Hildegard of Bingen

Early Life and Visions

Hildegard was born in 1098 in Bermersheim vor der Höhe, in the Rhineland of the Holy Roman Empire, the tenth child of a noble family. At age eight, she was offered as an oblate to the anchoress Jutta of Sponheim at the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenberg. From early childhood, Hildegard experienced intense visions — what she described as a 'living light' (lux vivens) — which she initially kept secret.

Revelation and Recognition

In 1141, at age 42, Hildegard received a divine command to write down her visions. With the encouragement of her confessor and the monk Volmar, she began composing Scivias ('Know the Ways [of the Lord]'), which took ten years to complete. Pope Eugenius III, at the urging of Bernard of Clairvaux, authorized her to publish her visions, giving her work official papal endorsement — an extraordinary achievement for a woman in the twelfth century.

Theological and Philosophical Vision

Hildegard's three major visionary works — Scivias (1151), Liber Vitae Meritorum ('Book of Life's Merits,' 1163), and Liber Divinorum Operum ('Book of Divine Works,' 1173) — present a comprehensive theological cosmology. The universe is depicted as a cosmic egg animated by divine love (caritas), with the human being at its center as a microcosm reflecting the macrocosmic order.

Her concept of viriditas ('greening power' or 'greenness') describes the vital force that animates all creation — a creative energy flowing from God through nature and the human soul. This concept has attracted interest from contemporary environmental philosophers and theologians.

Natural Philosophy and Medicine

Hildegard's Physica and Causae et Curae represent some of the most detailed medieval treatises on natural history and medicine. Drawing on both empirical observation and the tradition of humoral medicine, she catalogued the properties of plants, animals, stones, and metals, and described treatments for numerous conditions.

Music and Art

Hildegard composed over 70 liturgical songs and the first known morality play, Ordo Virtutum. Her music is characterized by unusually wide-ranging melodies that were innovative for her time.

She founded two monasteries, conducted four preaching tours through the Rhineland, and maintained an extensive correspondence with popes, emperors, and bishops. She died on September 17, 1179, and was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012 and declared a Doctor of the Church.