Hildegard the Abbess
After Jutta's death in 1136, Hildegard became the superior of the convent that had grown up around the anchorage where people devoted themselves to a solitary life of penance and prayer. As this convent grew in numbers Hildegard decided to go elsewhere, encouraged by a Divine command. She settled in Rupertsburg near Bingen on the left bank of the Rhine.
Having been granted permission by Count Bernard of Hildesheim, she stayed in her new home with eighteen sisters from 1150, until she founded another convent in 1165 at Eibingen on the right side of the Rhine. During these years, she was privileged to meet with the Emperor Frederick and to correspond with Popes Eugene III, Anastasius IV, Adrian IV, and Alexander III, as well as the Emperors Conrad III and Fredrick I.
Luminaries as well common people asked Hildegard for advice, Biblical interpretations, and explanations of the divine mysteries. She made predictions for the Holy Roman Emperor -- which he confirmed came to pass -- as well as predictions for the future that have yet to be fulfilled.
Against Abuses of the Clergy
Of interest to modern-day Germans, Hildegard strongly condemned venal priests and prelates for their luxurious lifestyles, sexual immorality, and other abuses. On one occasion a prior asked her to pray for him as he was praying for her; Hildegard chided him for having a pagan outlook on prayer. Hildegard also left many written works and a number of prophecies about the future of the Church and of Europe that have yet to come to pass.
She wrote a variety of musical compositions for use in the liturgy; the musical morality play Ordo Virtutum; sermons, which she preached in the 1160s and 1170s; two volumes on natural medicines and cures, Physica and Causaeet Curae, (including a cure for the then-dread disease of leprosy).
In addition, she invented a language called “Lingua Ignota”; wrote a Gospel commentary and two works of hagiography; in addition to Liber Vitae Meritorum ('The Book of Life's Rewards') and Liber Divonorum Operum ('Book of Divine Works'). She completed the last of these works when she was in
her 70s.
Hildegard also had some interesting observations about the earth and the universe regarding its elements and function.In the interior of the earth, she believed, are two vast spaces shaped like truncated cones, where punishment was endured, and from whence great evil came forth. She thought the earth itself was composed of the four elements that are represented as being curiously unequal in proportion and shape.
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