St. Hildegard of Bingen - Superstition? Magic?

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Hi,
This is my second post on a similar topic in row, so hopefully that’s ok but I didn’t want to put them together in one post.

Basically, I was reading some of the writings of St. Hildegard of Bingen, and her views on gemstones have me a bit confused. Now I know that the science of the time was what it was, and it reflects in her views of the natural world and science and medicine, that’s fine. However, she spiritualises gemstones and their power in funny ways. Here are some excerpts as examples:

*"All gemstones contain energy and moisture. They terrify the devil, who hates and despises them because he *
*remembered that their beauty appeared in him before he fell from the glory which God had given him, and also *
*because some precious stones are created from the fire and energy in which he himself has his punishments. It *
*was in fact by fire that the devil was defeated, through God’s will, and he fell into fire, just as he is also defeated *
*by the fire of the Holy Spirit whenever people are rescued from the devil’s jaws through the inspiring breath of *
the Holy Spirit. "

*For anyone who is ‘bezaubert’ [bewitched] by fantasms or magic words and has gone out of their mind : 1 take *
*a warm loaf of fine wheat and cut the shape of a cross through its top crust, but without breaking the loaf into *
*pieces; draw the stone through the line of the cut on top and say: *

*‘May God, who deprived the devil of every precious stone *

*after he had broken his commandment, *

*drive out from you, N., *

*all fantasms and all magic spells, *

*and may he release you from all the pain of this madness.’ *

*And again, drawing the stone transversely through the bread, say: *

*‘Just as the splendour which the devil had *
*was taken from him because of his transgression, *
*so may this madness too, *

*which oppresses you, N., through fantasms and through magic, *

*be taken from you, *

and may it depart from you!’

Doesn’t this sounds more or less like superstition, or magic?

What are we to make of all this? I find it a little to easy just to say “Oh, she lived in the middle ages, things have moved on since then”, etc. Especially as it’s hard to seperate her views of medicine from her theology and mystical writings.
 
You can’t go wrong if you stick to the writings of the Church.
 
If science can’t advance or theorize and be wrong, it wouldn’t be science. It would be divine writ.

Hildegarde was going by the science of the day, which went back to Greece and Roman times (and was often wrong, but also often right about good treatments), and allying it with Christian prayers to prevent more superstitious practices.

A lot of it was what she had learned from the most knowledgeable people she knew, and the best texts she had read. A lot of it was also practical psychology; if the prayer was in the local German, and clearly stated what was wanted, the patient and anyone else present would be able to join the prayer. act

Moving a stone that she thought was a God-given medicine through the arms of the Cross cut into the bread was a devout act, a sort of home liturgy. (I think most Christian bakers get devout about cutting a cross into a round loaf, even though it is done for bread engineering reasons.)

The lesson of medieval science is to read all science books carefully, looking for what is right and what is wrong and not being too proud of ourselves.

Everyone but God is ignorant. Everyone but God is going by guess and recollection, and by trial and error. But Jesus is the Truth, and we who love Him must seek Him everywhere.
 
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sealabeag said:
Especially as it’s hard to seperate her views of medicine from her theology and mystical writings.
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Hildegarde was canonized for being a great theologian who also fought corruption in the Church. She wasn’t canonized for her prowess as a medical doctor. Even so, her knowledge of things like medicinal herbs was actually really advanced for her time. Obviously it looks backward compared to where we are in the 21st century, but she didn’t live in the 21st century.

Cutting a cross on top of a loaf of bread to let the devil out was a folk practice in Europe, people did it for centuries. If you read the written account of Melanie Calvat, the visionary of Our Lady of La Salette in the 1800s, she as a young peasant girl did much the same thing with the bread she was having for lunch.

As for what “we” are supposed to make of this, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Hildegarde and made her a Doctor of the Church. Pope Benedict is himself a great theologian and didn’t exactly go around canonizing fluffy superstitious New Age practicitioners. I think “we” can trust his judgment. There is also such a thing as obedience; when the Church makes a saint, we don’t second guess that. You don’t have to have a devotion to the particular saint, but you do have to accept that they lived a life of heroic virtue and not be scrutinizing every little thing they wrote and did like you’re trying to catch the Church in an error.
 
Not really. If it pertains to science, and she is simply reflecting the views of the day, that’s what I’m fine with. But in my above example, I showed her spiritualising and giving healing properties to stones, and conducting blessings with said stones, and also claiming that gemstones have spiritual powers. That’s more my problem.

I’ll post a link here to the original document containing her writings: Full text of "Selected Writings St Hildegard Of Bingen"

Gemstones is no. 22
 
I accept that Hildegard is a Saint, of course. But I am not trying “to be scrutinizing every little thing they wrote and did like I’m trying to catch the Church in an error.” That seems like a pretty suspicious take on my motives. Am I not allowed to be a little confused by some of the actions or writings of a Saint, and seek understanding? Well, yes, I am. I wouldn’t like to live in a Church where asking questions was forbidden, and thankfully, I don’t.
 
The concern is that you’ve posted two similar questions in a short time. One of which dealt with private revelations that aren’t even approved and likely weren’t written by Blessed Anne Emmerich. Asking questions is fine, but if someone posting here seems to have an unusual focus or one that isn’t healthy for their faith, you can expect people to comment on that as well.
 
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Yep, I’ve posted two similar questions one after the other. I said that in my opening post. 🙂 It’s a topic I’m trying to understand currently. No cause for concern. Thank you. 🙂
 
sealabeag said:
I showed her spiritualising and giving healing properties to stones, and conducting blessings with said stones, and also claiming that gemstones have spiritual powers. That’s more my problem.
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The idea that stones, herbs, oils, etc had supernatural effects was prevalent in her day and even supported by science (such as it was) at the time. What St. Hildegard did was take what had previously been secular/pagan ideas and elevate/align them with religious truth.

So, it’s not so much that she was superstitious. Rather, it was more like to the extent these stones have power it comes from God and here is the how and why of it.
 
Let us also not forget that the wise men Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar were astrologers. That is why they were following a star to find Jesus the king.
 
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