HILDEGARD OF BINGEN (1098-1179)

by Dr. Deborah Vess

Director of Interdisciplinary Studies

Associate Professor of History

unit summary:

Background: Who was Hildegard of Bingen?

Hildegard was an abbess, prophetess, poet, healer, theologian, and musician. She was born in one of the most innovative and creative centuries of the Middle Ages, and is herself symbolic of the apex of medieval culture. One of the most educated, prolific women of all time, she preached against heresy and corruption, wrote massive works on medicine and visionary theology, was a prolific and highly original composer, and commanded the respect of an entire continent. Although she called herself but a "simple creature," and "a poor little womanly creature," she was known to others in her age as the Sibyl of the Rhine and Old Wrinklegard.

The tenth child of a noble family, Hildegard was given by her parents to the monastery of Disibodenberg, a cloistered community of men and women, when she was seven or eight years old. When her mentor died in 1136, she was unanimously elected abbess of the community. Twelve years later, she broke from the male monastery and established a convent near Bingen known as Rupertsberg. In an era when female communities were progressively dominated by their male counterparts, Hildegard fought for the independence of her community by seeking the protection of the Archbishop of Mainz and the Emperor Frederick Barbarosa. Under her leadership, the community became economically successful. In 1165 she established a sister community of Eibingen on the other side of the Rhine from Rupertsberg.

She corresponded with popes, emperors, bishops and well-known abbots such as Bernard of Clairvaux. Never afraid to challenge authority when she believed it to be misguided, she intervened in Barbarosa's difficulties with the papacy and at one point, refused to disinter a corpse from her cemetery when it was ordered removed. She went on four preaching missions against the Cathar heresy, unheard of for a woman of her times. These achievements alone would merit a study of Hildegard as a woman who challenged the norms of her age, but her achievements carried her well beyond the boundaries of ordinary thought and knowledge, and into the sublime realm of visionary prophecy. Hildegard articulated a vision of God as a pulsating life force present in our lives, and this force was interpreted as essentially feminine.

The Illuminations of Hildegard

Hildegard's depiction of her visions

Approximately four or five years after Hildegard became abbess of Rupertsberg, she experienced a profound series of visions after a severe illness. Hildegard was afflicted with serious pain throughout her life, but it was her visions which gave her strength. Although she had had her visions from the age of five, she had been afraid of recording them. The visions she had in her forties commanded her to write what she had seen.

She says that she wrote of her experiences only with extreme awkwardness, as she was not well educated in Latin. She was assisted by Volmar,a monk of Disobodenberg, and Richardis von Stade, a nun of her community. She directly oversaw their work, as well as the creation of the illuminations of her visions. After the process of recording the visions was begun, she recovered from her illness.

In a letter to a monk, she tells us of the nature of her visions: "When I was 42 and seven months old, a bringing light of tremendous brightness coming from heaven poured into my entire mind, like flame that does not burn but enkindles. It inflamed my entire heart and breast, like the sun that warms an object with its rays." She said that she "did not hear them with physical ears, nor understand them with my heart's thoughts, nor {does she] perceive them with any of [her] five senses, but only in [her] soul" (Letter to Guibert of Gembloux). Notice the use of red in this illumination, especially in the tongues of fire coming down from heaven to illuminate her. Red is a powerful, vibrant color which conveys a sense of strength and vitality. Hildegard suggests that divine illumination is strong, vibrant, and pulsating with life.

Hildegard said that her knowledge came not from books, but as an inner knowledge which is simple and intuited: "All at once I was able to taste the understanding of the books- - The Psalter, the Evangelists, and the books of the Old and New Testaments." This knowledge was for her, and her age, a manifestation of divine revelation. This simple knowledge differed from knowledge gained by rational speculation, as this sort of knowledge had, even in her day, led many into error.

These visions became the basis for Scivias, or Know the Ways of the Lord, one of her major works. Other visions formed the basis of The Book of the Merits of Life and the Book of Divine Works. For Hildegard, all creation is part of a harmonious whole, which is everywhere interconnected and pulsating with life. This vision of the universe is clearly seen in the following illuminations.

The Cosmic Egg

In this vision, she shows the universe as a cosmic egg. Just as in an egg everything is connected, she saw the Holy Spirit as "the mighty way in which everything that is in the heavens, on the earth, and under the earth is penetrated with connectedness, penetrated with relatedness." An egg is also a symbol of life, and for Hildegard the Universe is living, renewing, and creating. The egg is surrounded by flames, which represents God burning everywhere. In the center is air full of water, giving moisture to the entire egg. In the globe, a mountain divides darkness from light. Think also here of the colors which are used: the vivid golds and the purple-reds. With what natural objects is gold associated? Gold is also associated with fire, which brings warmth and also sustains life. The colors here speak of a vibrant universe pulsating with life.

Another image of this life-giving power is Ecclessia or Sophia, the Church and wisdom of God. Both are feminine images. Look at the "clothing" on the female image. The designs here are strikingly like those of fish, which live in the ocean. Look also at the "arms" of the figure, which look like fins. The color blue is very prominent, which also recalls the sea. The apostles were fishermen and that the metaphor of being an apostolic messenger is to become as "fishers of men;" the fish was a symbol for Christianity, as each letter of the Greek word for fish symbolizes one of the life-giving functions of Christ. The use of blue here and the fish-scales on the clothing of Sophia provides a nurturing, mother-like image of the divine which is feminine in nature. Blue is a soft, gentle color associated with the ocean, from which comes life and which has so many Christian connotations.

The Man in Sapphire Blue

Here again, the color blue is very important, and creates a soft, maternal feeling when looking at it. Although the figure is male, and represents Christ, the feeling is more female and maternal. There are several layers of concentric circles here, emphasizing the idea of eternity, infinitude, and completeness that is expressed in Christ. The circles are superimposed on a square, which has four corners, and is, therefore, reminiscent of the earth itself. Also, squares provide a feeling of stability. The union of the circle and square, a common motif in many cultures, represents that harmony of heaven and earth. As Christ is in the center, the suggestion here is that Christ unites heaven and earth -- he was fully divine, but also fully human. Although he is male, again, the color of blue suggests that Christ has a maternal, soft, and loving ethos. Nevertheless, the image is a powerful one; note the use of the color gold in some of the concentric circles, reminding us that love is, indeed, a powerful force in the universe.

The Choirs of Angels Mandala

This illumination also makes use of several layers of concentric circles superimposed on a square background. These are the choirs of angels; they are represented in blue, the gentle, nurturing color which was common in these illuminations.

Green is another very important color in the work of Hildegard. Her writings speak often of viriditas, which has been translated as "greening," and she speaks of the "greening" of the universe. The word is all "greening" -- brimming with life, vitality, and creativity. Similarly, Christ brings lush greenness to shriveled and wilted people. Look in the images and see how the color green is used.

Hildegard uses this image to describe many important theological concepts. For example, Mary is the viridissima virga. Her position as the Mother of God in orthodox theology is a "greening" one; she gives life to humans through the life she gave the Christ. It is not only God, Christ and Mary who have viriditas, but also human beings, who are a microcosm of the universe. Humankind is alone called to co-create. God created humankind so that humankind might cultivate the earthly and thereby create the heavenly.

Hildegard wrote many chants, and even an entire mystery play, the Ordo Virtutem. They are expansive in range, and carry us to unimaginable heights of ecstasy and celebration of the life which we have in the Divine. For Hildegard, chant captures the harmony of the spheres and is the image of the Divine. We will focus in more detail on Hildegard's chant in our unit on medieval cathedrals.

Hildegard called herself a "small sound of the trumpet from the living light." In her chants, she created the heavenly, and vibrated in sync with the rhythm of the universe. She calls us to do the same, to reflect God and be a mirror for others. Her music and her writings continue to speak to us today, in many different ways. She awakens the rhythm of the cosmos in us. Her music still symbolizes the interconnectedness of the universe in which we live and all ages past, present and future. Some have felt the universal rhythm in as musical a way as Hildegard did, and have translated her thought into new wave music. By listening to this, or by taking her chant and translating it into our terms, does she not continue in dialogue with us today and with the universe which gave her such extraordinary gifts?