Print friendly
Women must not be “reduced to servants of our recalcitrant clericalism.”
Pope Francis reiterated this point on his trip to Colombia (September 6-11, 2017). Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) already understood this clearly.
She was a Benedictine nun, a mystic, theologian, foundress, writer, expert in pharmacology, cosmologist, composer, botanist, doctor … and she maintained correspondence with popes, bishops, kings, and emperors. If she needed to reproach them for anything, she didn’t hesitate to do so.
San Pablo Ediciones has just published a book about the unique mystical experiences of this great woman, whom the author, Cristina Siccardi, calls a “mystic and scientist.”
Saint Hidegard’s mysticism isn’t one of ecstasy; she “always remains rooted in the world, even when the supernatural bursts into her life,” the author says.
Hildegard’s manuscripts are in Latin and German, and her work has been carefully studied, especially by Benedictines and experts in medieval prophetism and mysticism.
When Benedict XVI dedicated several of his catecheses to important women in the Church, the first example he chose was, in fact, Hildegard.
Experts agree that she was not a normal child. From when she was very young, “she saw beyond what was visible to the eye.”
She herself relates, in her work called Scivias (“Know the Ways of the Lord”): “Since I was a child, specifically since I was five years old, and still today, I have always mysteriously experienced in my interior the strength and mystery of those hidden and secret visions.”
In Vida y Visiones de Hildegard von Bingen, published by Siruela, Victoria Cirlot, professor of medieval literature at Pompeu Fabra University in Barcelona, Spain, states that Hildegard is “one of the most fascinating and multifaceted figures of Western Europe.”
One aspect of her personality was that “she wasn’t intimidated by criticism,” but neither did she “allow herself to be led astray by praise.” Continue reading
Sources
- Aleteia article by Miriam Diez Bosch
- Image:
Related Posts:
News category: Features.
