In 2010 Pope Benedict preached two homilies on St. Hildegard as part of his year-long series of homilies on some of the great women saints in the Western Church. Below is his first homily.
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| St. Hildegard von Bingen |
In 1988, on the occasion of the Marian Year, Venerable John Paul
II wrote an Apostolic Letter entitled Mulieris
Dignitatem on the precious role that women have played and play in the
life of the Church. "The Church", one reads in it, "gives thanks for all the
manifestations of the feminine "genius' which have appeared in the course
of history, in the midst of all peoples and nations; she gives thanks for all
the charisms that the Holy Spirit distributes to women in the history of the
People of God, for all the victories which she owes to their faith, hope and
charity: she gives thanks for all the fruits of feminine holiness" (n.
31).
Various female figures stand out for the holiness of their lives
and the wealth of their teaching even in those centuries of history that we
usually call the Middle Ages. Today I would like to begin to present one of them
to you: St Hildegard of Bingen, who lived in Germany in the 12th century. She
was born in 1098, probably at Bermersheim, Rhineland, not far from Alzey, and
died in 1179 at the age of 81, in spite of having always been in poor health.
Hildegard belonged to a large noble family and her parents dedicated her to God
from birth for his service. At the age of eight she was offered for the
religious state (in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, chapter 59), and,
to ensure that she received an appropriate human and Christian formation, she
was entrusted to the care of the consecrated widow Uda of Gölklheim and then to
Jutta of Spanheim who had taken the veil at the Benedictine Monastery of St
Disibodenberg. A small cloistered women's monastery was developing there that
followed the Rule of St Benedict. Hildegard was clothed by Bishop Otto of
Bamberg and in 1136, upon the death of Mother Jutta who had become the community
magistra (Prioress), the sisters chose Hildegard to succeed her. She
fulfilled this office making the most of her gifts as a woman of culture and of
lofty spirituality, capable of dealing competently with the organizational
aspects of cloistered life. A few years later, partly because of the increasing
number of young women who were knocking at the monastery door, Hildegard broke
away from the dominating male monastery of St Disibodenburg with her community,
taking it to Bingen, calling it after St Rupert and here she spent the rest of
her days. Her manner of exercising the ministry of authority is an example for
every religious community: she inspired holy emulation in the practice of good
to such an extent that, as time was to tell, both the mother and her daughters
competed in mutual esteem and in serving each other.
During the years when she was superior of the Monastery of St
Disibodenberg, Hildegard began to dictate the mystical visions that she had been
receiving for some time to the monk Volmar, her spiritual director, and to
Richardis di Strade, her secretary, a sister of whom she was very fond. As
always happens in the life of true mystics, Hildegard too wanted to put herself
under the authority of wise people to discern the origin of her visions, fearing
that they were the product of illusions and did not come from God. She thus
turned to a person who was most highly esteemed in the Church in those times: St
Bernard of Clairvaux, of whom I have already spoken in several Catecheses. He
calmed and encouraged Hildegard. However, in 1147 she received a further, very
important approval. Pope Eugene iii, who was presiding at a Synod in Trier, read
a text dictated by Hildegard presented to him by Archbishop Henry of Mainz. The
Pope authorized the mystic to write down her visions and to speak in public.
From that moment Hildegard's spiritual prestige continued to grow so that her
contemporaries called her the "Teutonic prophetess". This, dear friends, is the
seal of an authentic experience of the Holy Spirit, the source of every charism:
the person endowed with supernatural gifts never boasts of them, never flaunts
them and, above all, shows complete obedience to the ecclesial authority. Every
gift bestowed by the Holy Spirit, is in fact intended for the edification of the
Church and the Church, through her Pastors, recognizes its authenticity.
I shall speak again next Wednesday about this great woman, this
"prophetess" who also speaks with great timeliness to us today, with her
courageous ability to discern the signs of the times, her love for creation, her
medicine, her poetry, her music, which today has been reconstructed, her love
for Christ and for his Church which was suffering in that period too, wounded
also in that time by the sins of both priests and lay people, and far better
loved as the Body of Christ. Thus St Hildegard speaks to us; we shall speak of
her again next Wednesday. Thank you for your attention.
There is speculation that Pope Benedict is considering declaring her a Doctor of the Church in October 2012. The Holy Father's second homily will be in my next post.
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