The Unruly Mystic: Saint Hildegard

19/09/2026

Inspiration in turbulent times - even today!

In 2029, we will celebrate the 850th anniversary of the death of this great saint, whose knowledge and wisdom can offer us particularly valuable inspiration for our daily lives today.

Pope Benedict XVI declared her a Doctor of the Church in 2012.

But who was this impressive woman?

Here we would like to introduce you to the life and work of Saint Hildegard, take you along on the journey to the anniversary year, and inform you about events.

We appreciate your interest!

www.hildegard2029.de

19/09/2026

Bingen itself carries its own weight in Hildegard’s story — this is the town near which she would eventually found her own monastery at Rupertsberg, breaking from Disibodenberg to build something entirely her own. That story comes later in the pilgrimage. For today, it’s simply the backdrop for a boat gliding past castles and vineyards, with the evening’s return to Bad Kreuznach for dinner and a first real conversation about Hildegard herself.

A relaxed morning in Bad Kreuznach's old town leads to an afternoon river cruise through the Rhine Gorge near Bingen am Rhein, Hildegard's adopted home.

15/09/2026

Church in the Rock

13/09/2026

Feast Day Schedule posted at the Abby!

Hildegard Festival Eibingen, Thursday, September 17, 2026

8:00 a.m. Choral Mass in the Abbey Church

10:00 a.m.

Solemn Pontifical Mass with Bishop Dr. Peter Kohlgraf from Mainz in the churchyard in front of the pilgrimage church

12:00 p.m. Veneration of relics in the pilgrimage church

Soup and bread, drinks, coffee and cake in the parish courtyard

3:00 p.m.

Relic celebration in front of the pilgrimage church. Address: Dr. Elfriede Franz, Chair of the Parish Council of Rupertsberg (Bingerbrück)

Followed by a procession of relics through the old town center of Eibingen

5:30 p.m. Hildegard Vespers in the Abbey Church

💚

St. Hildegard Abbey, Klosterweg 1, 65385 Rüdesheim, www.abtei-st-hildegard.de

12/09/2026

Did you know that a major Hollywood-style medieval drama played out right in the Rheingau region? Not the film "Name of the Rose" which was also filmed here. 🎬🎥

Behind Saint Hildegard's rise to fame was a powerful web of high-stakes politics, powerful allies, and a direct connection to this very well-known Eberbach Abbey!

Here is how the puzzle pieces fit together:

👉 The Ultimate Endorsement: When local monks tried to silence Hildegard, the Archbishop of Mainz and the legendary Bernard of Clairvaux (the powerhouse behind the Cistercian order) stood up for her. They brought her book, Scivias, straight to Pope Eugenius III. The Pope read her words aloud to the assembly, giving her his official blessing to write and preach. ✍️👑

👉 The Eberbach Connection: Bernard of Clairvaux was the founder of Eberbach Abbey (Kloster Eberbach) in 1136. As a Cistercian stronghold just across the Rhine from Hildegard's convents in Bingen and Rüdesheim, Eberbach was right at the center of this spiritual and political network. ⛪️🍷

👉 Saving Her Legacy: Decades after her death, it was actually Prior Gebeno of Eberbach who compiled her prophecies into a massive book called the Pentachronon around 1220. Because the monks at Eberbach painstakingly copied and shared this text, Hildegard's brilliant work was preserved for the world to read today! 📚📜

The next time you walk through the historic cloisters at Kloster Eberbach, remember you are walking the exact paths where these medieval power players shaped history. 🍇🍷

The winery provided some good samples for tasting too!

12/09/2026

Brief history on the wall

31/07/2026

In Aspen, Colorado to attend the Colorado premiere https://www.aspenmusicfestival.com/events/calendar/sarah-kirkland-sniders-hildegard

Check back to hear our review.

The Aspen Music Festival and School is a classical music festival founded in 1949 in Aspen, CO. We offer 400+ classical music events during our summer season.

04/06/2026

At the Abbey of Saint Hildegard in Eibingen, the virtual pilgrimage turns to what may be Hildegard's most enduring gift — her music. Theologians Dr. Katherine Wrisley Shelby and Dr. Travis Stevens explore how her chants teach her entire cosmology in miniature. Sister Hiltrud from the Abbey speaks to pilgrims at the shrine. Rev. Dr. Shanon Sterringer opens with Hildegard's final vision of the Two Paths. Includes sung demonstrations of O Quam Mirabilis and O Frondens Virga, and an exploration of Hildegard's radical theology of feminine redemption — Mary as the reversal of Eve.
Read the full post and download our free Pilgrim's Guide →
https://www.sainthildegardway.eu/day-11-hildegards-music-theology-in-sound-at-the-abbey-of-eibingen/

03/06/2026

Heather Boyle walked the Hildegard Way in the summer of 2019 alongside Dr. Annette Esser, filmmaker Michael M. Conti, and a small international group of pilgrims and theologians. This is her account of what she found — a secret passageway through beech forests and vineyards where the natural world as Hildegard knew it is still in existence, and a living encounter with viriditas, the green force that animates everything she wrote. The trail is just over the hill from the modern world. You only need to walk towards it.
Read the full post and download our free Pilgrim's Guide → https://www.sainthildegardway.eu/stage-10-on-the-hildegard-way-a-modern-pilgrims-account/

02/06/2026

The Hildegard Way ends in Bingen — at the vaulted cellar of the Rupertsberg, all that remains of the monastery Hildegard founded in 1150, and across the Rhine at the pilgrimage church of Eibingen where her relics are kept. At age fifty-two, against the resistance of the Disibodenberg monks, she relocated nineteen sisters to an undeveloped hilltop and built a community of nearly fifty, with a scriptorium, a library, and running water piped to every room. She continued writing, composing, preaching, and advising until her death at eighty-one. Read the full post and download our free Pilgrim's Guide →
https://www.sainthildegardway.eu/stage-9-bingen-hildegard-founds-the-rupertsberg/