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La visionaria Hildegard von Bingen

Translation: Andoni Pérez Pérez

Hildegard von Bingen: A visionary

This week we will  approach the figure of the Benedictine nun Hildegard von Bingen, who lived in the 12th century. She was an exceptional woman for her time: she wrote about medicine, created splendid melodies and had a series of visions that were recognised by the highest ecclesiastical authorities. In fact, a few years ago Pope Benedict XVI recognised her as a Doctor of the Church.

Life and visions of Hildegard von Bingen

Let us place ourselves in space and time. In 1098, Hildegard von Bingen was born in a town under the protection of the Holy Roman Empire: Bermersheim vor der Höhe. She was the tenth child of a remarkable family and, as such, her parents believed that she had to be given to God as a tithe. Therefore, she was educated in the monastic way of life from an an early age by Jutta, a noblewoman. At the age of fourteen she entered a convent.

Her physical constitution made her very weak and she suffered from numerous illnesses that forced her to spend long spells of time in bed. Moreover, Hildegard experienced visionary phenomena from an early age that she did not dare to report until adulthood, until she realised that these were visions and revelations sent by God himself.

She began to dictate her visions to a copyist but did not dare to make them public. Therefore, she consulted with Bernard of Clairvaux and other monks, who took her written visions to the Pope. Finally, he approved the publication of part of the texts of her first work: Scivias.

From that moment on, she continued transcribing her visions into other books.

Even though her canonisation process was complex, for unique factors such as the aforementioned this woman was considered a saint. She is recognised as such by Catholics and some Protestant groups.

If you want to know more about the life and visions of Hildegard von Bingen, we recommend a book by Victoria Cirlot dedicated to this saint.

Her paintings and music

A representation of the Holy Trinity by Hildegard von Bingen.
A unique feature of Hildegard von Bingen’s life was her liking for drawing and music. Therefore, her literary works are complemented by her extraordinary drawings made in colour, depicting the mysteries of the divine world such as the Holy Trinity or the angelic hierarchies. These works are totally out of the ordinary and unique because they stand outside the tradition of Romanesque art.
As far as music is concerned, Hildegard left us seventy-eight musical works, grouped in a piece known as the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum: 43 antiphons, 18 responsories, 4 hymns, 7 sequences, 2 symphonies, an alleluia, a kyrie, a free piece and an oratorio. She also composed an “auto sacramental” (a morality play) set to music called Ordo virtutum, which means “on virtues”. In fact, some of her compositions can be heard on Spotify.

Other references

The Angelic Choir. Another illustration by Hildegard von Bingen.

To complete the bibliography in Spanish of today’s protagonist, we have a book from publishers Aurora Dorada, titled “Hildegard Von Bingen: Las estrellas extinguidas”, by writer Sére Skuld.

It is a somewhat unusual work as it narrates the life of the saintly and prolific Hildegard Von Bingen by means of chapters taken from the life of the protagonist herself, together with others of the author’s own creation, achieving a sense of mimetisation.This poetic fiction also includes some of the paintings of this visionary as well as a bibliography to delve deeper into her life and visions.

On the other hand, we can also mention the German biopic titled Vision. From the Life of Hildegard Von Bingen, released in 2009 and directed by Margarethe von Trotta. This film is available on Filmin.

Dr. Pedro Ortega

Ingeniero Industrial, Historiador del Arte, Máster en Edición Digital y Doctor en Estética. Es Gestor Cultural de Patrimonio Mundial del Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Edita la revista académica Herejía y Belleza y dirige el sello académico Ediciones Aulós. Es autor en Penguin Random House y ha escrito artículos para El Imparcial, Jot Down e Historia National Geographic, entre otros medios. Pedro Ortega PhD Industrial Engineer, Art Historian, with a M.A. in Digital Publishing and a PhD in Aesthetics. He is the cultural manager at the World Heritage Service of the Madrid City Council. He is a published author at Penguin Random House and has written articles for El Imparcial, Jot Down and Historia National Geographic, among others. Pedro Ortega doktorea Industria Ingeniaria, Artearen Historialaria, Edizio Digitaleko Master-duna eta Estetikan Doktorea. Kultur kudeatzailea da Madrilgo Udaleko Munduko Ondare Zerbitzuan. Penguin Random House-ko idazlea da eta artikuluak idatzi ditu El Imparcial, Jot Down eta Historia National Geographic-entzat, besteak beste.

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OpenEdition le sugiere que cite este post de la siguiente manera:
Dr. Pedro Ortega (18 de diciembre de 2024). La visionaria Hildegard von Bingen. El blog de Tartalo. Recuperado 19 de marzo de 2025 de https://doi.org/10.58079/12yav


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