This week we look back to the Middle Ages to a woman who
stood up to popes and kings 400 years before Teresa of Avila. Hildegard of
Bingen was influential in her time. She was the youngest child of Mechtild of
Merxheim-Nahet and Hildebert of Bermersheim, born around 1098. Nobility, the
family was in the service of Count Meginhard of Sponheim.
Hildegard’s life might be summed up in James 3:13-18. “Who is wise and understanding among you?
Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.
But if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not be
boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom does not come down from above, but
is earthly, unspiritual, devilish. For where there is envy and selfish
ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. But the
wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full
of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a
harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace.”
Throughout her life, Hildegard had health problems. Like
Teresa, it was during these episodes that she experienced visions. As often
happened with younger children, she was sent to the Benedictine monastery at
Disibodenberg in the Palatinate Forest of Germany. She took her profession with
Jutta, daughter of Count Stephan II of Sponheim around 1112. The pair was the
core for a community of women who joined the monastery. Jutta taught Hildegard
to read and write. Hildegard also learned to play the 10-stringed psaltery and
started creating music around that time.
When Jutta died in 1136, Hildegard was elected magistra of the community. Although
Abbot Kuno of the Disinbodenberg monastery asked Hildegard to take the position
of Prioress, she declined. Preferring independence for her community, she
requested a move to Rupertsberg to establish a separate community. Despite the
Abbot’s refusal, she persevered and received approval from Archbishop Henry I
of Mainz. However, it was not until 1150 that the nuns moved to St. Rupertsberg
monastery. Fifteen years later Hildegard founded a second monastery at
Eibingen.
Hildegard knew that her visio,
her visions, were a gift from God that helped her see all things in the light
of God through her senses. She shared them with only a few trusted friends,
like Jutta and her confessor. Then in 1141, she received the instruction to
“write down that which you see and hear”. She didn’t want to obey and became
physically ill as she tells in Scivias
(Know the Ways), “But I, though I saw and heard these things, refused to
write for a long time through doubt and bad opinion and the diversity of human
words, not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility, until, laid low
by the scourge of God, I fell upon a bed of sickness; then, compelled at last
by many illnesses, and by the witness of a certain noble maiden of good conduct
[the nun Richardis von Stade] and of that man whom I had secretly sought and
found, as mentioned above, I set my hand to the writing. While I was doing it,
I sensed, as I mentioned before, the deep profundity of scriptural exposition;
and, raising myself from illness by the strength I received, I brought this work
to a close – though just barely – in ten years. (...) And I spoke and wrote
these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person, but
as by the secret mysteries of God I heard and received them in the heavenly
places. And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, 'Cry out therefore,
and write thus’.”
As James 3:17 notes, “But
the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield,
full of mercy and good fruits.” Hildegard’s works of writing, music, and
art came from her devotion to God. Pope Eugenius learned of Hildegard’s work
and gave Papal approval in 1148. This gave her credence and fame. She went on
to author 3 books of her visions, 2 books on natural medicine, music for
liturgy and a musical morality play (Ordo
Virtutum). She was an avid correspondent and nearly 400 of her letters
survive. Her recipients ranged from popes and emperors to abbots and abbesses.
Hildegard drew many of her visions as mandalas and these remain popular today.
Hildegard died September 17, 1179. Although she was one of
the first persons to be put forward for canonization as a saint, the process
was never completed. However, in 2012, she received “equivalent canonization”
and she was the 4th woman named a Doctor of the Church. The Church
of England lists her as a saint with the feast day of September 17.
Hildegard was a multi-talented woman. Her leadership of the
nuns, and her correspondence with the rich and powerful had wide ranging
effects. She did not see herself as important, though.
What can we learn from Hildegard’s life?
Look up some of Hildegard’s mandalas and make one of your
own.
Next week there will be no post. The following week we’ll
conclude this series with a look at Mary of Nazareth, mother of Jesus.
