Saint Hildegard of Bingen | Franciscan Media (2024)

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Saint Hildegard of Bingen | Franciscan Media? ›

She wrote over 300 letters to people who sought her advice; she also composed short works on medicine and physiology, and sought advice from contemporaries such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux. Hildegard's visions caused her to see humans as “living sparks” of God's love, coming from God as daylight comes from the sun.

1179, Ruperstberg, Germany) Hildegarde of Bingen, also known as St. Hildegard and the Sybil of the Rhine, was an enormously influential and spiritual woman, who paved the way for other women to succeed in a number of fields from theology to music. She was a mystic writer, who completed three books of her visions.

I am the fiery life of the essence of God; I am the flame above the beauty in the fields; I shine in the waters; I burn in the sun, the moon, and the stars. And with the airy wind, I quicken all things vitally by an unseen, all-sustaining life.

She was often ill as a child, afflicted with headaches which accompanied her visions, from around the age of three. Whether her parents consulted physicians about her health issues is unknown, but at the age of seven, they sent her to be enrolled as a novice in the convent of Disibodenberg.

Hildegard composed secular music, sacred polyphony, hymns, and chants. She used music and art to express her visions; in fact, it has been said that Hildegard composed in pictures and painted with words.

[22] Hildegard creates a picture of a redemptive and Triune God, as she outlines redemptive history through the creation, fall, and redemption of the human race by the power of God, establishing first the Trinitarian aspect of Caritas, delineating the three persons of the Trinity metaphorically as Eternity, Word, and ...

The abbess Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was able to give an interpretation of the origin of the disease that, today, is reflected, to our opinion, in modern scientific research.

Latin was the lingua franca of the educated classes during the Middle Ages. Hildegard wrote in a version of Latin called Medieval Latin. This form of Latin differs somewhat in vocabular and grammar from the Classical Latin used by the Romans. Hildegard's native language was an old dialect of German.

O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the Fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the ...

Hildegard's most important works include Ordo virtutum, 43 antiphons, 18 responsories, as well as sequences, hymns, and chants. It is unknown whether her compositions were performed outside of her convent. Even hundreds of years later, many of her works are still available today.

Was Hildegard of Bingen Autistic? ›

Abundant Hildegardian sources document traces of autism spectrum disorder behaviour in Hildegard's unusual childhood and the composite picture that emerges, when these individual traits are gathered together, is consistent with an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis.

While she did not have a concept of the word feminism let alone ecofeminism, it is through her work that we can understand her contribution to the ideals of ecofeminism, albeit from a Christian perspective. Hildegard von Bingen understood that 'the divine is present in the greening of the earth'.

Hildegard was given to the church by her parents at the age of 8 and joined the Benedictine monastery at Disibodenberg. At the age of 14, Hildegard was sent to live with a nun named Jutta who eventually becomes the head of the Disibodenberg monastery.

St. Hildegard is one of the few prominent women in medieval church history. In fact, she is one of only four women who were named a doctor of the church, meaning that her doctrinal writings have special authority in Roman Catholicism. She is considered by many to be a patron saint of musicians and writers.

She was canonized as a Saint and recognized as a Doctor of the Church in 2012 as a result of her contributions to theology and medicine. Most noteworthy is that Hildegard is one of only 36 people (and only 4 women) to be named Doctor, during the entire history of the Church.

Her composition Ordo virtutum (c. 1151), is the oldest surviving music drama not written for church use. Hildegard's most important works include Ordo virtutum, 43 antiphons, 18 responsories, as well as sequences, hymns, and chants. It is unknown whether her compositions were performed outside of her convent.

Ignored by her family, she was granted the extreme privilege of understanding God's love at a level unknown to most people. Pious and humble, she kept her visions largely to herself and eventually was sent off to a monastery to complete her education and become a Benedictine nun as a teenager.