St. Hildegard of Bingen was declared a doctor of the Church quite recently in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI. She is first in a line of mystical saints from Germany; Hildegard was a poet, prophet, physician, and political advocate who fearlessly gave advice to popes and princes.

Born in 1098, Hildegard began to live with a hermitess near her parents’ home when she was 8 years old. The woman educated the child Hildegard and, over time, gathered several other women into a community of religious sisters.

As Hildegard matured, her interior life expanded as well. Hildegard began to receive visions while enthralled in prayer, and she was granted the gift of seeing the future while in conversation with others. When the holy hermit woman who had educated her died, Hildegard was appointed the new leader of their monastic community.

Hildegard began to feel called to write down what she saw in her visions, but she hesitated, out of concern for what others might think. Nevertheless, the promptings persisted, and Hildegard brought the case before her confessor. They decided that Hildegard was to share her visions, and she began to preserve in writing her mystical revelations of Christ’s love, angels, and hell. Her writings were examined by the local archbishop, who declared them authentic. Throughout her life Hildegard continued to record what she saw in prayer.

Hildegard’s mystical symbolism is often compared to the writing of Dante or William Blake. “The visions that I saw I beheld neither in sleep nor dreaming nor in madness nor with my bodily eyes or ears, nor in hidden places,” she wrote. “I saw them in full view and according to God’s will, when I was wakeful and alert, with the eyes of the spirit and the inward ears. And how this was brought about is indeed hard for human flesh to search out.”

She began writing a magnum opus that took ten years to complete, which included twenty-six visions describing God’s relationship to humanity through creation, Jesus’ suffering and death, and the Church, as well as apocalyptic warnings and hymns of praise. Her writings continued to be examined by leaders in the Church, including the pope and St. Bernard of Clairvaux, all of whom attested to their authenticity and encouraged her to continue to write what she saw.

Her reputation and visions drew more women to her community, and Hildegard helped the nuns move into a larger monastery. She wrote a number of hymns and songs for the community and composed extensive theological treatises on the beauty of sacred music.

Hildegard kept up active correspondences with leaders of nations and the Church, and she was not afraid to give harsh judgments when she deemed them warranted. In all of this, however, she made clear that she spoke from what she had received from God, not on her own authority. “I am a poor earthen vessel,” she wrote. “I say these things not of myself but from the Serene Light.”

Even though she suffered from chronic illness, she traveled throughout Europe and founded another monastery, while visiting and reforming many others. She continued to write prolifically, including works on natural history and medicine. She was known for a number of miracles during her lifetime.

Finally, her health gave out, and though her body was incapacitated, she continued to meet with people to give advice and offer insight. She died on today’s date, September 17, in 1179, and quickly miracles began to be reported at her tomb.

Relics of St. Hildegard rest in the reliquary chapel in the Basilica, shown to the left. And the first image above is used here with permission from Catholic.org. She is also shown in a collection of female saints depicted in a piece of art that hangs in the chapel in Cavanaugh Hall.

St. Hildegard of Bingen, your mystical visions witnessed the extraordinary beauty of God’s love to the world—pray for us!

To learn even more about Saint Hildegard of Bingen, watch this video lecture from the McGrath Institute for Church Life at the University of Notre Dame.