About St. Hildegard

This week, we will celebrate the feast of St. Hildegard, and I have enjoyed getting to know a little about her. As we might expect from someone who has been named a saint, she was a remarkable woman who accepted the difficulties of this life and used them for the glory and honor of God. It seems that she might have also been a bit controversial in her time, which only makes her story that much more interesting. By the way, I am using the spelling that I found most often. At least one source put an e at the end of her name.

Young Hildegard

Hildegard was born at Bockelheim on the Nahe in Germany in 1098. She was the 10th child born to a noble family, and her parents dedicated her to the service of the Church. Since she was not very healthy as a child, she was also not very well educated. She learned to read and sing the Latin psalms, but never learned to write.

At about the age of three, she began having visions and prophecies. Thus she described human beings as “living sparks” of God’s love. She explained that, “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.” (cited here)

Sharing Her Visions

Although she was eventually convinced to write about her visions, she was not always willing to share them with others. As she describes it, “Up to my fifteenth year I saw much, and related some of the things seen to others, who would inquire with astonishment, whence such things might come. I also wondered and during my sickness I asked one of my nurses whether she also saw similar things. When she answered no, a great fear befell me. Frequently, in my conversation, I would relate future things, which I saw as if present, but, noting the amazement of my listeners, I became more reticent.” (cited here, para 3)

After she began to share her experiences in various written works, her popularity spread quickly. People began to come to her for counsel and advice. In a time when women were not respected as leaders and educators, she counseled kings, emperors, and popes. Some of her written works include Commentaries on the Gospels, The Athanasian Creed, the Rule of St. Benedict, Lives of the Saints, and a medical work on the well-being of the body.

But how did she write all of this if her education was sub-par and didn’t teach her to write. I was feeling confused about this one myself, until I found a source that claims in addition to some assistance from the nuns, “A monk was ordered to put in writing whatever she related.” (cited here, para 4)

Her Many Roles

Hildegard worked for justice and peace. She was an author, a poet, a philosopher, a theologian, a singer, a composer, a playwright, an artist, a physician, an herbalist, a visionary, and a prophetess. One source even claims she is credited with inventing opera (see that here, para 1) However, in a very brief search, I can’t find anyone talking about the specifics of the roots of the operatic genre earlier than the 16th and 17th centuries.

That same source also wants to characterize her as a feminist, although I think it’s a bad idea to use contemporary paradigms as descriptors for historical figures. I will agree that she was a woman who achieved much more than women typically could do at that time in history.

Sainthood

Most of the sources that I read stated that St. Hildegard was actually not officially canonized as a saint in the Church. The article on catholic.com said that she was “proclaimed a Saint by the multitudes,” (cited here) but her name was inserted in the Roman Martyrology in the 15th century.  However, Franciscan Media reported that Pope Benedict XVI canonized her and named her a Doctor of the Church in 2012. So it’s just that the other articles were older than that.

It seems that St. Hildegard has not been officially named as the patron of anything in particular, but an examination of her life brings several ideas to mind. Just considering her many roles, it seems that she is a role model and possible intercessor for authors, philosophers, musicians, artists, and physicians. One source proposes that she should be the patron saint of creativity and culinary arts. Evidently, she is known for a “Cookies of Joy” recipe, which is still used by some people today. (cited here)

I hope you’ll join us this week as we explore some of St. Hildegard’s many talents and contributions to our understanding of Christianity.