Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen (c. 1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as the Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine abbess and polymath. She was active as a writer, composer, philosopher, mystic, visionary, and a medical writer and practitioner during the High Middle Ages. She is recognized as one of the best-known composers of sacred monophony and is the most recorded medieval composer. Hildegard is also considered by many scholars to be the founder of scientific natural history in Germany. She was elected Magistra in 1136 and founded two monasteries: Rupertsberg in 1150 and Eibingen in 1165. Her prolific writings include theological, botanical, and medicinal works, as well as letters, hymns, and antiphons. She also wrote poetry and supervised illuminations for her first work, Scivias. Her musical repertoire is the largest of any medieval composer, with both music and lyrics attributed to her. The Ordo Virtutum, one of her works, is an early example of liturgical drama and a morality play. Hildegard also invented a constructed language known as Lingua Ignota. Though her formal canonization process was complex, she has been venerated as a saint for centuries. In 2012, Pope Benedict XVI extended her liturgical cult to the entire Catholic Church and named her a Doctor of the Church.