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Life and work of Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen is one of the most significant and important personalities of the medieval times in Europe. It is thus not astonishing that the work of this great mystic, natural researcher and medical practitioner is today again gaining in importance, since we are living in a time where holistic thinking has become more necessary than ever before.

Childhood and youth

Hildegard was born in 1098 in the town of Bermersheim in Rhine-Hesse. She was the tenth child of the nobleman Hildebert and his wife Mechthild. Those were moving times during which the crusades kept the world on tenterhooks, and state and church fought fierce battles of power. But the surroundings of Hildegard remained largely untouched by this. As a daughter of noble parents she grew up well protected. Before her birth already, the parents had decided that this child would be dedicated to God as a tithe and would thus be sent to an abbey, as was usually done during her times. At the tender age of eight years Hildegard thus moved to the sixteen-year-old Jutta von Sponheim into a women’s hermitage that was linked to the Benedictine monastery on the mountain Disibodenberg near Bingen. The hermitage had but one small window towards the monastery’s church and a barred window to the outside world. It was surrounded by a small garden that was to contribute to maintaining the good health of the women. Here Hildegard learnt reading and writing. And here the foundation of her knowledge of nature and its healing powers was laid. With the acquisition of this knowledge she followed the customary path of her times, because knowledge of medicinal plants, as well as the preparation of ointments and medicines were the “tasks of a woman” in medieval times. In 1114 Hildegard took the veil and started her life as Benedictine sun.

Visions and writings

Hildegard’s special gift became evident from an early age onward: a visionary ability that she herself referred to as “seeing”. Retrospectively she describes how she as a child saw a great light that let her “soul shiver”, but because she was still so young, she could not put this experience into words. As a child she generally still spoke very openly about her ability of “seeing”. For example, at the age of five she predicted the exact appearance and patterning of the skin of a still unborn calf. However, as Hildegard grew older she increasingly kept such statements to herself. Only at the age of twenty-four, when the visions became stronger and more pressing and after she had been severely ill, she interpreted this “seeing” as God-given and, with the support of Monk Volmar and Abbot Kuno, she commenced her first work.

In Scivias (Know the paths) the background and dimensions of creation are portrayed in a spectacular manner. In 1151 she completed this work. Even during its creation Scivias found great recognition by spiritual dignitaries, including the pope of the times, Pope Eugene III., and the holy Bernhard de Clairvaux. As prophetissa teutonica Hildegard was honoured and respected throughout Europe.

In the years 1150 to 1160 she wrote no new visionary works. But Hildegard recorded her entire knowledge of plants, animals and medicinal remedies. She wrote books on natural science (Physica) and medicine (Causae et curae). These contain descriptions of plants, animals, stones and metals, but Hildegard also pointed out what natural healing powers they contain for man. At all times she maintained a clearly holistic perspective of creation. Books such as these led to Hildegard being referred to as “doctor” and to date she is still often chosen as patron saint of hospitals.

In 1158 Hildegard began working on her second visionary writing Liber vita meritorum (Book of Merits of Life). This is a book on ethics, covering various topics: marriage, family, living together as human beings, nature and science. Here we encounter the topics of “virtues and vices” that we mentioned before. Since freedom is part of the very being of humankind, God has given us an order of virtues to keep creation and to give us guidance in the world. This order has as its basis “the deeply physiological insight that the very same fundamental powers and needs continue to exist and are able to uphold or destroy the inner fundamental needs.”³ By defining these needs as “unhealthy or healing patterns of life” we emphasise their relevance in our times. The fundamental needs have not changed since then.

After Hildegard had completed this work, she wrote De operatione Dei (Book of God’s Works) between 1163 and 1173 on the basis of yet another vision. It describes the history of salvation from genesis to apocalypse. At the centre is man, whom God has given the responsibility for nature. Cosmos and nature serve man and man in turn serves God, together with the cosmos and nature. By seeing God’s work in everything and in every one of his creations, man can work towards the final order and can thus become co-creator.

Music

When we talk about Hildegard and her work, we may not forget music. Music played an important role in the Christian liturgy of medieval times. It is through music that the biblical text, that always was in the centre, gained even greater importance. Here too, Hildegard followed her very own ways.

She did not only set biblical texts to music, but also composed music on scenes of her visions. These compositions exceeded all that was known in her times in terms of lyrics and music. They formed an important part of the unusual celebrations of mass at Rupertsberg, served to worship God and were understood as a preemption of the jubilations of the “heavenly Jerusalem”.

Establishment of monasteries and nunneries

In 1150 Hildegard established an own nunnery on the mountain Rupertsberg near Bingen on the basis of a vision she had received. This was done against immense resistance from the side of the monks of Disibodenberg who, understandably, feared that the importance of their abbey would decrease if Hildegard moved away. In spite of this resistance, Hildegard succeeded in finding influential people to help her with her endeavours and thus the legal foundation and the financing of the nunnery were ensured after many disputes with Abbot Kuno. These disputes still continued after she had moved to the new nunnery. At times the financial situation of the nuns was so dire that they had to rely on alms from the population of Bingen. The economic situation of the new nunnery, however, changed fundamentally when the visionary writing Scivias was completed and was met with great recognition. Believers flocked to Rupertsberg on their pilgrimages and the economic existence of the nunnery was ensured through generous donations. In 1165 an affiliated nunnery was established in Eibingen near Rüdesheim that was also to open its doors for non-aristocratic nuns.

Journeys and sermons

At the age of sixty Hildegard did her first preaching tour to Mainz, Würzburg and Bamberg. A second journey led her via Trier to Metz, a third journey to Cologne and Werden on the river Ruhr, the fourth and last tour led her to Maulbronn, Hirsau, Kirchheim/Teck and Zwiefalten. At the time of this last journey Hildegard was already seventy-two years old. Travelling during medieval times was extremely strenuous and unsafe and Hildegard often had to travel rough roads on horseback. She preached on marketplaces and in front of churches and could thus reach many people. The spoken word was of much greater importance in her times than it is today, because only very few privileged medieval people could read and write. It was, however, very unusual for a woman to speak publicly, because according to the writings of Paul women were not supposed to speak in church. She was not allowed to preach in her own name, because the right to preach was reserved for male theologians. But the fact that as a prophetess she spoke only in the name of God, gave her the necessary authority. She was also supported by priests and bishops who repeatedly asked her for her advice. This is quite astonishing in view of the fact that in her sermons she explicitly criticised the secularisation of the clergy, pomposity, stinginess and conceitedness of the priests and the corruption that was widely practised in the circles of the church.

An episode from her last year of life is an impressive testimony for the steadfastness and sincerity of this extraordinary woman: in 1178 an excommunicated nobleman was buried in the cemetry of the monastery after he had found reconciliation with the church shortly before his death and had received the holy sacraments. Since no official revocation of the excommunication had been effected, church authorities in Mainz gave instructions that the body of the deceased should be exhumed and reburied in non-consecrated soil. Hildegard refused to carry out these instructions because she considered the protection through sacraments to be of more significance than the law of the church. As a form of punishment, an interdict was imposed against her nunnery: the bells were not allowed to ring, the nuns were no longer allowed to celebrate mass, no singing was allowed.

Yet again Hildegard’s valiant spirit arose. When an urgent letter of request to the cathedral chapter of Mainz remained fruitless, the over-eighty-year-old travelled to Mainz. But this too did not cause the official church to relent. It took another few interventions until the interdict was eventually withdrawn. A few months later Hildegard von Bingen died in 1179.

3 Heinrich Schipperges, Hildegard von Bingen. Here, in a very visual way, the importance of virtues and vices in the life of Hildegard and with reference to our world today is portrayed. In the individual description of the symbols on p 39 – 83 they are listed with reference to the respective topics under the heading “Hildegard”.