Hildegard
the Polymath:
Catholic Saint
by Ed Masters
In the year of Our Lord 1098, Hildegard was born of noble parents in Bockelheim on the Nahe river in southwestern Germany. She grew up to become a polymath —a prophetess, writer, composer, philosopher, abbess, and visionary – famous as “the Sybil of the Rhine.”
ildegard would have been a remarkable woman in any day or
age.Tradition has it that Hildegard was the youngest of ten children born to Mechtilde (Matilda) and Hildebert; she was weak and prone to illness. St. Hildegard's parents were interested in worldly affairs, yet they entrusted their eight-year-old daughter to the monastery of Mount Saint Disibode, under the care of a relative, Jutta -- a holy, devout nun and sister to Count Stephen II of Spanheim.
Hildegard's Famous Visions
From an early age Hildegard experienced visions:
"Up to my fifteenth year I saw much, and related some of the things seen to others, who would inquire with astonishment, whence such things might come. I also wondered and during my sickness I asked one of my nurses whether she also saw similar things. When she answered no, a great fear befell me. Frequently, in my conversation, I would relate future things, which I saw as if present, but, noting the amazement of my listeners, I became more reticent."
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