St. Hildegard of Bingen (Sept. 17th)

Of the Saints and comemorations of this week:

Sept. 16 Saints Cornelius, pope and Cyprian, bishop Martyrs

Sept. 17 St Robert Bellarmine, bishop and doctor

Sept. 17 St. Hildegard of Bingen, religious and mystic

Sept. 19 St. Janaurius, bishop and martyr

Sept. 20 Sts. Andrew Kim Tae-gon and Companions, martyrs

Sept. 21 Twenty Fifth Sunday of Ordinary Time (Year C)

Sept. 21 St. Matthew, apostle


I’ve chosen to write about St. Hildegard of Bingen, a German mystic, born around 1098 in the town of Bermersheim vor der Höhe, County (ruled by a Count) of the Palatine of the Rhine, in the then Holy Roman Empire, that is to say in the Palatinate-Rheinland state of today's Germany.


To give an idea of the time, at St. Hildegard of Bingen’s birth, the Holy Roman Empire would have been ruled over by Henry (Heinrich) IV, the 18th Holy Roman Emperor since its founding by Charlamagne on Christmas of 800 AD.  Pope Urban II would have been Pope, and he had just declared the First Crusade in 1096.  


The Germany that St. Hildegard of Bingen would have known would have been still heavily forested (think of the Black Forest) and dominated by the Rhine River, at the time, probably the most reliable artery of transportation in her time. Indeed a map of St. Hildegard of Bingen’s journeys during her lifetime show that she traveled almost exclusively along the rivers of the region.  


So as you think of this Saint, think of Charlamagne, the Crusades, the forests of “Little Red Riding Hood” of the Grimms’ fairy tales and the stories of the mythical creatures called the Loreleis.


That is “world” in which St. Hildegard of Bingen lived.  


Sickly from birth, she became famous quite early in life for her visions.


Her parents, of some means, offered her then to become an oblate at the Benedictine monastery at Disiodenberg.  It is there that she met Jutta von Sponheim, the daughter of the local Count, who was also entering into the convent at the same time.  


It was Jutta who the future St. Hildegard credited in teaching her to read and write.  The two became the core of a community of monastic women that became quite learned in their time.  


Still “oblates” under the direction of the male abbot of the male monastery at Disiodenberg, as elected maestra for the community, the future St. Hildegard, petitioned to move their community elsewhere.  After various bureaucratic intrigues that eventually involved the Archbishop of Mainz, she was able to move the community first to Rupertsberg and later found a second community in Eibingen.  


At a time when literacy in society was very small, despite being a woman, the future St. Hildegard, if ever under the “watchful eye” of the Church (there was a “provost” assigned to her as Confessor and scribe), she nevertheless came to be widely regarded across the region as being learned and wise.  As such, though a woman, she went on four preaching tours in her life time.  


Further, though with a “provost” (spiritual director) assigned to her, she became, in fact, abbess, to her community.


In her writings, she expressed herself with vivid, often naturalistic imagery (an example of her writings is given here: Liber Divinorum Operum (The Book of Divine Works) and, fascinatingly, even in sound.  She became noted as a composer in her time, if perhaps “limited” to chant.  An example of her work is given here: “O vis aeternitatis”.  Her works, both literary and musical, are simply stunning.


Respected and venerated throughout the region as a Saint for centuries, in 2012 Pope Benedict XVI (who was German) first canonized St. Hildegard of Bingen and then declared her to be a Doctor of the Church, to put her alongside other women saints honored thus, including St. Theresa of Avila, St. Catherine of Siena, and St. Therese Lisieux.


Certainly St. Hildegard’s story and legacy has been remarkable, and the beauty of her works to this day simply can not be denied.


St. Hildegard of Bingen, pray for us.

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