Hildegard of Bingen
Biographical Details:
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Biography:
Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, polymath, writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and practitioner and medical writer during the High Middle Ages. She is one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony, as well as the most recorded in modern history. She has been considered by many in Europe to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.
Hildegard’s convent elected her as magistra (mother superior) in 1136. She founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. Hildegard wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal works, as well as letters, hymns and antiphons for the liturgy. Furthermore, she wrote poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. There are more surviving chants by Hildegard than by any other composer from the entire Middle Ages, and she is one of the few known composers to have written both the music and the words. One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play. She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota.
Although the history of her formal canonization is complicated, regional calendars of the Roman Catholic church have listed her as a saint for centuries. On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended this to the entire Catholic Church in a process known as “equivalent canonization”. On 7 October 2012, he named her a Doctor of the Church, in recognition of “her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching.”
Extant Writings:
- Scivias (“Know the Ways”)
- Liber Vitae Meritorum (“Book of Life’s Merits”)
- Liber Divinorum Operum (“Book of Divine Works”)
- Ordo Virtutum (musical morality play)
- Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum (liturgical songs that were collected into a cycle)
- Physica (nine books describing the scientific and medicinal properties of various plants and animals)
- Causae et Curae (explores the human body and the causes and cures of various diseases)
- Litterae ignotae (Alternate Alphabet or secret code)
Quotes and Excerpts:
On Mary, the New Eve:
“As Eve opened the door to sin, Mary opened the door to salvation. Through her, the new creation was born, overturning the curse of death.” –Scivias II.3.4, translated by Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop, Paulist Press, 1990.
“Just as Eve turned away in disobedience, Mary turned toward in obedience, and in this turning, she bore salvation for all, through her Son, who is the new Adam.” –Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum, hymn O clarissima mater, translated by Barbara Newman, Cornell University Press, 1988.
On The Assumption of Mary:
“Mary, assumed into glory, is the Queen who intercedes. She draws near to God on behalf of the Church, whose children she cares for with the love of a mother.” –Scivias II.4.2, Paulist Press, 1990.
“The Virgin was lifted up by the King of Kings, because she was untouched by corruption. She is the incorruptible vessel, carried up to her Son, joining heaven and earth.” –Scivias II.1.18, Paulist Press, 1990.
On The Sacrifice of the Mass:
“In the Mass, the priest offers the Lamb, and the altar is a symbol of the Cross, where Christ was slain. In the Eucharist, we consume his love, and through it, the faithful become partakers in the mystery of salvation.” –Scivias II.6.80, Paulist Press, 1990.
On the Unity of Bishops and the Church:
“The bishops are the crown of the Church, set apart by Christ. They are joined to one another as jewels in the crown, radiating light to guide the faithful and build up the unity of Christ’s Body.” –Book of Divine Works III.9.5, translated by Nathaniel M. Campbell, Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
On Purgatory and the Purification of Souls:
“Souls, having departed this life, are washed clean of imperfections by a holy fire. They are refined and made pure to enter the divine presence, where no shadow of sin may remain.” –Scivias II.6.88, Paulist Press, 1990.
“Purgatory is a work of God’s mercy, not wrath. It purifies and heals, for God’s justice does not end in destruction but leads the soul to holiness.” –Scivias III.3.4, Paulist Press, 1990.