Hildegard's convent at Disibodenberg elected her as magistra (mother superior) in 1136. She founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. Hildegard wrote theological, botanical, and medicinal works, as well as letters, hymns, and antiphons for the liturgy. She wrote poems, and supervised miniature illuminations in the Rupertsberg manuscript of her first work, Scivias. There are more surviving chants by Hildegard than by any other composer from the entire Middle Ages, and she is one of the few known composers to have written both the music and the words. One of her works, the Ordo Virtutum, is an early example of liturgical drama and arguably the oldest surviving morality play. She is noted for the invention of a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota.
Life and Career
Although the history of her formal canonization is complicated, regional calendars of the Catholic Church have listed her as a saint for centuries. On 10 May 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended the liturgical cult of Hildegard to the entire Catholic Church in a process known as "equivalent canonization". On 7 October 2012, he named her a Doctor of the Church, in recognition of "her holiness of life and the originality of her teaching."
Key Facts
- Born: January 1, 1098 in Bermersheim vor der Höhe, County Palatine of the Rhine, Holy
- Died: 1179
- Field: Mathematics
Legacy and Impact
The influence of Hildegard of Bingen extends far beyond her own lifetime. She fundamentally shaped the foundations of modern mathematics, and her theorems and mathematical frameworks remain foundational to this day.
Though she passed away in 1179, her ideas continue to be studied, debated, and built upon by scholars and practitioners worldwide.
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