Visionary to be named Doctor of the Church

Hildegard von Bingen, the medieval mystic known for her prophecies will receive the title in October 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI

Source: Dateline Zero

There are 33 Doctors of the Church, as of now. Three are women — Teresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena, and Therese of Lisieux. Jamie L Manson at National Catholic Reporter (among others) is quick to point out that fact.

While that’s worthy of note, there’s something else intriguing about Hildegard von Bingen. She was a mystic, known for her prophecies; and was also known to be a healer.

In these modern times, I think it’s interesting that the Pope is going to canonize von Bingen, Mystic of the Rhine, and then quickly elevate her to Doctor of the Church. As Vatican Insider points out, this is “a rare and solemn title attributed to saints who thanks to their lives and their writings have been enlightening for the Catholic Doctrine.”

With people seeing things in the sky, fretting that doomsday might literally have been set in stone by Mayans, and turning to artificial intelligences to know the future — it seems to me that we need mysticism (maybe today more than ever). So this could be very timely.

According to NCR, Andrea Tornielli at Vatican Insider first broke the story December 16.Rome Reports later picked up the story and posted a brief video on saint-to-be (see video below). From there news is quickly spreading through the Catholic press, especially inGermany.

While the Sibyl of the Rhine is perhaps not as well known in the United States, she’s quite popular in Europe. Not only is Hildegard honored in the Roman Catholic Church, but also in the Anglican Communion, and Lutheranism as well.

Although never formally canonized (obviously), she has been thought of as a saint for quite some time. According to an article at New Advent’s Catholic Encyclopedia: “Her biographer, Theodoric, calls her saint, and many miracles are said to have been wrought through her intercession. … The town of Eibingen chose her as patron. On 2 July, 1900, the cornerstone was here laid for a new convent of St. Hildegard. The work was begun and completed through the munificence of Prince Karl of Löwenstein, and Benedictine nuns from St. Gabriel’s at Prague entered the new home [on] 17 September, 1904.”

She wrote theological, botanical and medicinal texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and arguably the oldest surviving morality play, while supervising brilliant miniature Illuminations. My first introduction to Hildegard was when a friend of mine purchased a cd with some of her music. That was years ago, but I remember it as being quite good.

According to a book by Rosemary Radford Ruether, Visionary Women: Three Medieval Mystics(definitely on my personal “must read” list), Hildegard also invented an alternative alphabet.

Full post at Dateline Zero.