St. Hildegard of Bingen was canonized and declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. She was a Benedictine abbess in 12th century Germany. She had visions beginning as a child and she was later allowed to write them down. Her gifts are many, including in writing, music, artworks, and her knowledge of stones, the cosmos, and natural medicine. Her fame is widely known in some circles, but not as much in Catholic ones, not yet and not as much as she should be. She has long been renowned in Germany and amongst specialized groups, but not so much in the U.S. nor with Catholics there.
Hildegard was born into nobility in 1098 as the 10th child to Hildebrecht of Hosenbach and Mechthild of Merxheim in Niederhosenbach in Germany. (Esser, A. 2022. Hildegard Speaks.)
As a child, she was sent to live with and learn from Jutta of Sponheim at Disibodenberg (although some say she first lived with Jutta and her family in Sponheim). Hildegard entered the nuns’ section of the Disibodenberg monks’ monastery, and in around 1112, she officially became a Benedictine nun.
Jutta became the abbess at Disibodenberg, in the hermitage next to the men’s monastery. She continued to serve as a mentor for Hildegard, although Jutta was just six years older. Jutta taught her to read in Latin and chant the Divine Office. Women in the Benedictine monasteries at the time also studied art. All foretelling of Hildegard’s future gifts. Jutta is also said to have introduced Hildegard to Volmar, who became her longtime confidant and scribe.
Upon Jutta’s passing, Hildegard became the new abbess.
At age 43, Hildegard finally received permission to write down her visions from God, visions she had kept secret since childhood. These infusions from God were not experienced in rapture. Hildegard was fully awake when God spoke to her.
After encouragement from Bernard of Clairvaux, she sought permission from Pope Eugenius III to share her visions, which he granted upon finding her gifted by God.
With the help of Volmar and Richardis of Stade, she began writing Scivias.
As word spread about Hildegard’s great wisdom, she was called the “Teutonic prophetess,” the jewel of Bingen, the “Sibyl of the Rhine.” In 1150, Pope Eugenius III said Hildegard had “become for many the perfume of life.” – (Schipperkes, H. 1998. Hildegard of Bingen, Healing and the Nature of the Cosmos.)
Her works and influence are immense, and include the books: Scivias, The Book of Life’s Merits, and The Book of Divine Works.
A few years after becoming abbess at Disbodenberg, she found it increasingly difficult to share the monastery space with the monks. After many conflicts about her proposal to leave, Hildegard managed to move her and her nuns to a new monastery, Rupertsberg in Bingen. So glowing was Hildegard’s reputation that she drew more nuns than she had room for there. In 1165, she founded another abbey in Eibingen.
On September 17, 1179, Hildegard died at age 81. She had an extraordinarily long life for a woman in the Middle Ages. Most certainly, she benefited from her own natural health remedies, which are still practiced today.
On May 10, 2012, St. Hildegard was canonized and on October 7, 2012 declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI.
Additional resource: Durka, G. 1991. Praying with Hildegard of Bingen.