Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen was a nun during the twelfth century.  In her writings she often speaks of being sickly from a young age and experiencing visions.  She refused to write, “not with stubbornness but in the exercise of humility” (Hildegard 60).  She claims that she fell sick because God was using this sickness to compel her to write.  She wrote “And again I heard a voice from Heaven saying to me, ‘Cry out therefore, and write thus!’” (Hildegard 61)  The great question surrounding her work is if the visions were truly from God, or if they were a symptom of her sickness that some modern doctors believe to have been migraines.  The answer to this question cannot be known, but this is not important.  Up until this point women were seen by men as uneducated and unable to contribute to theology or education.  Hildegard’s visions and writings began to give credit to women theologians and forced men to realize that women can contribute to Christian thought.

The accounts of her visions always start out with very specific and somewhat confusing descriptions of what she has seen.  Then she takes this description and breaks it down image by image and phrase by phrase.  She separates the phrases and explains the images with great and clear detail.  The organization and clear and understandable explanation that she gives proves the deep and rational thought behind the visions.  This proves to men that she can intelligently analyze very rich religious imagery, and when men give Hildegard this credit then this begins to open the window for other women to be taken seriously as well.

In Hildegard’s intelligent explanations of her visions, not only is she making rational arguments and explanations, but she is using imagery and examples that prove how educated she is.  These include scientific analogies when she relates the trinity to the three qualities of a stone or the three qualities of fire.  Her understanding of these scientific subjects demonstrates not only a good education but the intelligence that it took to understand these concepts.  This is even more impressive when the time she lived is considered.  Hildegard was also fluent in Latin and wrote the first book on the subject of women’s health.  Knowing Latin at almost any point in history has been a sign of being very educated.  Women typically were not known to be taught Latin, and this gives her credit among educated men.  Writing the first gynecological health book also demonstrated her intelligence and educational level.  

         All of these aspects of Hildegard of Bingen’s visions, writings, and educational level forced men to listen to her.  Men could not ignore writing this intelligent and well analyzed and through her work women began to be recognized in new ways.  Women were no longer baby factories, but intelligent beings that could contribute to and change the school of Christian thought.

Hildegard of Bingen. Scivias. Paulist Press: New York. 1990. Print