Saint Hildegard von Bingen

Saint Hildegard of Bingen (her german name: Hildegard von Bingen ); (her latinum name: Hildegardis Bingensis ). Born in the yeat 1098 – died 17 September 1179), is also known as the "Sybil of the river Rhine". 
 
Hildegard von Bingen was born in a wealthy family fromt the german nobility. She had visions and complex thoughts since she was a little girl. Her family sent her to a monastery, where she became a Catholic Benedictine abbess with great culture and visions that led her to write many books of cosmology and morality (got her recognized as "Doctor of the Catholic Church") and had also a great ability for medieval coral music composition, herbal medicine and medical application of stones and tone vibrations. 
== Declared by the Roman Catholics as Saint ==
Since 2012 was declared Saint by the Pope Benedict XVI.
She predicted in twelth century that:
 
Note: also Alberto Zecua, a mexican contactee, and an avid reader of Velikovsky "Worlds in Collision", talks about a comet that will struck Atlantic Ocean off the shores of Virginia (Cape Hatteras, etc.)
= Introduction =
Hildegard of Bingen had many abilities and was a writer, composer, philosopher, Christian mystic, visionary, and polymath.Bennett, Judith M. and Hollister, Warren C. Medieval Europe: A Short History (New York: McGraw-Hill, 2001), p. 317."Women of Historic Note". Washington Post, By Gayle Worl March 9, 1997 She has been considered by many in Europe to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany.
Hildegard's fellow nuns elected her as magistra in 1136; she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. One of her works as a composer, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play.Some writers have speculated a distant origin for opera in this piece, though without any evidence. See: ; alt Opera, see Florentine Camerata in the province of Milan, Italy. and She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, and poems, while supervising miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias.Caviness, Madeline. "Artist: 'To See, Hear, and Know All at Once'", in Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World, ed. Barbara Newman (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 110–24; Nathaniel M. Campbell, "Imago expandit splendorem suum: Hildegard of Bingen's Visio-Theological Designs in the Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript," Eikón / Imago 4 (2013, Vol. 2, No. 2), pp. 1–68, accessible online here.
She is also noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota.
Although the history of her formal canonization is complicated, branches of the Roman Catholic Church have recognized her as a saint for centuries. On 7 October 2012 Pope Benedict XVI named her a Doctor of the Church.
==Biography==
Hildegard was born around the year 1098, although the exact date is uncertain. 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.Jutta & Hildegard: The Biographical Sources, trans. Anna Silvas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), 40; Maddocks, Fiona. Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age (New York: Doubleday, 2001), p. 9. Sickly from birth, Hildegard is traditionally considered their youngest and tenth child, although there are records of only seven older siblings.Jutta & Hildegard: The Biographical Sources, trans. Anna Silvas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), pp. 278–79.Fiona Bowie, Oliver Davies. Hildegard of Bingen: An Anthology. SPCK 1990. Some sources note younger siblings, specifically Bruno. In her Vita, Hildegard states that from a very young age she had experienced visions.Jutta & Hildegard: The Biographical Sources, trans. Anna Silvas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), p. 138; Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Visionary Women (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fotress, 2002), p. 7.
===Monastic life===
Perhaps because of Hildegard's visions, or as a method of political positioning (or both), Hildegard's parents offered her as an oblate to the Benedictine monastery at the Disibodenberg, which had been recently reformed in the Palatinate Forest. The date of Hildegard's enclosure at the monastery is the subject of debate. Her Vita says she was professed with an older woman, Jutta, the daughter of Count Stephan II of Sponheim, at the age of eight.Jutta & Hildegard: The Biographical Sources, trans. Anna Silvas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), p. 139. However, Jutta's date of enclosure is known to have been in 1112, when Hildegard would have been fourteen.Jutta & Hildegard: The Biographical Sources, trans. Anna Silvas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), pp. 52–55, 69; and John Van Engen, "Abbess: 'Mother and Teacher', in Barbara Newman, ed., Voice of the Living Light (California: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 30–51, at pp. 32–33. Their vows were received by Bishop Otto Bamberg on All Saints' Day, 1112. Some scholars speculate that Hildegard was placed in the care of Jutta at the age of eight, and the two women were then enclosed together six years later.Michael McGrade, "Hildegard von Bingen", in Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart: allgemeine Enzyklopaldie der Musik, 2nd edition, T.2, Vol. 8, ed. Ludwig Fischer (Kassel and New York: Bahrenreiter, 1994).
In any case, Hildegard and Jutta were enclosed together at the Disibodenberg, and formed the core of a growing community of women attached to the male monastery. Jutta was also a visionary and thus attracted many followers who came to visit her at the cloister. Hildegard tells us that Jutta taught her to read and write, but that she was unlearned and therefore incapable of teaching Hildegard sound biblical interpretation.Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Visionary Women (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fotress, 2002), p. 6. The written record of the Life of Jutta indicates that Hildegard probably assisted her in reciting the psalms, working in the garden and other handiwork, and tending to the sick.Jutta & Hildegard: The Biographical Sources, trans. Anna Silvas (Pennsylvania State University Press, 1999), pp. 70–73; Reed-Jones, Carol. Hildegard of Bingen: Women of Vision (Washington: Paper Crane Press, 2004), p. 8. This might have been a time when Hildegard learned how to play the ten-stringed psaltery. 
Upon Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard was elected as magistra of the community by her fellow nuns.Furlong, Monica. Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics (Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1996), p. 84. 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.Furlong, Monica. Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics (Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1996), p. 85. This was to be a move towards 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. 
Abbot Kuno did not relent until Hildegard was stricken by an illness that kept her paralyzed and unable to move from her bed, an event that she attributed to God's unhappiness at her not following his orders to move her nuns to a new location in Rupertsberg. It was only when the Abbot himself could not move Hildegard that he decided to grant the nuns their own monastery.McGrade, "Hildegard", MGG. Hildegard and about twenty nuns thus moved to the St. Rupertsberg monastery in 1150, where Volmar served as provost, as well as Hildegard's confessor and scribe. In 1165 Hildegard founded a second monastery for her nuns at Eibingen.
===Visions===
Hildegard said that she first saw "The Shade of the Living Light" at the age of three, and by the age of five she began to understand that she was experiencing visions.Underhill, Evelyn. Mystics of the Church (Pennsylvania: Morehouse Publishing, 1925), p. 77. She used the term 'visio' (the Latin for "vision") to describe this feature of her experience and recognized that it was a gift that she could not explain to others. Hildegard explained that she saw all things in the light of God through the five senses: sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.Schipperges, Heinrich. "Hildegard of Bingen: Healing and the Nature of the Cosmos" (New Jersey: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997), p. 10. Hildegard was hesitant to share her visions, confiding only to Jutta, who in turn told Volmar, Hildegard's tutor and, later, secretary.Maddocks, Fiona. "Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age" (New York: Doubleday, 2001), p. 55. Throughout her life, she continued to have many visions, and in 1141, at the age of 42, Hildegard received a vision she believed to be an instruction from God, to "write down that which you see and hear."Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Visionary Women (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fotress, 2002), p. 8. Still hesitant to record her visions, Hildegard became physically ill. The illustrations recorded in the book of Scivias were visions that Hildegard experienced, causing her great suffering and tribulations.Underhill, Evelyn. Mystics of the Church (Pennsylvania: Morehouse Publishing, 1925), pp. 78–79. In her first theological text, "Scivias" ("Know the Ways"), Hildegard describes her struggle within:
It was between November 1147 and February 1148 at the synod in Trier that Pope Eugene III heard about Hildegard's writings. It was from this that she received Papal approval to document her visions as revelations from the Holy Spirit giving her instant credence.
On 17 September 1179, when Hildegard died, her sisters claimed they saw two streams of light appear in the skies and cross over the room where she was dying.
=== Vita Sanctae Hildegardis ===
Hildegard's hagiography, "Vita Sanctae Hildegardis", was compiled by the monk Theoderic of Echternach after Hildegard's death. He included the hagiographical work Libellus or "Little Book" begun by Godfrey of Disibodenberg. Godfrey had died before he was able to complete his work. Guibert of Gembloux was invited to finish the work; however, he had to return to his monastery with the project unfinished. Theoderic utilized sources Guibert had left behind to complete the Vita.
= Works =
Hildegard's works include three great volumes of visionary theology, but Saint Hildegard died fore she was able to complete her work. Guibert of Gembloux was invited to finish the work; however, he had to return to his monastery with the project unfinished. Theoderic utilized sources Guibert had left behind to complete the "Vita".
== Visionary theology and letters == 
=== Hildegard's letters ===
Letters that appear in different forms in secondary manuscripts. The letters have been translated into English in three volumes. She also invented a language called "Lingua Incognita" ("unknown language").
=== Rupertsberg manuscript ===
Several manuscripts of her works were produced during her lifetime, including the illustrated Rupertsberg manuscript of her first major work, "Scivias" (lost in Dresden bombing since 1945); the Dendermonde Codex, which contains one version of her musical works; and the Ghent manuscript, which was the first fair-copy made for editing of her final theological work, the "Liber Divinorum Operum". At the end of her life, and probably under her initial guidance, all of her works were edited and gathered into the single Riesenkodex manuscript.Albert Derolez, "The Manuscript Transmission of Hildegard of Bingen s Writings", in "Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of her Thought and Art", ed. Charles Burnett and Peter Dronke (London: The Warburg Institute, 1998), pp. 22–23; and Michael Embach, "Die Schriften Hildegards von Bingen: Studien zu ihrer Überlieferung und Rezeption im Mittelalter und in der Frühen Neuzeit" (Berlin: Akademie Verlag, 2003), p. 36.
===Visionary theology===
Hildegard s most significant works were her three volumes of visionary theology: "Scivias" ("Know the Ways", composed 1142–1151), "Liber Vitae Meritorum" ("Book of Life's Merits" or "Book of the Rewards of Life", composed 1158–1163); and Liber Divinorum Operum ("Book of Divine Works", also known as De operatione Dei, "On God's Activity", composed 1163/4–1172 or 1174). In these volumes, the last of which was completed when she was well into her seventies, Hildegard first describes each vision, whose details are often strange and enigmatic, and then interprets their theological contents in the words of the "voice of the Living Light."
==== "Scivias" ====
With permission from Abbot Kuno of Disibodenberg, she began journaling visions she had (which is the basis for "Scivias"). "Scivias" is a contraction of "Sci vias Domini" ("Know the Ways of the Lord"), and it was Her first major visionary work, and one of the biggest milestones in her life. Perceiving a divine command to "write down what you see and hear", "Protestificatio" ("Declaration") to Hildegard of Bingen, "Scivias", transl. Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop (Paulist Press, 1990), pp. 59–61. Hildegard began to record and interpret her visionary experiences - 26 in total visionary experiences were captured in this compilation.
"Scivias" is structured into three parts of unequal length. The first part (six visions) chronicles the order of God's creation: the Creation and Fall of Adam and Eve, the structure of the universe (famously described as the shape of an "egg"), the relationship between body and soul, the relationship of God to his people through the Synagogue, and the choirs of angels. The second part (seven visions) describes the order of redemption: the coming of Christ the Redeemer, the Trinity, the Church as the Bride of Christ and the Mother of the Faithful in baptism and confirmation, the orders of the Church, Christ's sacrifice on the Cross and the Eucharist, and the fight against the devil. Finally, the third part (thirteen visions) recapitulates the history of salvation told in the first two parts, symbolized as a building adorned with various allegorical figures and virtues. It concludes with the Symphony of Heaven, an early version of Hildegard s musical compositions.
In early 1148, a commission was sent by the Pope to Disibodenberg to find out more about Hildegard and her writings. The commission found that the visions were authentic and returned to the Pope, with a portion of the "Scivias". Portions of the uncompleted work were read aloud to Pope Eugenius III at the Synod of Trier in 1148, after which he sent Hildegard a letter with his blessing.Letter 4 in "The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen", trans. Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman (Oxford University Press, 1994), pp. 34–35. This blessing was later construed as papal approval for all of Hildegard s wide-ranging theological activities.Van Engen, John. "Letters and the Public Persona of Hildegard," in "Hildegard von Bingen in ihrem historischen Umfeld", ed. Alfred Haverkamp (Mainz: Trierer Historische Forschungen, 2000), pp. 375–418; and Kathryn Kerby-Fulton, "Hildegard of Bingen", in "Medieval Holy Women in the Christian Tradition", c. 1100–c. 1500, ed. Alastair Minnis and Rosalynn Voaden (Turnhout: Brepols, 2010), pp. 343–69, at pp. 350–52. 
Towards the end of her life, Hildegard commissioned a richly decorated manuscript of "Scivias" (the Rupertsberg Codex); although the original has been lost since its evacuation to Dresden for safekeeping in 1945, its images are preserved in a hand-painted facsimile from the 1920s.
==== "Liber Vitae Meritorum" ====
In her second volume of visionary theology, composed between 1158 and 1163, after she had moved her community of nuns into independence at the Rupertsberg in Bingen, Hildegard tackled the moral life in the form of dramatic confrontations between the virtues and the vices. She had already explored this area in her musical morality play, ices. She had alr, and the "Book of the Rewards of Life" takes up that plays characteristic themes. Each vice, although ultimately depicted as ugly and grotesque, nevertheless offers alluring, seductive speeches that attempt to entice the unwary soul into their clutches. Standing in our defence, however, are the sober voices of the Virtues, powerfully confronting every vicious deception.
Amongst Hildegard innovations is one of the earliest descriptions of purgatory as the place where each soul would have to work off its debts after death before entering heaven.e each soul would have to work off its debts after death before entering heaven.Newman, Barbara. "Hildegard of Bingen" Hildegard s descriptions of the possible punishments there are often gruesome and grotesque, which emphasize the moral in the work and pastoral purpose as a practical guide to the life of true penance and proper virtue.
==== Liber Divinorum Operum ====
===Music===
Attention in recent decades to women of the medieval Catholic Church has led to a great deal of popular interest in Hildegard s music. In addition to the "Ordo Virtutum," sixty-nine musical compositions, each with its own original poetic text, survive, and at least four other texts are known, though their musical notation has been lost. Hildegard of Bingen. "Symphonia", ed. Barbara Newman (2nd Ed.; Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1988, 1998). This is one of the largest repertoires among medieval composers.
One of her better-known works, "Ordo Virtutum" ("Play of the Virtues"), is a "morality play". It is uncertain when some of Hildegard's compositions were composed, though the "Ordo Virtutum" is thought to have been composed as early as 1151.Flanagan, Sabina. "Hildegard of Bingen, 1098–1179: A Visionary Life" (London: Routledge, 1989), p. 102. It is an independent Latin morality play with music (82 songs); it does not supplement or pay homage to the Mass or the Office of a certain feast. The most significant part of this entire composition is, however, that the "Ordo virtutum" is the earliest known surviving musical drama that is not attached to a liturgy.
This entertainment was both performed and bemused by a select community of noblewomen and nuns. Even more fascinating about this piece, the devil has no music whatsoever in the plot of the play, he instead shouts and bellows all his lines. All other characters sing in monophonic plainchant. This includes Patriarchs, Prophets, A Happy Soul, A Unhappy Soul and A Penitent Soul along with 16 female Virtues (including Mercy, Innocence, Chasity, Obedience, Hope, and Faith).
The definition of viriditas or "greenness" is an earthly expression of the heavenly in an integrity that overcomes dualisms. This greenness or power of life appears frequently in Her works.Madigan, Shawn. "Mystics, Visionaries and Prophets: A Historical Anthology of Women s Spiritual Writings" (Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 1998), p. 95.
Despite Hildegard s self-professed view that her compositions have as their object the praise of God, one scholar has asserted that Hildegard made a close association between music and the female body in her musical compositions.Holsinger, Bruce. "The Flesh of the Voice: Embodiment and the Homoerotics of Devotion in the Music of Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179),"Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 19 (Autumn, 1993): pp. 92–125. 
===Scientific and medicinal writings===
The medicinal and scientific writings of Hildegard of Bingen, though thematically complementary to her ideas about nature expressed in her visionary works, are different in focus and scope. Neither claim to be rooted in her visionary experience and its divine authority. Rather, they spring from her experience helping in and then leading the monastery's herbal garden and infirmary, as well as the theoretical information she likely gained through her wide-ranging reading in the monastery's library.Florence Eliza Glaze, "Medical Writer: Behold the Human Creature," in "Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World2, ed. Barbara Newman (Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 125–48. As she gained practical skills in diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment, she combined physical treatment of physical diseases with holistic methods centered on "spiritual healing."Sweet, V. (1999). "Hildegard of Bingen and the greening of medieval medicine." "Bulletin of the History of Medicine", 73(3), pp. 381–403. "Project MUSE", doi:10.1353/bhm.1999.0140 She became well known for her healing powers involving the practical application of tinctures, herbs, and precious stones.Maddocks, Fiona. "Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age" (New York: Doubleday, 2001), p. 155. She combined these elements with a theological notion ultimately derived from Genesis: all things put on earth are for the use of humans. Hozeski, Bruce W. "Hildegard's Healing Plants: From Her Medieval Classic Physica" (Massachusetts: Beacon Press, 2001), pp. xi–xii In addition to her hands-on experience, she also gained medical knowledge, including elements of her humoral theory, from traditional Latin texts. 
In addition to its wealth of practical evidence, "Causae et Curae" is also noteworthy for its organizational scheme. Its first part sets the work within the context of the creation of the cosmos and then humanity as its summit, and the constant interplay of the human person as microcosm both physically and spiritually with the macrocosm of the universe informs all of Hildegard s approach. Her hallmark is to emphasize the vital connection between the "green" health of the natural world and the holistic health of the human person. "Viriditas", or greening power, was thought to sustain human beings and could be manipulated by adjusting the balance of elements within a person. Thus, when she approached medicine as a type of gardening, it was not just as an analogy. Rather, Hildegard understood the plants and elements of the garden as direct counterparts to the humors and elements within the human body, whose imbalance led to illness and disease.
Thus, the nearly three hundred chapters of the second book of "Causae et Curae" "explore the etiology, or causes, of disease as well as human sexuality, psychology, and physiology." In this section, she give specific instructions for bleeding based on various factors, including gender, the phase of the moon (bleeding is best done when the moon is waning), the place of disease (use veins near diseased organ or body part) or prevention (big veins in arms), and how much blood to take (described in imprecise measurements, like "the amount that a thirsty person can swallow in one gulp"). In the third and fourth sections, Hildegard describes treatments for malignant and minor problems and diseases according to the humoral theory, including information on animal health. The fifth section is about diagnosis and prognosis, which includes instructions to check the patient's blood, pulse, urine and stool. As she writes in "Causae et Curae" c. 42:
=== "Lingua ignota" and "Litterae ignotae" ===
Hildegard also invented an alternative alphabet. "Litterae ignotae" ("Alternate Alphabet") was another work and was more or less a secret code, or even an intellectual code – much like a modern crossword puzzle today.
The text of her writing and compositions reveals Hildegard's use of this form of modified medieval Latin, encompassing many invented, conflated and abridged words. Because of her inventions of words for her lyrics and use of a constructed script, many conlangers look upon her as a medieval precursor."Hildegard of Bingen's Unknown Language: An Edition, Translation, and Discussion", ed. Sarah Higley (2007)
Hildegard von Bingen and her "Lingua ignota" ("Unknown Language") was a composition that comprised a series of invented words that corresponded to an eclectic list of nouns. Scholars believe that Hildegard used her Lingua Ignota to increase solidarity among her nuns.Barbara J. Newman, "Introduction" to Hildegard, "Scivias," p. 13.
==Significance==
===During her lifetime===
Maddocks claims that it is likely Hildegard learned simple Latin and the tenets of the Christian faith but was not instructed in the Seven Liberal Arts, which formed the basis of all education for the learned classes in the Middle Ages: the "Trivium" of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric plus the "Quadrivium" of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music.Maddocks, Fiona. Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age. New York: Doubleday, 2001. p. 40. The correspondence she kept with the outside world, both spiritual and social, transcended the cloister as a space of spiritual confinement and served to document Her grand style and strict formatting of medieval letter writing..
Contributing to Christian European rhetorical traditions, Hildegard "authorized herself as a theologian" through alternative rhetorical arts.Dietrich, Julia. "The Visionary Rhetoric of Hildegard of Bingen." "Listening to their Voices: The Rhetorical Activities of Historic Women", Molly Meijer Wertheimer, ed. (University of South Carolina Press, 1997), pp. 202–14. Hildegard was creative in her interpretation of theology. She believed that her monastery should exclude novices who were not from the nobility because she did not want her community to be divided on the basis of social status.See Hildegard's correspondence with Tengswich of Andernach, in Letters 52 and 52r, in The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, Vol. 1, trans.Baird and Ehrman (Oxford University Press, 1994), 127–30; and discussion in Alfred Haverkamp, "Tenxwind von Andernach und Hildegard von Bingen: Zwei »Weltanschauungen« in der Mitte des 12. Jahrhunderts," in Institutionen, Kultur und Gesellschaft im Mittelalter: Feschrift für Josef Fleckenstein, ed. Lutz Fenske, Werner Rösener, and Thomas Zotz (Jan Thorbecke Verlag: Sigmaringen, 1984), 515–48; and Peter Dronke, Women Writers of the Middle Ages (Cambridge University Press, 1984), pp. 165–67. She also stated that "woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without a woman."Madigan, Shawn. Mystics, Visionaries and Prophets: A Historical Anthology of Women's Spiritual Writings (Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 1998), p. 96.
Many abbots and abbesses asked her for prayers and opinions on various matters. She traveled widely during her four preaching tours.Furlong, Monica. Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics (Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1996), 85–86. She had several devoted followers, including Guibert of Gembloux, who wrote to her frequently and became her secretary after the death of Volmar in 1173. Hildegard also influenced several monastic women, exchanging letters with Elisabeth of Schönau, a nearby visionary.Hildegard von Bingen, "The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen", trans. by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman (NY: Oxford University Press, 1994/1998), p. 180.
Hildegard corresponded with popes such as Eugene III and Anastasius IV, statesmen such as Abbot Suger, German emperors such as Frederick I Barbarossa, and other notable figures such as Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who advanced her work, at the behest of her abbot, Kuno, at the Synod of Trier in 1147 and 1148. The correspondence of Hildegard of Bingen is an important component of her literary output.Schipperges, Heinrich. "Hildegard of Bingen: Healing and the Nature of the Cosmos" (New Jersey: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997), p. 16.
===Beatification, canonization and recognition as a Doctor of the Church===
Hildegard was one of the first persons for whom the Roman canonization process was officially applied, but the process took so long that four attempts at canonization were not completed and she remained at the level of her beatification. Her name was nonetheless taken up in the Roman Martyrology at the end of the 16th century. Her feast day is 17 September. Numerous popes have referred to Hildegard as a saint, including Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.
On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of St. Hildegard to the entire Catholic Church in a process known as "equivalent canonization," thus laying the groundwork for naming her a Doctor of the Church. 
On 7 October 2012, the feast of the Holy Rosary, the pope named her a Doctor of the Church, the fourth woman among 35 saints given that title by the Roman Catholic Church. 
Hildegard of Bingen also appears in the calendar of saints of various Anglican churches, such as that of the Church of England, in which she is commemorated on 17 September.
== Relics of Saint Hildegard ==
The parish of Hildegard, that was also Her pilgrimage church in Eibingen near Rüdesheim houses her relics.
== Modern interest ==
In recent years, Hildegard has become of particular interest to feminist scholars.See e.g. Marilyn R. Mumford, "A Feminist Prolegomenon for the Study of Hildegard of Bingen," in "Gender, Culture, and the Arts: Women, Culture, and Society", eds. R. Dotterer and S. Bowers (Selinsgrove: Susquehanna University Press, 1993), pp. 44–53. They note her reference to herself as a member of the weaker sex and her rather constant belittling of women. Hildegard frequently referred to herself as an unlearned woman, completely incapable of Biblical exegesis.Ruether, Rosemary Radford. Visionary Women (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fotress, 2002), pp. 10–11. Such a statement on her part, however, worked to her advantage because it made her statements that all of her writings and music came from visions of the Divine more believable, therefore giving Hildegard the authority to speak in a time and place where few women were permitted a voice.<ref>Barbara Newman, "Hildegard of Bingen: Visions and Validation," "Church History" 54 (1985): pp. 163–75.
Hildegard used her voice to amplify the condemnation of institutional corruption in the Catholic Church, in particular simony.
Hildegard has also become a figure of reverence within the contemporary New Age movement, mostly because of her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic. Though her medical writings were long neglected, and then studied without reference to their context, she was the inspiration of "Hildegard-Medicine" by Dr. Gottfried Hertzka, and is the namesake for June Boyce-Tillman's Hildegard Network, a healing center that focuses on a holistic approach to wellness and brings together people interested in exploring the links between spirituality, the arts, and healing.
== A possible reincarnation for Saint Hildegard? ==
An hypothesis for the reincarnation of Saint Hildegard has been proposed and debated since 1924 when Austrian mystic Rudolf Steiner lectured that a nun of her description was the past life of Russian poet-philosopher Vladimir Soloviev, (Steiner, Rudolf. Karmic Relationships, Vol. 4 (1924)) whose Sophianic visions are often compared to those of the Saint. 
Sophiologist Robert Powell writes that hermetic astrology proves the match, while mystical communities in the lineage of Hildegard include that of artist Carl Schroeder as studied by Columbia sociologist Courtney Bender and supported by reincarnation researchers Walter Semkiw and Kevin Ryerson. 
== Influence in modern music ==
Recordings and performances of Her music have gained critical praise and popularity since rnation . See Discography listed below.
The following modern musical works are directly linked to Hildegard and her music or texts:
* Sofia Gubaidulina: "Aus den Visionen der Hildegard von Bingen", for contra alto solo, after a text of Hildegard of Bingen, 1994.
* Peter Janssens: "Hildegard von Bingen", a musical in 10 scenes, text: Jutta Richter, 1997.
* Tilo Medek: "Monatsbilder (nach Hildegard von Bingen)2, twelve songs for mezzo-soprano, clarinet and piano, 1997.
* David Lynch with Jocelyn Montgomery: "Lux Vivens (Living Light): The Music of Hildegard Von Bingen", 1998.
* Alois Albrecht: "Hildegard von Bingen", a liturgical play with texts and music by Hildegard of Bingen, 1998.
* Ludger Stühlmeyer: "O splendidissima gemma", for alto solo and organ
==== In films & fiction ====
In film, Hildegard has been portrayed by Patricia Routledge in a BBC documentary called "Hildegard of Bingen" (1994), by Ángela Molina in the film anout Holy Roman Emperor "Barbarossa" (2009) and by Barbara Sukowa in the film "Vision", directed by Margarethe von Trotta. 
Hildegard was the subject of a 2012 fictionalized biographic novel "Illuminations" by Mary Sharratt.
The musical by Grace McLean "In the Green", examines Hildegard early life, premiered off-Broadway in June 2019.
==Bibliography==
===Primary sources===
;Editions of the works by Hildegard of Bingen
* Hildegardis Bingensis, "Opera minora" II. edited by C.P. Evans, J. Deploige, S. Moens, M. Embach, K. Gärtner, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 226A (Turnhout: Brepols, 2015), 
* Hildegardis Bingensis, "Opera minora". edited by H. Feiss, C. Evans, B.M. Kienzle, C. Muessig, B. Newman, P. Dronke, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 226 (Turnhout: Brepols, 2007), 
* Hildegardis Bingensis. "Werke Band IV. Lieder Symphoniae." Edited by Barbara Stühlmeyer. Beuroner Kunstverlag 2012. .
* "Lieder" (Otto Müller Verlag Salzburg 1969: modern edition in adapted square notation)
* Marianne Richert Pfau, "Hildegard von Bingen: Symphonia", 8 volumes. Complete edition of the Symphonia chants. (Bryn Mawr, Hildegard Publishing Company, 1990).
* Beate Hildegardis Cause et cure, ed. L. Moulinier (Berlin, Akademie Verlag, 2003)
* "Epistolarium pars prima I–XC" edited by L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 91A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1991)
* "Epistolarium pars secunda XCI–CCLr" edited by L. Van Acker, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 91A (Turnhout: Brepols, 1993)
* "Epistolarium pars tertia CCLI–CCCXC" edited by L. Van Acker and M. Klaes-Hachmoller, Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis XCIB (Turnhout: Brepols, 2001)
* "Scivias". A. Führkötter, A. Carlevaris eds., Corpus Christianorum Scholars Version vols. 43, 43A. (Turnhout: Brepols, 2003)
* "Liber vitae meritorum". A. Carlevaris ed. Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 90 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1995)
* "Liber divinorum operum". A. Derolez and P. Dronke eds., Corpus Christianorum Continuatio Mediaevalis CCCM 92 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1996)
* Hildegard of Bingen, "Two Hagiographies: Vita sancti Rupperti confessoris, Vita sancti Dysibodi episcopi," ed. and trans. Hugh Feiss & Christopher P. Evans, Dallas Medieval Texts and Translations 11 (Leuven and Paris: Peeters, 2010)
* "Hildegard of Bingen's Unknown Language: An Edition, Translation, and Discussion", ed. Sarah Higley (2007) (the entire Riesencodex glossary, with additions from the Berlin MS, translations into English, and extensive commentary)
;Early manuscripts of works by Hildegard of Bingen
* Wiesbaden, Hessische Landesbibliothek, MS 2 (Riesen Codex) or Wiesbaden Codex (c. 1180–85)
* Dendermonde, Belgium, St.-Pieters-&-Paulusabdij Cod. 9 (Villarenser codex) (c. 1174/75)
* Leipzig, University Library, St. Thomas 371
* Paris, Bibl. Nat. MS 1139
* München, University Library, MS 2∞156
===Other sources===
* Friedrich Wilhelm Emil Roth, "Glossae Hildigardis", in: Elias Steinmeyer and Eduard Sievers eds., "Die Althochdeutschen Glossen", vol. III. Zürich: Wiedmann, 1895, 1965, pp. 390–404.
* "Analecta Sanctae Hildegardis, in Analecta Sacra" vol. 8 edited by Jean-Baptiste Pitra (Monte Cassino, 1882).
* Explanatio Regulae S. Benedicti
* Explanatio Symboli S. Athanasii
* Homeliae LVIII in Evangelia.
* Hymnodia coelestis.
* Ignota lingua, cum versione Latina
* Liber divinorum operum simplicis hominis (1163–73/74)
* Liber vitae meritorum (1158–63)
* Libri simplicis et compositae medicinae.
* Physica, sive Subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum libri novem
* Scivias seu Visiones (1141–51)
* Solutiones triginta octo quaestionum
* Tractatus de sacramento altaris.
==References==
* ________. "The Book of Divine Works". Trans. by Nathaniel M. Campbell. Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2018.
* ________. "The Book of the Rewards of Life." Transl. Bruce Hozeski. New York : Oxford University Press, 1997.
* ________. "Causae et Curae (Holistic Healing)". Transl. by Manfred Pawlik and Patrick Madigan. Edited by Mary Palmquist and John Kulas. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, Inc., 1994.
* ________. "Causes and Cures of Hildegard of Bingen". Transl. by Priscilla Throop. Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2006, 2008.
* ________. "Homilies on the Gospels". Transl. by Beverly Mayne Kienzle. Trappist, KY: Cistercian Publications, 2011.
* ________. "The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen". Transl. by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman. 3 vols. New York: Oxford University Press, 1994/1998/2004.
* ________. "Physica". Trans. Priscilla Throop. Rochester Vermont: Healing Arts Press, 1998.
* ________. "Scivias". Trans. by Columba Hart and Jane Bishop. Introduction by Barbara J. Newman. Preface by Caroline Walker Bynum. New York: Paulist Press, 1990.
* ________. "Solutions to Thirty-Eight Questions." Transl. Beverly Mayne Kienzle, with Jenny C. Bledsoe and Stephen H. Behnke. Collegeville, MN: Cistercian Publications / Liturgical Press, 2014.
* ________. "Symphonia: A Critical Edition of the Symphonia Armonie Celestium Revelationum (Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations)", ed. and transl. Barbara Newman. Cornell Univ. Press, 1988/1998.
* ________. "Two Hagiographies: Vita sancti Rupperti confessoris. Vita sancti Dysibodi episcopi.2 Intro. and trans. Hugh Feiss, O.S.B.; ed. Christopher P. Evans. Paris, Leuven, Walpole, MA: Peeters, 2010.
* ________. "Three Lives and a Rule: the Lives of Hildegard, Disibod, Rupert, with Hildegard's Explanation of the Rule of St. Benedict". Transl. by Priscilla Throop. Charlotte, VT: MedievalMS, 2010.
* Sarah L. Higley. "Hildegard of Bingen's Unknown Language: An Edition, Translation, and Discussion" New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007.
* Silvas, Anna. "Jutta and Hildegard: The Biographical Sources". University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998. ISBN 9780271019543
Secondary Sources:
* Boyce-Tillman, June. "Hildegard of Bingen at 900: The Eye of a Woman." "The Musical Times" 139, no. 1865 (Winter, 1998): 31–36.
* Butcher, Carmen Acevedo. "Hildegard of Bingen: A Spiritual Reader". Massachusetts: Paraclete Press, 2007.
* Davidson, Audrey Ekdahl. "Music and Performance: Hildegard of Bingen's Ordo Virtutum." "The Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard of Bingen: Critical Studies". Kalamazoo, MI: Western Michigan University, 1992.
* Dietrich, Julia. "The Visionary Rhetoric of Hildegard of Bingen." "Listening to Their Voices: The Rhetorical Activities of Historic Women". Ed. Molly Meijer Wertheimer. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1997. 202–14.
* Fassler, Margot. "Composer and Dramatist: "Melodious Singing and the Freshness of Remorse." "Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World". Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.
* Flanagan, Sabina. "Hildegard of Bingen, 1098–1179: A Visionary Life". London: Routledge, 1989.
* Fox, Matthew. "Illuminations of Hildegard of Bingen". New Mexico: Bear and Company, 1985.
* Furlong, Monica. "Visions and Longings: Medieval Women Mystics". Massachusetts: Shambhala Publications, 1996.
* Glaze, Florence Eliza. "Medical Writer: Behold the Human Creature." "Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World". Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.
* Holsinger, Bruce. "Music, Body, and Desire In Medieval Culture". California: Stanford University Press, 2001.
* King-Lenzmeier, Anne. "Hildegard of Bingen: an integrated version". Minnesota: The Liturgical Press, 2001.
* Maddocks, Fiona. "Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age". New York: Doubleday, 2001.
* Madigan, Shawn. "Mystics, Visionaries and Prophets: A Historical Anthology of Women's Spiritual Writings". Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 1998.
* Moulinier, Laurence, "Le manuscrit perdu à Strasbourg". Enquête sur l'œuvre scientifique de Hildegarde, Paris/Saint-Denis, Publications de la Sorbonne-Presses Universitaires de Vincennes, 1995, 286 p.
* ________. "Un lexique trilingue du XIIe siècle : la lingua ignota de Hildegarde de Bingen", dans "Lexiques bilingues dans les domaines philosophique et scientifique (Moyen Âge-Renaissance), Actes du colloque international organisé par l'Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes-IVe Section et l'Institut Supérieur de Philosophie de l'Université Catholique de Louvain", Paris, 12–14 juin 1997, éd. J. Hamesse, D. Jacquart, Turnhout, Brepols, 2001, p. 89–111.
* Newman, Barbara. Voice of the Living Light. California: University of California Press, 1998.
* ________. "Hildegard of Bingen: Visions and Validation." "Church History" 54 (1985): 163–75.
* ________. "'Sibyl of the Rhine': Hildegard's Life and Times." "Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World". Edited by Barbara Newman. Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1998.
* ________. "Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard's Theology of the Feminine". Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1987.
* Richert-Pfau, Marianne. "Mode and Melody Types in Hildegard von Bingen's Symphonia." "Sonus" 11 (1990): 53–71.
* Richert-Pfau, Marianne and Stefan Morent. "Hildegard von Bingen: Klang des Himmels". Koeln: Boehlau Verlag, 2005.
* Schipperges, Heinrich. Hildegard of Bingen: healing and the nature of the cosmos. New Jersey: Markus Wiener Publishers, 1997.
* "The Life and Works of Hildegard von Bingen." Internet. Available from http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/med/hildegarde.html; accessed 14 November 2009.
* Tillman, June-Boyce. "Hildegard of Bingen at 900: The Eye of a Woman". "The Musical Times" 139, no. 1865 (Winter, 1998): 31–36.
==Further reading==
;General commentary
* Burnett, Charles and Peter Dronke, eds. "Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of Her Thought and Art". The Warburg Colloquia. London: The University of London, 1998.
* Cherewatuk, Karen and Ulrike Wiethaus, eds. "Dear Sister: Medieval Women and the Epistolary Genre". Middle Ages Series. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1993.
* Davidson, Audrey Ekdahl. "The Ordo Virtutum of Hildegard of Bingen: Critical Studies". Kalamazoo, MI: Medieval Institute Publications, 1992. ISBN 9781879288171
* Flanagan, Sabina. "Hildegard of Bingen: A Visionary Life". London: Routledge, 1998. ISBN 9780760713617
* Gosselin, Carole & Micheline Latour. "Hildegarde von Bingen, une musicienne du XIIe siècle". Montréal: Université du Québec à Montréal, Département de musique, 1990.
* King-Lenzmeier, Anne H. "Hildegard of Bingen: An Integrated Vision". Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2001.
* Newman, Barbara. "Sister of Wisdom: St. Hildegard Theology of the Feminine". Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
* Newman, Barbara, ed. "Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World". Berkeley: University of California, 1998.
* Pernoud, Régine. "Hildegard of Bingen: Inspired Conscience of the Twelfth Century". Translated by Paul Duggan. NY: Marlowe & Co., 1998.
* Schipperges, Heinrich. "The World of Hildegard of Bingen: Her Life, Times, and Visions". Trans. John Cumming. Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1999.
* Wilson, Katharina. "Medieval Women Writers". Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1984.
;On the illuminations made under Her direction
* Baillet, Louis. "Les miniatures du »Scivias« de Sainte Hildegarde." "Monuments et mémoires publiés par l'Académie des inscriptions et belles-lettres" 19 (1911): 49–149.
* Campbell, Nathaniel M. "Imago expandit splendorem suum:" Hildegard of Bingen's Visio-Theological Designs in the Rupertsberg Scivias Manuscript." "Eikón/Imago" 4 (2013, Vol. 2, No. 2), pp. 1–68; accessible online here.
* Caviness, Madeline. "Gender Symbolism and Text Image Relationships: Hildegard of Bingen's Scivias." In "Translation Theory and Practice in the Middle Ages," ed. Jeanette Beer, pp. 71–111. Studies in Medieval Culture 38. Kalamazoo: Medieval Institute Publications, 1997.
* Eadem. "Artist: To See, Hear, and Know All at Once." In "Voice of the Living Light: Hildegard of Bingen and Her World," ed. Barbara Newman, pp. 110–24. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998.
* Eadem. "Hildegard as Designer of the Illustrations to Her Works." In "Hildegard of Bingen: The Context of Her Thought and Art", ed. Charles Burnett and Peter Dronke, pp. 29–62. London: Warburg Institute, 1998.
* Harris, Anne Sutherland and Linda Nochlin, "Women Artists: 1550–1950", Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Knopf, New York, 1976. ISBN 9780394733265
* Führkötter, Adelgundis. "The Miniatures from the Book Scivias: Know the Ways – of St Hildegard of Bingen from the Illuminated Rupertsberg Codex." Vol. 1. Armaria patristica et mediaevalia. Turnhout: Brepols, 1977.
* Keller, Hiltgart L. "Mittelrheinische Buchmalereien in Handschriften aus dem Kreise der Hiltgart von Bingen." Stuttgart: Surkamp, 1933.
* Kessler, Clemencia Hand. "A Problematic Illumination of the Heidelberg "Liber Scivias"." "Marsyas" 8 (1957): 7–21.
* Meier, Christel. "Zum Verhältnis von Text und Illustration im überlieferten Werk Hildegards von Bingen." In "Hildegard von Bingen, 1179–1979. Festschrift zum 800. Todestag der Heiligen," ed. Anton Ph. Brück, pp. 159–69. Mainz: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft für mittelrheinische Kirchengeschichte, 1979.
* Eadem. "Calcare caput draconis. Prophetische Bildkonfiguration in Visionstext und Illustration: zur Vision »Scivias« II, 7." In "Hildegard von Bingen. Prophetin durch die Zeiten," edited by Äbtissin Edeltraud Forster, 340–58. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 1997.
* Saurma-Jeltsch, Lieselotte. "Die Rupertsberger »Scivias«-Handschrift: Überlegungen zu ihrer Entstehung." In "Hildegard von Bingen. Prophetin durch die Zeiten," ed. Äbtissin Edeltraud Forster, pp. 340–58. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 1997.
* Eadem. "Die Miniaturen im "Liber Scivias" der Hildegard von Bingen: die Wucht der Vision und die Ordnung der Bilder." Wiesbaden: Reichert, 1998.
* Boyce-Tillman, June. "The Creative Spirit: Harmonious Living with Hildegard of Bingen", Harrisburg, PA: Morehouse Publishing, 2000. ISBN 9780819218827
* Bynum, Caroline Walker. "Holy Feast and Holy Fast: the Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women". Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987.
* Constable, Giles Constable. "The Reformation of the Twelfth Century". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998.
* Dronke, Peter, ed. "A History of Twelfth-Century Western Philosophy". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.
* Lachman, Barbara. "Hildegard: The Last Year". Boston: Shambhala, 1997.
* McKnight, Scot. "The Real Mary: Why Evangelical Christians Can Embrace the Mother of Jesus". Brewster, MA: Paraclete Press, 2006.
* Sweet, Victoria. "Hildegard of Bingen and the Greening of Medieval Medicine." "Bulletin of the History of Medicine", 1999, 73:381–403.
* Eadem. "Rooted in the Earth, Rooted in the Sky: Hildegard of Bingen and Premodern Medicine." New York: Routledge Press, 2006. ISBN 9780415976343
* Ulrich, Ingeborg. "Hildegard of Bingen: Mystic, Healer, Companion of the Angels". Trans. Linda M. Maloney. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 1993.
* Ward, Benedicta. "Miracles and the Medieval Mind". Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1987.
* Weeks, Andrew. "German mysticism from Hildegard of Bingen to Ludwig Wittgenstein: a literary and intellectual history". Albany: State University of New York Press, 1993. ISBN 9780791414194
==External links==
* International Society of Hildegard von Bingen Studies (ISHBS):
** Online edition of Hildegard's Symphonia
** A Hildegard FAQ Sheet
** Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works): Chapter summaries and gallery of Lucca illustrations
* English translations available on academia.edu:
** Book of Divine Works (Liber Divinorum Operum) I.1
** Book of Divine Works (Liber Divinorum Operum) III.3
** "An Explanation of the Athanasian Creed" (Explanatio Symboli Sancti Athanasii)
* Young, Abigail Ann. Translations from Rupert, Hildegard, and Guibert of Gembloux. 1999. 27 March 2006.
* Transliterate text to St. Hildegard's litteræ ignotæ alphabet.
* Hildegard of Bingen Documents, History, Sites to see today, etc.
*Healthy Hildegard documents Hildegard's contributions to alternative medicine.
* Hildegard's page at the Medieval History Sourcebook
* Women's Biography: Hildegard of Bingen, contains several letters sent and received by Hildegard.
* Church of St. Hildegard in Eibingen, Germany, with information about Hildegard von Bingen and the Eibinger Hildegardisshrine
* Abtei St. Hildegard / Abbey of St. Hildegard (Modern-day abbey in Eibingen, Germany)
* The Reconstruction of the monastery on the Rupertsberg
* Hildegard Center for the Arts, A Faith Based Fine Arts Center in Lincoln Nebraska
* Complete Discography at medieval.org
* Sequentia's complete recordings of Hildegard's music
* Introduction to Hildegard of Bingen Music by Dr. Barbara Stuehlmeyer
* McGuire, K. Christian. Symphonia Caritatis: The Cistercian Chants of Hildegard von Bingen. 2007. 14 July 2007.
* Biography and Prayers of Hildegard
* "Brooklyn Museum: Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art: The Dinner Party: Place Setting: Hildegarde of Bingen", describes the Hildegard Place Setting in Judy Chicago's work called "The Dinner Party".
* BBC Radio 4 In Our Time – Hildegard of Bingen
== Source ==
== Video ==
thumb|left|700px 
thumb|left|700px|Prophecy of "The great comet that will weaken the Great Nation between the oceans that is inhabited by descendants of different people, after several naval disasters".
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