Who is she ?
Hildegard of Bingen (16 September 1098, Bermersheim vor der Höhe - 17 September 1179 Rupertsberg), also called Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess, visionary mystic and composer. She is considered to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany [1]. She has been canonized in 2012 and declared Doctor of the Church by the Pope Benedict XVI.
Hildegard of Bingen was born in a noble family and was educated at the Benedictine cloister of Disibodenberg. Receiving visions since she was a child, she entered religious orders at the age of 15. She began wearing the nun habit and pursuing a religious life : at that time, the fate of a woman was played out between the convent and the marriage. In 1136, she became the new prioress of the community. She started to write her visions at the age of 43. That is how her most famous work was compiled : Scivias (1141-1152), a work consisting of 26 prophetic and apocalyptic visions treating about the Church, the relationship between God and humanity, and redemption.
Hildegard collected 77 of her lyric poems, each with a musical setting composed by her, in Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum.What do you think about these "Canticles of ecstasy" ?
This kind of activity was principally reserved to monks, through Gregorian chant. But the most impressive, for this period, are the treatises on medicine and natural history that the saint has left to posterity, in particular Causae et Curae.
In addition to these literary, scientific and linguistic works, she maintained an ongoing correspondence with very influential men, such as popes Eugene III and Anastasius IV, statesmen such as abbot Suger, Germans emperors such as Frederick I Barabarossa, and especially Bernard of Clairvaux.
She died at the age 81 in the abbey she had founded herself in Rupertsberg.
"Vision", a good film to know more about her life.
“Woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without woman”
Hildegard of Bingen has marked her time in different arts. She contributed to Christian European theology and rhetorical traditions[2], especially transcending bans on women's social participation and interpretation of scripture. Traveling a lot for “preaching tours”, she brought many men to listen the voice of a woman, incredible fact in the Middle Ages. She used to say “woman may be made from man, but no man can be made without woman”[3]. In the latter half of the 20th century, she became the subject of increasing interest, notably for feminist scholars[4]. But more accessible to us, humble lay people of modern times, are her holistic and natural view of healing. More and more, movements engaged in research and promotion of natural medicine more and more movements engaged in the application and promotion of a healthy and natural food hygiene, adopt the advices of Hildegard.
"Humanity, take a good look at yourself. Inside, you’ve got heaven and earth, and all of creation. You’re a world—everything is hidden in you."
Let's talk about Causae et Curae, or "Causes and Cures"[5]. This work reveals how Hildegard interpreted spiritual concepts and biblical narrative to rationalize her understanding of the human body as a vehicule for the healing and salvation of humanity. As scientific as mystic, this work contrasts with the scientific approaches of the time, exclusively reserved for educated men of the Church. She clearly expresses her sense of the human person as a microcosm of the macrocosm.
Hildegard argues that the body is important on its own merit in that it is the method by which humans restore balance to the world and to their own souls. There is something familiar for us, in this conception. In this book, she says that there are no diseases, but sick men. She offers a "total" care approach, body and soul, with human power and natural power. At a time when, in the 21st century, we are looking for a healthier life, more respectful of the human being and its environment, reading this book brings us a complementary openness to a healthy life, without falling into the "concept".
Selected pieces...
“And God made the elements of the world, they are within the human, and the human concerns himself with them.”[6]
“For the firmament is like the head of a human being. Sun, moon and stars are like the eyes. The air is like hearing. The winds are like smell. Dew is like taste, and the sides of the earth are like arms and like touch.”[7]
“The human being exists as created from the four elements, two of which are spiritual and two carnal.” [8]
[1] Jöckle Clemens, Encyclopedia of Saints, 2003. Konecky & Konecky. p. 204.
[2] 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.
[3] Madigan Shawn, Mystics, Visionaries and Prophets: A Historical Anthology of Women's Spiritual Writings (Minnesota: Augsburg Fortress, 1998), p. 96.
[4] 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.
[5] A complete study on that book : Jacqueline Mahoney, The Mistress and the Handmaid : Physical and Spiritual Health in Hildegard of Bingen’s Causae et curae” (MONASH University, 2017).
[6] Causae et Curae, 1:1, The elements and the Firmament, “Et elementa mundi deus fecit, et ipsa in homine sunt, et homo cum illis operator”.
[7] Causae et Curae 1:1, The Harmonies of the Firmament, “Nam firmamentum est velut caput hominis, sol, luna et setllae ut oculi, aer ut auditus, venti velut ordoratus, ros ut gustus, latera mundi ut brachia et ut tactus.”
[8] Causae et Curae, 4:1, The Infusion of the Soul, “Homo namque ex quatuor elementis creatus constat, quorum duo spiritalia, duo carnalia sunt, ignis soilicet et ser spiritalia, aqua vero et terra carnalia.”
Personally, I did not know anything about Hildegard of Bingen and was fascinated to learn about this feminist pre-cursor of a holistic care approach. Thank you for introducing me to the Canticles of Ecstasy which are indeed very moving.