen’s Story

Abbess, artist, author, composer, mystic, pharmacist, poet, preacher, theologian—where to begin in describing this remarkable woman?

Born into a noble family, she was instructed for ten years by the holy woman Blessed Jutta. When Hildegard was 18, she became a Benedictine nun at the Monastery of Saint Disibodenberg. Ordered by her confessor to write down the visions that she had received since the age of three, Hildegard took ten years to write her Scivias (Know the Ways). Pope Eugene III read it, and in , encouraged her to continue writing. Her Book of the Merits of Life and Book of Divine Works followed. She wrote over letters to people who sought her advice; she also composed short works on medicine and physiology, and sought advice from contemporaries such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux.

Hildegard’s visions caused her to see humans as “living sparks” of God’s love, coming from God as daylight comes from the sun. Sin destroyed the original harmony of creation; Christ’s redeeming death and resurrection opened up new possibilities. Virtuous living reduces the estrangement from God and others that sin causes.

Like all mystics, Hildegard saw the harmony of God’s creation and the place of women and men in that. This unity was not apparent to many of her contemporaries.

Hildegard was no stranger to controversy. The monks near her original foundation protested vigorously when she moved her monastery to Bingen, overlooking the Rhine River. She confronted Emperor Frederick Barbarossa for supporting at least three antipopes. Hildegard challenged the Cathars, who rejected the Catholic Church claiming to follow a more pure Christianity.

Between and , Hildegard often preached in the Rhineland. Her mon

In all, Hildegard comes across as something of a world-maker, the inventor of a richly appointed fantasy realm. She goes so far as to fashion her own language—the “Lingua Ignota,” or “Unknown Tongue”—which has a vocabulary of more than a thousand words. God is “AIGONZ”; the Devil is “diuueliz”; tongue is “ranzgia”; womb is “veriszoil.” The purpose of the Lingua remains obscure, but Sarah Higley, in a monograph on the subject, plausibly describes it as an attempt at “making the things of this world divine again through the alterity of new signs.” In the antiphon “O orzchis Ecclesia,” Hildegard interpolates invented words into a Latin text:

O immense [orzchis] Church
girded by divine arms
and ornamented in jacinth
Thou art the fragrance [caldemia]
of the wounds of peoples [loifolum]

The blurring of meaning into sound has the effect of pulling language into the nocturnal landscape of music, where, in Hildegard’s view, ultimate truth resided.

Modern musical notation stemmed from an assertion of centralized authority. The Holy Roman Emperors, beginning with Charlemagne, wished to propagate a uniform version of liturgical chant across their territories, and notation facilitated that process, eliminating local deviations. Early chants tended not to show distinctive features, but composers soon introduced artful elaborations, which drew the scrutiny of doctrinal watchdogs. The Cistercian Order, as part of its campaign against luxury and pomp, discouraged melodies that indulged in excessively long melismas or had a range wider than an octave.

If Hildegard’s songs had circulated in her lifetime, her disdain for such regulations might have proved controversial. Consider the responsory “O vos angeli” (“O you angels”), the text of which appears in “Scivias.” Angels, archangels, cherubim, seraphim, and other higher powers are exalted because they “see the inward force of the Father, / which breathes from his heart like a face. / Praise to you, who behold in the f

Introduction

Hildegard of Bingen () was a remarkable woman, a "first" in many fields. At a time when few women wrote, Hildegard, known as "Sybil of the Rhine", produced major works of theology and visionary writings. When few women were accorded respect, she was consulted by and advised bishops, popes, and kings. She used the curative powers of natural objects for healing, and wrote treatises about natural history and medicinal uses of plants, animals, trees and stones. She is the first composer whose biography is known. She founded a vibrant convent, where her musical plays were performed. Although not yet canonized, Hildegard has been beatified, and is frequently referred to as St. Hildegard. Revival of interest in this extraordinary woman of the middle ages was initiated by musicologists and historians of science and religion. Less fortunately, Hildegard's visions and music had been hijacked by the New Age movement, whose music bears some resemblance to Hildegard's ethereal airs. Her story is important to all students of medieval history and culture and an inspirational account of an irresisible spirit and vibrant intellect overcoming social, physical, cultural, gender barriers to achieve timeless transcendence.

The Early Years

Hildegard was born a "10"th child (a tithe) to a noble family. As was customary with the tenth child, which the family could not count on feeding, she was dedicated at birth to the church. The girl started to have visions of luminous objects at the age of tree, but soon realized she was unique in this ability and hid this gift for many years.

At age 8, the family sent this strange girl to an anchoress named Jutta to receive a religious education. Jutta was born into a wealthy and prominent family, and by all accounts was a young woman of great beauty. She spurned all worldly temptations and decided to dedicate her life to god. Instead of entering a convent, Jutta followed

Hildegard of Bingen (–September 17, ) was a medieval mystic and visionary and Abbess of Bingen's Benedictine community. She was also a prolific composer and the author of several books on spirituality, visions, medicine, health and nutrition, nature. A powerful figure within the church, she corresponded with Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine and other major political figures of the time. She was made a saint of the Church of England and was later canonized by the Catholic Church.

Hildegard of Bingen Biography

Born in Bemersheim (Böckelheim), West Franconia (now Germany), in , Hildegard of Bingen was the 10th child of a well-to-do family. She'd had visions connected with illness (perhaps migraines) from a young age, and in her parents sent her to a year-old Benedictine monastery that had only recently added a section for women. They put her under the care of a noblewoman and resident there named Jutta, calling Hildegard the family's "tithe" to God.

Jutta, whom Hildegard later referred to as an "unlearned woman," taught Hildegard to