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BENEDICT XVI: NEWS, PAPAL TEXTS, PHOTOS AND COMMENTARY

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Benedict XVI to name Hildegarde von Bingen
a Doctor of the Church in October 2012

by Andrea Tornielli
Translated from

December 15, 2011

He has compared her visions to those of the Old Testament prophets, he cites her often, and he dedicated two Wednesday catecheses on her last year, ponting her out as a model female theologian, and praising her musical compositions, some of which are still being played today, as well as the courage with which she confronted the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa when conveying divine admonitions to him.

Benedict XVI is very connected to the figure of St. Hildegarde von Bingen and intends to proclaim her a Doctor of the Church in October 2012. This is a rare and solemn title given to saints who, through their life and writings, have illuminated Catholic doctrine.

So far, the Church has recognized 33 'doctors', 30 of them male. The three women are Teresa of Avila and Caterina of Siena, proclaimed Doctors of the Church by Paul VI in 1970, and the third one, Therese of Lisieux, proclaimed by John Paul II in 1997.

Now, Papa Ratzinger is adding a fourth one, in what amounts to an invitation for women to follow the example of the mystical nun - who was called the Sybil of the Rhine for her prophetic visions - and to contribute to theological reflection. [I bet the unrepentant Sister Elizabeth Johnson of Fordham University - rebuked by the US Conference of Catholic Bishops for a book of questionable theology - will have much to say about this!]

Hildegarde, the youngest of ten children, was born to a noble family, in 1098 in Bermersheim in the Rhineland, and died at age 81 in 1179. The etymology of her name means "she who is daring in battle', a first prophecy that would be fully realized.

Pledged by her parents into the religious life when she was eight years old, she became a Benedictine nun at the Monastery of St. Disiboth, and went on to be the prioress of the community.

Because of the number of applicants seeking to join the order, she decided to separate her community from the Benedictine monks and transferred her nuns to Bingen, where she spent the rest of her life.

She had been having mystical visions since she was a child, which she dictated to another nun. Fearing that those visions were mere illusions, she sought the advice of St. Bernard of Clairvaux who reassured her.

In 1147, she earned the approval of Pope Eugene III, who read a text by Hildegarde at a Bishops' Synodal Assembly in Trier. The Pope authorized her to write down her visions and to speak in public.

Her fame soon became widespread. Her contemporaries called her the Teutonic prophetess and 'Sybil of the Rhine'. Considered a saint even in her day, the mystic nun was never formally canonized.

German director Margarethe von Trotta made the film Vision about Hildegarde, based on the mystic's best known work Scivias ('Know the ways'), which summarizes in 35 visions the events of the history of salvation, from the creation of the world to the end times.

"With the characteristic traits of feminine sensitivity," Benedict XVI said about her, "Hildegard develops at the very heart of her work the theme of the mysterious marriage between God and humanity that is brought about in the Incarnation. On the tree of the Cross take place the nuptials of the Son of God with the Church, his Bride, filled with grace and the ability to give new children to God, in the love of the Holy Spirit".

For Papa Ratzinger who, in recalling her one year ago, encouraged female theologians, it is evident, precisely with examples like Hildegarde, that theology "can receive a special contribution from women, because they are capable of speaking about God and the mysteries of the faith with their special intelligence and sensibility".

Her visions did not lack for short-term prophecies, such as her affirmation of the Catari heresy, but even apocalyptic snatches, such as that of the Anti-Christ who will sow death among the people "when the Chair of Peter will be occupied by a Pope who has taken the names of two Apostles".

Or that which raises the possibility of a Muslim converted to Christianity who would become a cardinal, kill the legitimate Pope because he wants the position for himself, and failing to do so, proclaims himself the anti-Pope.

Hildegarde's story attests to the cultural liveliness of the feminine monasteries of her time and helps to belie many prejudices about the Middle Ages.

She was a nun, a theologian, cosmologist, botanist, and musician. She is considered the first woman composer in Christian history. She could govern, she condemned the immorality of priests who through their sins "keep open the wounds of Christ", and held her own against the German bishops of her time.

As she did against Frederick Barbarossa, to whom she sent a 'message from God', after that Holy Roman Emperor had named an anti-Pope for the second time. "I can beat down the malice of men who offend me. You who are King, if you wish to live, listen to me or my sword will pierce you".

The German nun is also the patron of those who support Esperanto, since she was the author of one of the first artificial languages, the so called 'unknown language', a secret language that she used for mystical purposes and was composed of 23 letters. She described it in a codex which also contains a glossary of 1011 words from this 'unknown language'.

The Congregation for the Causes of Saint, led by Cardinal Angelo Amato, is completing a study of documents about Hildegarde. Although the Popes allowed veneration of her in Germany - the last to do explicitly was Pius XII - the Rhenish mystic was never canonized because the process opened half a century after she died was interrupted.

It is therefore probable that Papa Ratzinger, who has referred to her as St. Hildegarde in many of his speeches, will canonize her officially before inscribing her her into the exclusive album of the Doctors of the Church, the saints whose lives and writings have illuminated the doctrine of the Church.

[I wonder why Tornielli did not ask about the next step for Spain's St. Juan de Avila, whom the Pope announced in Madrid last August would also be proclaimed a Doctor of the Church!]
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 15/12/2011 23:22]
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