“Between the summer of 1098 and the autumn of 1179, a remarkable German woman lived eighty-one years at a time when half that long was considered a full life. The Über-multitasking Frau, this Benedictine nun founded two convents; organized the first-ever public preaching tours conducted by a woman; authored nearly four hundred bold letters to popes, emperors, abbesses, abbots, monks, nuns, and laypeople; worked as a healer, naturalist, botanist, dietary specialist, and exorcist; composed daring music; crafted poetry with staying power; wrote the first surviving sung morality play; and spent decades writing three compelling theological works. Meet the incomparable Hildegard of Bingen. Her long resume is impressive in any age, but it pales when compared with her life, which she considered her best divine offering. A thorough knowledge of the way Hildegard lived is essential to understanding her other creations. …

“Hildegard’s spiritual journey began early, with her first vision at three. Two years later, she looked at a pregnant cow and predicted the color markings of its future calf, scaring her nurse. Too young to understand these revelations, and most likely scared herself, Hildegard hid this gift for years. Her parents, however, noticed her spiritual strengths and supported her life’s mission by giving their tenth child to the church as a tithe. …

“While the crusaders sought to conquer by the sword, Hildegard focused instead on God’s love. Her work shows how each of us can spiritually engage the battle within the soul, by finding the Benedictine balance of prayer and work, by recognizing God’s creativity in the physical and spiritual mysteries of each.” ~”Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader” by Carmen Acevedo Butcher

Birth of Hildegard

Hildegard Von Bingen is believed to have been born in 1098 in Bingen, a town near Heidelburg, Germany. Her parents were Mechtild of Merxheim-Nahet and Hildebert of Bermersheim, a family of the free lower nobility in the service of the Count Meginhard of Sponheim. Sickly from birth, Hildegard is traditionally considered their youngest and tenth child, although there are records of only seven older siblings. Her parents were members of the Roman Catholic Church and sent Hildegard to live in a convent at a young age, as was common in medieval Europe.

Hildegard’s Early Life

Hildegard said that she had visions from early in life. She was educated at the Benedictine cloister of Disibodenberg where her primary teacher and confessor was the Abbess Jutta. Hildegard and Jutta were enclosed together and formed the core of a growing community of women attached to the monastery of monks. Jutta was the first person with whom Hildegard of Bingen shared her visions. Jutta, in turn, shared Hildegard’s visions with Volmar, the prior of the abbey. Jutta was also a visionary and thus attracted many followers who came to visit her at the monastery. When she was fifteen, she began the Benedictine habit and followed a Christian religious life.

Upon Jutta’s death in 1136, Hildegard was elected as magistra of the community by her fellow nuns. Abbot Kuno of Disibodenberg asked Hildegard to be Prioress, which would be under his authority. Hildegard, however, wanted more independence for herself and her nuns and asked Abbot Kuno to allow them to move to Rupertsberg. This was to be a move toward poverty, from a stone complex that was well established to a temporary dwelling place. When the abbot declined Hildegard’s proposition, Hildegard went over his head and received the approval of Archbishop Henry I of Mainz.

Hildegard von Bingen left her home monastery on the Disibodenberg between 1147-1151 and founded her first monastery on the Rupertsberg on the Nahe.

Hildegard Sees the Light

From early childhood, long before she undertook her public mission or even her monastic vows, Hildegard’s spiritual awareness was grounded in what she called the umbra viventis lucis, the reflection of the living Light. Her letter to Guibert of Gembloux, which she wrote at the age of 77, describes her experience in this light:

“From my early childhood, before my bones, nerves, and veins were fully strengthened, I have always seen this vision in my soul, even to the present time when I am more than seventy years old. In this vision, my soul, as God would have it, rises up high into the vault of heaven and into the changing sky and spreads itself out among different peoples, although they are far away from me in distant lands and places. And because I see them this way in my soul, I observe them in accord with the shifting of clouds and other created things. I do not hear them with my outward ears, nor do I perceive them by the thoughts of my own heart or by any combination of my five senses, but in my soul alone, while my outward eyes are open. So I have never fallen prey to ecstasy in the visions, but I see them wide awake, day and night. And I am constantly fettered by sickness, and often in the grip of pain so intense that it threatens to kill me, but God has sustained me until now. The light which I see thus is not spatial, but it is far, far brighter than a cloud that carries the sun. I can measure neither height, nor length, nor breadth in it, and I call it “the reflection of the living Light.” And as the sun, the moon, and the stars appear in water, so writings, sermons, virtues, and certain human actions take form for me and gleam.”

Hildegard’s Music

Hildegard was largely forgotten until a few decades ago when some monks recorded some of her music and it became popular in some circles. Hildegard’s music is among the earliest polyphonic music composed by a woman (there were few women composers in the Middle Ages). She wrote over 70 musical compositions. Her music is characterized by its use of simple melodies and harmonies. More than half of Hildegard’s compositions are antiphons; the shorter of these verses were sung before and after each set of psalms during monastic prayer, while the longer ones, known as votive antiphons, may have been free-standing pieces sung during various liturgies, including perhaps processions.

The Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum, and Ordo virtutum comprise the final 16 folios of the Riesencodex, the monumental collection of Hildegard’s literary and musical œuvre, and was compiled at Bingen am Rhein between approximately 1175 and 1190, partially under her direct supervision.

Here are links to a few of her songs on YouTube:

Hildegard’s Writings

Hildegard is best known for her visionary mystical writings, which include “Scivias” and “Liber Divinorum Operum” Scivias was her first book and is a collection of her visions. It was a success and helped establish her reputation as a visionary. Hildegard’s visions led her to write and publish other books. Libra Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works) is another of her books in which she describes some of her visions and adds a theological interpretation of them. She also studied medicine and wrote Physica, a book about health and wellness. Causae et Curae is another book on health attributed to Hildegard.

Hildegard spoke German and English, but always wrote in Latin as that was the language used for most publications in the Middle Ages. She wrote a total of eight books and around 400 letters that were often addressed to such people as bishops, the Pope, emperors, and kings including German emperor Frederick I Barbarossa. She corresponded regularly with Pope Eugenius. Here are a few quotes from her works that reflect what she thought about the soul.

“The soul is the greening life force of the flesh, for the body grows and prospers through her, just as the earth becomes fruitful when it is moistened. The soul humidifies the body so it does not dry out, just like the rain which soaks into the earth.”

“The soul is not in the body; the body is in the soul.”

“Our souls should be like a transparent crystal through which God can be perceived.” 

“The soul is a breath of living spirit, that with excellent sensitivity, permeates the entire body to give it life.”

“The soul is kissed by God in its innermost regions.”


Summary

After an illustrious life of mystical religion, Hildegard died at the age of 81 in 1179. She was a remarkable woman who made significant contributions to the fields of theology, medicine, natural history, and music. She was a visionary, a theologian, a mystic, and a polymath who left a lasting legacy on the world. Most of her publications were about her mystical visions. She spent much of her adult life as a Benedictine Abbess. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. She is now known as Saint Hildegard of Bingen and is celebrated as a Doctor of the Church. St. Hildegard was also called the Sibyl of the Rhine. Hildegard frequently used the word viriditas meaning vitality, fecundity, lushness, verdure, or growth to express spiritual and physical health. She invented a language of her own to use when writing things she wanted to keep private that was called Lingua Ignota, or unknown language.

While her teachings do not closely align with those of Cosolargy, we can appreciate her as someone who believed in spiritual development and spiritual visions and was not afraid to spread that word to others. From these additional quotes from her works, we can see that she does have some reverence for the sun and the holy spirit.

“O most honored Greening Force, You who roots in the Sun;
You who lights up, in shining serenity, within a wheel
that earthly excellence fails to comprehend.
You are enfolded
in the weaving of divine mysteries.”

Glance at the sun. See the moon and stars. Gaze at the beauty of the green earth. Now think.”

Good People, most royal greening verdancy, rooted in the sun, you shine with radiant light.“

“Like billowing clouds,
Like the incessant gurgle of the brook,
The longing of the spirit can never be stilled.”

“Holy Spirit, the life that gives life: You are the cause of all movement. You are the breath of all creatures. You are the salve that purifies the soul.”