St. Hildegard, photograph by Bobo Kubrak, licensed under CC0 1.0.
What would a “Renaissance woman” be? Perhaps a woman who was a writer, composer, philosopher, scholar, scientist, healer, consultant to popes and emperors, mystic, visionary, and saint! Perhaps, St. Hildegard of Bingen! She lived from 1098-1179 in Germany. She was placed in the convent at the age of seven after it was discovered that she experienced visions, which were known only to a few. After the abbess died she was unanimously elected the new abbess at the age of 38. “Hildegard's works include three great volumes of visionary theology; a variety of musical compositions for use in the liturgy, as well as the musical morality play Ordo Virtutum; one of the largest bodies of letters (nearly 400) to survive from the Middle Ages, addressed to correspondents ranging from popes to emperors to abbots and abbesses, and including records of many of the sermons she preached in the 1160s and 1170s; two volumes of material on natural medicine and cures; an invented language called the Lingua ignota (‘unknown language’); and various minor works, including a gospel commentary and two works of hagiography.” Finally, Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed her a saint and Doctor of the Church in 2012, one of 37. “He called Hildegard ‘perennially relevant’ and ‘an authentic teacher of theology and a profound scholar of natural science and music.’”
St. Hildegard was a “Renaissance woman” and an amazing person in all regards! God raises special people to bring his message to the world. In the Church he sends saints, like St. Hildegard. She wrote, in the voice of God: “I am the breeze that nurtures all things green. I encourage blossoms to flourish with ripening fruits. I am the rain coming from the dew that causes the grasses to laugh with the joy of life.” St. Hildegard, pray for us!
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