GENERAL AUDIENCE
Wednesday, September 1, 2010 - 10:30
held by Pope Benedict XVI
Theme: St. Hildegard of Bingen (1 ^ Parte)
Brief Chronicle ...
the general audience this morning was held at 10.30 am on the square in front of the Palazzo Castel Gandolfo, where the Holy Father met with groups of pilgrims and faithful who arrived from Italy and from all over the world.
In his speech in Italian, the Pope dwelt on the figure of St. Hildegard of Bingen. He then greeted in various languages \u200b\u200bto groups of worshipers. The hearing ended with the apostolic blessing imparted by the Holy Father.
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CATECHESIS THE HOLY FATHER
Dear brothers and sisters,
in 1988, during the Marian Year, the Venerable John Paul II wrote a Apostolic Letter entitled Mulieris Dignitatem , treating the valuable role that women have played and will play in the life of the Church. "The Church - it reads - thanks for all the manifestations of the feminine genius appeared in the course of history, among all peoples and all nations, thanks for all the charisms which the Holy Spirit gives women in the history of God's people, for all the victories which she owes to their faith, hope and charity, thanks for all the fruits of feminine holiness "(No. 31).
Even in those centuries of history we usually call the Middle Ages , different female figures stand for the sanctity of life and the richness of . Today I will start to introduce one of them : St. Hildegard of Bingen , lived in Germany in the twelfth century. He was born in 1098 in the Rhineland, in Bermersheim near Alzey, and died in 1179 at the age of 81 years, despite the continuing fragility of his health. Hildegard belonged to a noble family and numerous and, from birth, she was voted by his parents to God's service in eight years, to receive an adequate human and Christian, was entrusted to the care of the teacher Judith Spanheim, which was withdrawn in seclusion at the Benedictine monastery of St. Disibodo. Was going to form a small convent of cloistered, which followed the Rule of Saint Benedict. Hildegard received the veil from Bishop Otto of Bamberg, and in 1136, the death of her mother Judith, now superior of the community, the sisters asked to take over. He carried out this task by making capitalize on his skills as a cultured woman, spiritually elevated and capable of dealing with the organizational skills of the cloistered life. A few years later, partly because of the increasing number of young women who were knocking at the gates of the monastery, Hildegard von Bingen founded another community, dedicated to Saint Rupert, where he spent the rest of life. The style with which the ministry of authority exercised by each religious community is exemplary: it raised a holy emulation in the practice of goodness, so that, as is clear from the testimony of the time, the mother and daughters outdo each other and use . Already in years when he was superior of the monastery of St. Disibodo, Hildegard began to dictate the mystical visions, which received a long time, his spiritual adviser, the Monaco Volmar, and his secretary, a sister who was very fond, Richardis of Roads . As always happens in the lives of true mystics, Hildegard would also submit to the authority of people learned to discern the source of his visions, fearing that they were the result of illusions and that were not from God so He turned to the person to his time enjoyed the highest esteem in the Church: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, to whom I have already spoken in some Catechesis. These reassured and encouraged Hildegard. But in 1147 she received another important endorsement. Pope Eugene III, who chaired a synod in Trier, he read a text dictated by Hildegard, which is presented by the Archbishop Henry of Mainz. The Pope authorized to write his mystical visions and speak in public. Since then, the spiritual prestige of Hildegard grew more and more, so that contemporaries ascribed to the title of "prophetess Teutonic." This, dear friends, the seal of an authentic experience of the Holy Spirit, source of all charisma custodian of the person he has no supernatural gifts, never flaunts them and, above all, show total obedience to the authority of the Church. Every gift distributed by Holy Spirit, in fact, is for the edification of the Church and the Church, through its pastors recognize its authenticity.
'll talk again next Wednesday on this great woman "prophetess" who speaks with great interest to us even today, with his courageous ability to discern the signs of the times, with its love of creation, its medicine, its poetry, its music, which is now rebuilt, his love for Christ and His Church, suffering even in that time, also wounded at that time by the sins of priests and lay, and so much more popular as the Body of Christ. So St Hildegard speaks to us, we'll talk again next Wednesday. Thank you for your attention.
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