Explanation of the Rule of Benedict

by Hildegard von Bingen, Hugh Feiss (Translator)

Hildegard of Bingen (1098 - 1179) was the outstanding female religious figure of twelfth-century Germany. A Benedictine nun, she was consulted by bishops, popes, and kings, and wrote copiously for her fellow mystical and visionary material, liturgical music, biblical commentaries, saints' lives, and theological explanations of various aspects of church doctrine, as well as treatises on natural science and the healing arts. Her story is important to all students of spirituality, medieval history, and culture.

69 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

About the author

born circa 1098

People revered Saint Hildegard von Bingen, German nun, composer, and a visionary, during her own lifetime; she set her poems to music and also wrote works on medicine and natural history.

People also knew this philosopher, Christian mystic, Benedictine abbess, and polymath as Sibyl of the Rhine. Her fellows elected her as a magistra in 1136; she founded the monasteries of Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. The Ordo Virtutum exemplifies early liturgical drama.

Her theological and botanical texts, letters, liturgical songs, and arguably the oldest morality play, well survive; she meanwhile supervised brilliant miniature Illuminations.

Reviews

[Christian Jenkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting book about the Rule of Benedict, explained by a great saint and mystic. The explanations don't create something new out of the rule, mainly create an explanation with examples on different parts of the rule. Being an Abbess of a Benedictine convent, Hildegard would have been familiar with the rule, and the discretion that superiors have over the nuns/monks.

The additional explanation by the Translator Hugh Feiss is useful in a few instances to bring the language and understanding up to date, however it did seem odd to read an explanation of an explanation.