Hildegard of Bingen Biography

Hildegard of Bingen, also known as Saint Hildegard, was a renowned German Benedictine abbess, writer, philosopher, composer, and visionary, widely regarded as the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. Her fellow nuns elected her as the magistra, and she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg and Eibingen. She wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal texts, composed liturgical songs and poems, and explained her visions in her work ‘Scivias.’ She also invented a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota. When Hildegard died on September 17, 1179, her nuns claimed that they saw two streams of light in the skies that crossed over the room where she was breathing her last. After her death, the monk Theoderic of Echternach compiled her hagiography, ‘Vita Sanctae Hildegardis’. He had included the hagiographical work ‘Libellus’ or ‘Little Book’, which had been started by Godfrey of Disibodenberg who died before completing his work. Guibert of Gembloux was then invited to finish the work. However, he too could not complete the project. Theoderic finally completed the Vita. The Roman Catholic Church has recognized her as a saint for centuries. However, it was only in October 2012 that Pope Benedict XVI declared her a saint through the process of canonization and proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church. Her writings were translated into English, and works based on her life including Barbara Lachman’s ‘The Journal of Hildegard of Bingen’ and Joan Ohanneson’s ‘Scarlet Music: A Life of Hildegard of Bingen’ were published. Centuries after her death, a recording of Hildegard’s music, ‘A Feather On The Breath Of God’, with the pure soprano of Emma Kirkby and Gothic Voices became a bestseller.