Death of Hildegard of Bingen

The medieval polymath is still revered around the world today

Born in 1098 as the tenth child of a noble family living in the present-day Rhineland-Palatinate, Hildegard was given a comprehensive education to prepare her for service in the Church. After taking her vows as a Benedictine nun at the age of 15, Hildegard set about developing and recording the comprehensive knowledge of theology, ethics, music and nature, for which she later became renowned. In her letters she wrote of visions, in which God commissioned her to learn and write. Today, this is interpreted as an attempt to secure an authority for her work in theological matters, which, as a woman, she would otherwise not have been accorded. A papal commission of inquiry granted her permission to publish and even to preach. Hildegard also founded her own convent on the Rupertsberg near Bingen.

As abbess, Hildegard published further works on the healing powers of nature and the causes and treatment of diseases, which were copied in the convent. Hildegard’s reputation as a seer and universal scholar made Bingen into a popular destination amongst those in search of advice, and Hildegard maintained an extensive correspondence with clerics, scholars, Emperor Frederick Barbarossa and other rulers. The self-confident and assertive abbess was not only open-minded but also willing to address sensitive issues, which brought her criticism and reverence in equal measure. She died in her convent on 17 September 1179 at the age of 81. Revered as a saint during her lifetime, Hildegard was canonized several centuries later. Admired as a writer and composer, regarded as a pioneer of women’s emancipation and purveyor of a holistic approach to healing, Hildegard of Bingen remains a figure of widespread interest. In 2012, she became the fourth woman ever – and the only woman from Germany – to receive official recognition as a Catholic “Doctor of the Church”.