Saint Who?
Saints Who Were Close to Nature
Saint Hildegard of Bingen
Abbess and Doctor († 1179) Feast: September 17
Hildegard’s parents placed her under the care of a holy woman when she was a child. Hildegard learned to pray, read, and sing in Latin, and she chose to become a Benedictine nun at the age of fifteen. She received visions from the time she was small but didn’t share them with others until she was a young woman. When she finally described her visions to her bishop, he approved their content and was so impressed with her that he appointed a monk to serve as her secretary.
Hildegard was later made abbess of her community in Bingen am Rhein, Germany, and under her leadership, the community grew so much that she founded a daughter house. She was both practical—installing running water in their buildings—and creative—composing her own hymns and music. Because of the fame of her private revelations, she was invited to preach outside her abbey.
Hildegard loved God, but she was also fascinated with the material world. She wrote books about medicinal treatments, human biology, botany, and animal life. She analyzed human psychology—normal behavior as well as morbid conditions—and drew her own conclusions about causes and treatments. Some have called her the founder of scientific natural history in Germany, and Pope Benedict XVI (also a German) declared her a Doctor of the Church.
Most Holy Trinity, help us to understand the wisdom you have revealed to us in the natural world.
