Hildegard von Bingen (Part Seven)

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His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, extended the liturgical cult of Saint Hildegard to the universal Church in 2012.

Hildegard's name was, nonetheless, taken up in the Roman Martyrology at the end of the 16th-Century. Her Feast Day is 17 September. Numerous Popes have referred to Hildegard as a Saint, including Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI.

On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of St. Hildegard to the universal Church in a process known as "equivalent canonisation". Hildegard’s parish and pilgrimage Church in Eibingen, near Rüdesheim, houses her relics.

Hildegard of Bingen also appears in the calendar of saints of various Anglican churches, such as that of the Church of England, in which she is commemorated on 17 September.

Hildegard has also become a figure of reverence within the contemporary New Age movement, mostly due to her holistic and natural view of healing, as well as her status as a mystic. She was the inspiration for Dr. Gottfried Hertzka's "Hildegard-Medicine", and is the namesake for June Boyce-Tillman's Hildegard Network, a healing centre that focuses on a holistic approach to wellness and brings together people interested in exploring the links between spirituality, the arts, and healing.

German Emperor, Friedrich Barbarossa, mit seinen Söhnen König Heinrich und Herzog Friedrich. Miniatur aus der Welfenchronik (Kloster Weingarten, 1179-1191). Heute Landesbibliothek Fulda.

Frederic I Barbarossa and his sons King Henry VI and Duke Frederick VI. Medieval illustration from the Chronicle of the Guelphs (Weingarten Abbey, 1179-1191).

In recent years, Hildegard has become of particular interest to feminist scholars. Her reference to herself as a member of the "weaker sex" and her rather constant belittling of women, though at first seemingly problematic, must be considered within the context of the patriarchal Church hierarchy. Hildegard frequently referred to herself as an unlearned woman, completely incapable of Biblical exegesis. 

Such a statement on her part, however, worked to her advantage, because it made her statements that all of her writings and music came from visions of the Divine more believable, therefore giving Hildegard the authority to speak in a time and place where few women were permitted a voice. Hildegard used her voice to condemn Church practices she disagreed with, in particular simony.

In space, she is commemorated by the asteroid 898 Hildegard.

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON HILDEGARD VON BINGEN.