Hildegard of Bingen: Scientist, Composer, Healer, and Saint

Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was one of the most remarkable and influential women of her time. Blessed with an astonishing array of talents, she was at once a mystic, theologian, scientist, doctor, nutritionist, composer, writer, linguist, and artist. Born to a noble family in Mainz, Germany, Hildegard entered a Benedictine monastery and went on to become abbess of a thriving community near Bingen. From a young age she received extraordinary "lights" or visions of Heaven, which she descr...