Canonization of Hildegard von Bingen

Pope Benedict XVI: canonization of Hildegard von Bingen

12/22/2011

Pope Benedict XVI. Hildegard von Bingen wants to pronounce the saintly end of 2012. Known is the Catholic Benedictine in addition to their religious work, especially for their medical and natural healing knowledge, which is still used in various naturopathic treatment. In addition to the canonization Hildegard von Bingen should also be raised to the rank of a church teacher, which makes her the first German woman who will bear this title. As church teachers only persons are honored who had special influence on the theological teaching of the catholic church. So far, only three women have been honored with this rank. These include Theresa of Avila, Catherine of Siena and Therese of Lisieux.

Canonization and honoring as a church teacher
Birgit Collin-Langen (CDU), Lord Mayor of Bingen, is pleased about the recognition by the church after 900 years of work by Hildegard von Bingen. She reports that since the Pope's visit there have been rumors about the canonization of Bingen's most famous citizen. This could make the city even more attractive to visitors. The Lord Mayor plans to update the permanent exhibition in the Historical Museum on the life of Hildegard von Bingen and to prepare the city for the canonization

The importance of Hildegard von Bingen for naturopathy
The Benedictine woman lived in the 12th century and was already worshiped as a saint during her lifetime. In addition to religion, she also dealt with medicine, natural medicine, cosmology, music and ethics.

To date, Hildegard von Bingen is considered a pioneer in natural medicine. It is known that she wrote various medical writings, but of which no more contemporary copies are available today, but only copies from later times exist. The work Causae et Curae (causes and healings) deals with the development and treatment of diseases. Liber subtilitatum diversarum naturarum creaturarum (Book on the inner being - nature and healing power - of various creatures and plants) is another natural history work. The Benedictine woman is sometimes referred to as the first German doctor. Her works are among the standard works of (esoteric) natural medicine. (Ag)