HILDA MUNTHE-LONELY MISTRESS OF HILDASHOLM.

The drive from Stockholm to Dalarna County in the north west of Sweden is about three hundred kms. It winds through miles and miles of conifer forests interspersed with fields of wheat and rye. Here and there among the greenery are clusters of red roofed cottages that paint a pretty picture against the dark green shades of the forest. The roofs have low maintenance as the red paint comes from copper mining debris in the region, mixed with arsenic and other chemicals. It ensures the durability of the wooden constructions and keeps them termite free.

My destination is Leksand on the banks of the Siljan Lake. Three hundred million years ago a meteor fell over Dalarna, and this large lake was born. On its banks are many picturesque villages. Leksand is one of them. The houses here are surrounded by sprawling lawns. Terraces of multicolored flowers and lush green meadows reach down to the water’s edge.

Hildasholm, a 14-roomed mansion overlooking the lake has a very romantic setting. The Nature Park surrounding this mansion has been artistically landscaped into several small colourful gardens, amidst patches of untamed jungle. They are patterned after English gardens, and many of the plants and sculptures have also been imported from England. Wandering through the yellow peacock garden, the evergreen junipers, and the green arch temple makes one feel like Alice in Wonderland. There is a medicinal garden in memory of the famous Swedish doctor and author Axel Munthe. The fountain garden with its fountain surrounded by granite pillars which are topped with iron urns, was opened by Queen Victoria of Sweden in 1924.

This ornamental landscape is the untiring work of Hilda Munthe the second wife of Axel Munthe, who lived in the early 20th century. He was a great nature lover and fell in love with the beauty of Leksand. He built the Hildasholm Mansion earlier known as ‘Stone Court,’ as a wedding present for his young wife Hilda Pennington Mellor. She toiled for ten years to turn this wild park around the mansion into a thing of beauty.

Yet Munthe never lived here. He resided permanently on the Isle of Capri, in his Villa St. Michael, attending to his patients or traveling around Europe on his various errands of mercy. When not preoccupied with his profession, he was in the company of the chronically ill Princess Victoria of Sweden, both as her physician and close friend. She always spent the long winter months in Capri.

Though the Princess was married to Crown Prince Gustav, she found him uncultured and boring. Munthe was her soul mate. She shared his love of Arts, Music and Photography. People gossiped but there was nothing much they could do. The Princess and Munthe traveled together to Venice. The duo even teamed up in concert, she playing the piano and his rich tenor ringing out in song. Though he was pursued by rich and famous women, Munthe was obsessed with the princess. “You are the woman of my heart,” he said.
This relationship was probably the cause of his divorce from his first wife.

But as he aged, he realized the futility of this liaison. They could never marry. He longed for a wife and family. So in 1910, he chose a bride from the English aristocracy, the young Hilda Pennington Mellor. Though she bore him two sons, she hated living in Capri because of his relationship with the Princess. She was jealous not only of Victoria but suspicious of all the other women who fawned over him. They separated in 1919, and Hilda left Capri for good.

Ironically, Munthe’s marriage brought a chill into his relationship with the Princess. Her visits to Capri became less frequent. Even so, when she was crowned queen, she appointed Munthe as her personal physician. They eventually fell out with each other over political differences. But he was by her side when she died in 1930.
Axel Munthe returned to Sweden only when he was old and almost blind. He dedicated his book ‘The Story of St. Michael” to the Princess.

Hilda spent her summers at Hildasholm with her two sons, opening her soul to Nature and allowing the beauty and tranquility of her gardens to bring her peace. If only those gardens could speak, they would tell the story of a sad and neglected wife, who watered the flower beds with her tears as she whispered, ‘With all thy faults I love thee still.’
She died in 1967.

Today Hildasholm and its gardens are owned by the Stifteson Foundation run by the Leksand Church and the Municipality. It was donated to the county by her son Malcolm in 1980.

BERTHE MORISOT – FORGOTTEN IMPRESSIONIST PAINTER

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Not very far from the Champs Elysees in Paris, is the Cemetery de Passy. It sits in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower, well concealed from the world by thick branches of chestnut trees. No ordinary tourist would like to venture into this overcrowded necropolis. Its confusion of bizarre mausoleums with doors and candelabras is something of a nightmare to negotiate. It was a small area in 1820, But by 1874, it became the final resting place of the rich and the famous. Here in the silent company of Chopin, Oscar Wilde, Debussy and many fellow painters and artists like Manet, lies Berthe Morisot, the artist whom France forgot.
Born on January 14th, 1841 at Bourges, Cher, Berthe was inclined towards painting since her childhood. Perhaps she had inherited these genes from her grand uncle the famous Rococo painter Fragonard. Her parents supported her in her desire to pursue painting, and arranged for painting lessons. She began to copy the old Masters perfectly. Her skills were recognized by the greater artist Corot, under whom she studied from 1860 – 1862. He encouraged her to attend the Auvers-sur-Oise, to learn the technique of Plein Air painting.
Berthe was the first female Impressionist painter. She knew how to capture the effect of light falling on objects. The interplay of light and shadow were beautifully reproduced in her paintings. She drew landscapes directly from Nature and was not studio-bound. In 1864, at the age of 23, she became the youngest painter to exhibit her landscapes at the Salon de Paris. In the next ten years, she exhibited in six salons.

Berthe’s historic meeting with the painter Eduard Manet in 1868 at the Louvre distracted her to some extent. She became his model for six long years, during which time he painted her portrait fifteen times and rose to fame. But the spotlight shifted away from Berthe’s talents and achievements. Through her paintings she had dared to trespass into a man’s domain. This was a blatant breach of convention, and the best way to put her in place was to sideline her.

Berthe became known more for her association with Manet than for her own skills. His portraits of her were an open testimony of his affection for his model. Rumours were rife about her ‘affair’ with this married artist.

But Berthe’s proximity to this great man made her aware of the flaws in his character.Fame was his passion. She wrote to her sister, “I will obtain my independence by persevering and showing that I mean to be free.”
She developed her own distinctive artistic style. Manet could not but approve of it. He even incorporated into his work certain aspects of her technique. However his chauvinism surfaced when he was asked to transport one of her paintings to the Salon. He took the liberty of making corrections in her work, which annoyed her no end.

Berthe married Eduard’s elder brother Eugene. They had a daughter named Julia. Her home in Paris was open to other Impressionists like Degas, Monet, Renoir, Pissaro and Mellarme.

In 1874, she joined the group of ‘rejected’ artists, whose work had been rejected by the Salon. The jury had been overcritical of their paintings. Berthe showed solidarity with them by joining their first exhibition. Her best know painting ‘Cradle’ (a mother looking at her child) was much appreciated. Between 1874 and 1886 Berthe exhibited at all Impressionist shows. Some of her pictures fetched more money than those of Manet or Renoir.

After marriage, she avoided painting street scenes and nudes but used her family and friends as models. She portrayed the serenity and intimacy of family life, garden scenes and nature.

Berthe was widowed in 1892. She outlived her husband by three years and died of a bout of Influenza on 2nd March 1895. She was buried in the Cemetery de Passy. Her Impressionist friends arranged for a grand Memorial service. Then her own country forgot her. Her art was not given due recognition only because she was a woman. Gender discrimination was ingrained in the social fabric of her time, even in the world of Art.

But she has been immortalized by her daughter Julia, in her book “Growing up with the Impressionists – The Diary of Julie Manet”(1987)

LEINI RIEFENSTAHL – MISTRESS OF MAKE-BELIEVE

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The drive through the northern part of Bavaria, through unspoiled natural woodlands and narrow winding roads, past half-timbered houses and ruined castles, was refreshing. Our destination was Nuremberg, the second largest city in Bavaria. Much of it has been rebuilt after the destruction of war. From the 1st to the 6th century, it was an Imperial City where German kings resided, and held their Imperial Diets. The castle still looms over the city from the north bank of the River Pegnitz, and at a height of 351 metres.

But Nuremberg was made notorious by Hitler’s National Socialist Party activities. His unfinished Congress Hall is now the Documentation Centre, which chronicles the affairs of the Nationalist Socialist Party, and details Hitler’s inhuman and bloody regime. Here one reads the story of Leini Riefenstahl, who helped propagate the ‘Fuhrer myth’ through her propaganda film “Triumph of the Will.” It was later condemned as ‘masterly deceptive.’

Leini Riefenstahl was a German actress, dancer, and film maker. A born artist with a distinctly romantic inclination, her dance movements were said to express the ‘liberation of the soul.’ Born in a rich family in 1902, she was well educated and well informed about Modern Art forms. She was also a good skier. Her film “Blue Light” was a picture of rare beauty and depth. Blue Light was the reflection of the full moon on the houses built on mountain slopes. The film was one of exceptional beauty but it also stirred up confusing emotions.

This innovator of moving pictures met Hitler in 1932 and was hopelessly smitten, after hearing his speech at the National Socialist Party meeting in Berlin. Her infatuation soon turned into an obsession. Hitler capitalized on it. In 1933, after he was elected Chancellor, Leini was commissioned to film the annual NSDAP Conference at Nuremberg. She was given total organizational control, and wielded her clout effectively.

The Rally was literally a political circus, stage managed to perfection with giant size stage structures. The Zeppelin Field designed by Albert Speer, was converted into a fort like structure with ramparts and flag towers. The main grand stand from where Hitler made his speeches was modeled on the Pergamon Altar. The choreographed crowded scenes (supposed to hold half a million NSDAP members and 250,000 guests) had been well rehearsed. Her film ‘Triumph of the Will’ reflected her total admiration for Hitler.
“To me Hitler is the greatest man who has ever lived. He is so faultless, so simple yet so filled with manly power. He is beautiful, he is wise. Radiance streams from him.”

Rene Clair the film critic thought that Hitler’s larger than life image was due to “the suggestive power of Leini’s films.” Writer Lutz Kinkel was even more critical
“This picture was a get up…A beautiful sham with which the Nazis and their helper Riefenstahl tried to delude the public under conditions where a unity never existed.”

A second film “Olympia” followed in 1938, to extol the virtues of Fascism.

Leini’s absolute belief in Hitler and the ideology of the Third Reich enabled her to create a mirage of peace and harmony of the most brutal and barbaric regime in History. When she was arrested after the war, she claimed reprieve on the basis of her naiveté. She swore she was never a member of the Party.

Discredited and ostracized for her collaboration with the Nazis, her career as a film maker was in ruins. But this spunky lady retrieved some credibility in 1960, through her film on the African Nuba Tribals. At the age of 80, she learnt Sea diving, and her last assignment was an under water film.

Leini died on September 8th, 2003 at the ripe old age of 101. Her obsession with Hitler clouded her powers of reasoning. It made her pursue ‘beauty at the expense of reality’ and so ruined her own reputation.

GEORGE ELIOT - VICTORIAN BLUE STOCKING.

The 166 km drive from London to Nuneaton in the Midlands takes about two hours. It is the largest town in the County of Warwickshire, and has been made famous by its association with George Eliot the Victorian novelist. In her book “Scenes from Clerical Life,” she refers to this town as Milby. Nuneaton got its name from Nonne Eton – the first part after a derelict Benedictine nunnery, and the latter after Etone or water town as it was originally called.

Though Nuneaton today has turned into a modern city with its shopping malls, leisure centres and sports clubs and bears no resemblance to the town in which George Eliot spent the first 21 years of her life, there are streets named after the places and characters mentioned in her books. As one walks down these lanes and avenues, her characters spring to life.

The novelist was born Mary Ann Evans on the Arbury Estates just out of Nuneaton, on November 22nd, 1819. The Estates are open to the public. Arbury hall with its fairy tale loveliness, its Art treasures and antiques, remind us of Cheveral Manor, her noble house of fiction in ‘Mr. Gilfil’s Story.’

Chilver’s Cotton Church where she was christened, was partially destroyed during the war, but the church registry with her baptismal entry was saved, and is now at the County Records Office at Warwick. In 1972, an oval granite plaque was put up to commemorate George Eliot’s association with the church.
Griff House where she lived for sometime is now a hotel on the Nuneaton-Bedworth Road.
The George Eliot Hospital has wards named after the characters in her books – Dorothea, Lydgate, Tulliver, Poyser.

Though Anglican till the age of twenty one, and living a restricted life with a narrow religious upbringing, her move to Coventry exposed her to philosophically inclined friends, and she became a rationalist for life. She called it an escape from the ‘giant bed of dogma,’ and became a free thinker. This was specially due to the influence of Charles Bray a phrenologist, who was more interested in the conformation of her skull, which was large and out of proportion to the rest of her body, than in her soul.
Bray’s house was the centre of intellectual discourse, and political and religious controversy. Her father detested the company she kept. But Mary Ann said, “I wish to be in the ranks of that glorious crusade that is seeking to set Truth’s Holy Sepulchre free from usurped domination.” In this group also called the ‘Rosehill Circle’ was an old man Dr. Rufus Bryant who turned her completely against Christianity, and became the subject of her infatuation. But her angel proved to have feet of clay, when his wife discovered the affair.

After her father’s death, Mary Ann became very lonely. The sight of an unmarried girl mixing freely in male company was scandalous. Her loneliness drove her into imprudent relationships. Some spurned her, but others like the notorious philanderer John Chapman took advantage of her.

Her search for love ended when she moved in with George Lewis a married man. He was ugly to look at but famous for his wit and exuberance. He admired her intelligence and encouraged her to write her novels. Though Victorian England was shocked by their defiance of bourgeois morality, this was a singularly happy union. If there had been no George Lewis that would not have been a George Eliot. Her pen name ‘George’ stood for her lover, and ‘Eliot’ was a mouth filling word. The reason why she hid behind a pseudonym was because the Literati thought lady novelists wrote stories with trivial and ridiculous plots. Mary Ann wanted to do some realistic story telling, and distance herself from other female writers.

Mary Ann a woman of prodigious intelligence and imagination, now churned out book after book, which received praise from literary circles, and acceptance by the reading public. Surprisingly, in spite of her lifestyle, she was more a moralist than a novelist. She portrayed a traditional England in which simple faith prevailed, and ethics and morals were upheld. According to John Tyndale, her achievements were unparalleled in the history of mankind.
She might never have revealed her identity but for the Liggins controversy. A scoundrel called John Liggins claimed that he had written “Scenes from Clerical Life.’ Mary Ann challenged him and exposed him as an imposter.

Now the Victorian world was truly shocked. Here was a novelist with the name of a man, having an intimate knowledge of clerical life yet was an atheist, and who spent the best years of her life as another man’s mistress.

For Mary Ann, life ceased at the death of George Lewis in 1878. Yet two years later, she married a man twenty years her junior. It restored her respectability, but by then it didn’t matter to her. She died on 20th December 1880 and was buried at Highgate cemetery, in an area reserved for religious dissenters. She could not be buried in the Poet’s Corner at Westminster as she was an atheist and an adulteress. In any case, as Thomas Huxley said, she would not have rested easy in such hallowed surroundings.
However, in 1980, her memorial stone was erected in the Poets’ Corner. Ironically it stands next to the grave of a pious Jesuit priest.

In Nuneaton, an obelisk which once stood on the Arbury Farm now graces the George Eliot Gardens. It stands as a mark of respect to the woman who immortalized this town through her novels. Nuneaton Museum exhibits some of her personal possessions, and the Library has a collection of her books and memorabilia.
Nuneaton is George Eliot town. She was the greatest woman libber of the Victorian Era.

QUEEN CHRISTINA WASA – ICON OF THE TRANSGENDER COMMUNITY.

No trip to Rome is complete without a visit to the Vatican. Though standing in long serpentine queues is daunting, once inside that hallowed building, all is forgotten. It is a long way to the Sistine Chapel via gorgeously painted corridors, galleries, and museums, as the Chapel is not directly accessible from the exterior. Then on to the Basilica, which faces St. Peter’s Square, its silver and blue dome looming into the skies. Under the Basilica is the crypt, where the remains of popes and saints lie in solemn splendour, in their marble tombs.

Here also lies Queen Christina of Sweden, the only woman to be bestowed with such an honour. As in life so in death, she sought exclusivity. One wonders how a woman of her notoriety could have found a place in this hallowed sanctum that houses the tomb of St. Peter.

On the right side of the entrance to the Basilica, is Michael Angelo’s ‘Pieta’ – the famous sculpture of a young mother with a dead son in her arms. Adjacent to this is the monument of Queen Christina of Sweden, between two marble pillars. What irony that the Queen of a Protestant nation is interred in the most famous of Catholic churches! Though she converted to Catholicism in 1655, and was embraced into the faith by Pope Alexander VII himself, it was generally believed that she was skeptical about religion all through her life.

Christina was born to King Gustav II and Maria Eleanora of Brandenburg on December 8th 1626. Even as she was being born, the midwives called out ‘boy’ seeing how hairy she was. She defied the court soothsayers’ predictions that the child would be a boy. Her mother was sorely disappointed. It was probably this maternal rejection that contributed to her erratic behaviour in later life.

Christina was her father’s beloved child. In 1630, he recognized her as his legal heir to the throne. She accompanied him on his journeys, and the sound of gun fir was like music to her ears. She also received a sound education from a select group of tutors, and the subjects she studied ranged from Philosophy to Theology. She mastered a number of European languages in addition to her own mother tongue Swedish. As her father wanted her to be brought up like a prince, she was trained in various sports like horsemanship, and even tactics of war.

Christina was precocious for a young girl. When her father King Gustav died in the Battle of Lutzen, this ‘heir presumptive’ who was only six years old, insisted on being crowned queen, much against the advice of her Regent Axel Oxenstiern. Even while still a minor, she took part in Council meetings and interested herself in the governance of Sweden. In 1644, when she came of age, her status as queen was re-confirmed.

Christina was an intellectual, and engaged herself in dialogue with scholars and philosophers. She was a patron of Arts, Theatre and Ballet, and even considered herself an amateur actress.
But she was head strong and did not heed the advice of her councilors. She was instrumental in ending the 30-year war, before her country could acquire sufficient war booty. The majority of her subjects thought she had acted against the interests of her country. But some considered her an angel of peace.

However, Christina was a poor statesman. Her arbitrary decisions and extravagant ways created discontent in Court as well as among her subjects. She sold off or mortgaged Crown property to cover the expenses of her imprudence. Her foreign policy was flawed. When things spun out of hand, she abdicated, and in 1654, appointed her cousin Charles X Gustav as her successor.

Now she left Sweden donning men’s attire, and riding a white charger through Europe. She called herself Count Dohna. In Rome, Pope Alexander VII gave her a royal welcome, and the festivities lasted for several days. After she converted to Catholicism she became a favourite of the Vatican. Because of her wealth she was welcomed in high society, even though the ladies despised her for her mannish ways. But the men couldn’t stop fawning over her.

As her wealth dwindled, she was seized with a new restlessness. She moved out of Rome to Fontainebleau, and involved herself in political and religious intrigue. She wanted to become Queen of Naples. Betrayed by her servant Rinaldo Monaldachi, she had him promptly murdered. Europe was horrified, but she justified her action claiming judicial right and sovereign authority over members of her Court. When she returned to Rome, the Vatican cold shouldered her. After the death of her cousin, she tried to retrieve her crown in Sweden, but was rejected by her subjects. So she settled permanently in Rome.

Christina never married. She was more masculine than feminine in her ways, and loved cross dressing. She walked and talked like a man. She preferred male company, unless there were exceptionally beautiful women around. Then she shamelessly wooed them.
In her youth, she was in a lesbian relationship with a woman called Ebba Sparre, whom she called her ‘bed fellow.’ Even after Ebba was married, Christina wrote passionate letters to her. People thought she was a hermaphrodite, and the transgender community looked on her as their icon.

Christina died on April 19th, 1689. For many years she had a platonic love affair with Cardinal Decio Azzolino. She named him her heir before she died. Perhaps it was her wealth that bought her a place in the crypt of the Basilica.

In 1965, her body was exhumed to investigate whether she was a hermaphrodite. She had a normal female body. Perhaps her mother’s rejection of her biological sex played havoc with her sexuality and altered her behaviour and attitude towards the world.

EVA BRAUN - PRISONER OF LOVE.

Almost ten years after the Berlin Wall came tumbling down, I visited the eastern part of the city. The Brandenburg Gate was now the symbol of re-unification. Hectic reconstruction work had taken place at the end of the Unter de Linden. The Reichstag the seat of the German Parliament which had been damaged during the war, had now been beautifully reconstructed, with an impressive glass dome over the Plenary Hall. We could now visit the Bundestag, and even climb up to the dome.

Somewhere in this region there used to be the infamous Berlin bunker, where Adolf Hitler in his last desperate hour, decided to make an honest woman out of Eva Braun his mistress of sixteen years. As Soviet troops closed in on the Reichstag and Chancellery, Walter Wagner a minor official in the Propaganda Ministry, solemnized the marriage, in the presence of his associates Bormann and Goebells. It was April 29th 1945, just a few hours before their suicide. The marriage document that survived bore the proud signature of ‘Eva Hitler.’

Eva Braun was a Bavarian lass belonging to a lower middleclass family. She worked as an assistant to Hitler’s personal photographer Henrich Hoffman. In 1929, when Hitler visited the studio, this 17 year old girl fell madly in love with him. She was the one who initiated the affair through her love letters. She agreed to follow him to his mountain retreat in Obersalzburg, and become his mistress, much to the dismay of her parents.

But though her material needs were provided for, it was a life of isolation and loss of freedom. In a small wooden house near the Buchtesgaden (Hitler’s office), her only companions were his two secretaries and some peasants who spun linen for him. For most of the time they lived apart, as he was mostly preoccupied with his work. Even while at Obersalzburg he was kept busy, and used her only at his convenience. Eva was aware of her dubious position and kept her distance, especially when members of the Third Reich visited. During long periods of separation she wrote long loving letters to him. In turn his phone calls were full of endearments.

Eva was always well groomed, soft spoken and pretty in her own way. She spent her days reading, exercising and brooding around the house. She was prohibited from smoking, dancing or mingling with other men. She loved sports and was a good skier. Occasionally he would give her a week off to go skiing in Zurs with her friends, but she had to travel incognito. Eva kept a secret diary into which she poured out her feelings of neglect and humiliation.

Hitler thought nothing about belittling her before his friends. Once while she was sitting beside him he said, “A highly intelligent man should always choose a stupid woman. Imagine if on top of everything, I had a woman who interfered with my work! In my leisure time I want to have peace….”

But Eva was not a stupid woman. Her’s was a quiet dignity and inner strength that helped her survive. She was not interested in politics, but she would protest and bring to his notice, the abuses of mean men like Bormann. When Goebells wanted party members to eschew luxuries like cosmetics and perfumed hair in 1943, she demanded that the ban be scrapped. Another time when some stupid official forbade women from going into the mountains around Munich for skiing, she had the ban revoked. Without Hitler’s knowledge she helped many women like Mrs. Hess financially, so that they could escape Bormann’s cruelty.

In 1939, she was assigned a bedroom in Hitler’s Berlin residence, adjoining his room. It was literally a prison, with the limited view of a courtyard. She had to steal in and out by a side entrance, and had no access to the area where he entertained his guests. She was glad to go back to Obersalzburg.

Eric Kempka the chauffer was sure that Hitler loved her in his own way and could relax in her company. Hitler had said, “Fraulien Braun is too young to be the wife of an important leader of the Third Reich. But one day when I cease to be Fuhrer, I will retire to Linz and to a house managed by a small staff, and I will marry her.”

In 1945, when the war had tilted against the Germans, friends suggested that Eva leave Germany. But she stubbornly refused, and flew from Munich to the besieged city of Berlin, and drove straight to the Reich Chancellery. Hitler ordered her to go back but she stubbornly refused.
“Do you think I’ll let you die alone?” she asked.

After the marriage formality, the couple retired to their private room. Both bit into glass vials of cyanide. Eva lay on her bed, and looked as though she had fallen asleep. Hitler sat in his chair and shot himself in the head, making doubly sure he died.
According to his wishes, their bodies were wrapped up in blankets and ignited with gasoline flames in the garden of the Chancellery.

Was Eva Braun a sinner or a saint? Or was she just an immature girl who got caught up in a love trap with a megalomaniac?

HILDEGARD VON BINGEN – THE MAVERICK SAINT.

The drive along the Rhine between Koblenz and Bingen is very picturesque. There are some thirty odd castles in the area, all built in the Middle Ages and each with a legend of its own.

Bingen is situated at the junction of the Nahe (dirty muddy water) and the Rhine. It once held a strategic position, and was destroyed eight times by wars, over the last 1000 years.
Today it is a quiet laid back town on the banks of the Rhine. One a small island on the Rhine is the Mouseturm (Mouse Tower), Bingen’s special landmark, where Hatto II the cruel Archbishop of Mainz was eaten up by mice. It later became a signal tower for shipping, and a custom’s outpost.

Bingen however, has been made famous by a woman called Hildegard, a courageous feminist who dared to oppose the powerful Roman Catholic Church’s teachings about women. She defied the Canon Law which prohibited women from preaching, and evolved into a powerful preacher and teacher. She composed music and attested it with her name, refusing to remain anonymous. She studied Botany and became a herbal physician and a healer. She also excelled as a writer of theological books like “Book of Life’s Merits,” and “Book of Divine Love,” which explained her understanding of Salvation History. She even invented her own coded language.

Born into an aristocratic family in 1098, Hildegard was the last of ten children, and was tithed to the Church at the age of eight. She was entrusted to the care of a hermit woman called Jutta of Sponheim, who ran a hermitage. This was attached to the Monastery of Disibod. Here she was provided with minimal education and two meals a day, served at 3 a.m. and 3 p.m. She was a sickly child, who suffered from asthma and migraine.

The Disibod Hermitage attracted so many young women that it grew into a large Benedictine Community. Hildegard took her vows in her teens (1114) and lived quietly in this community for twenty years. Her view of the outside world was only through a window, and her only male contact was her confessor Monk Volmar, who became her friend, and eventually her scribe.

By now, Hildegard was experiencing apocalyptic visions. But when she realized that no one else had similar experiences, she stopped talking about them. However, realization gradually dawned that these visions were prophetic revelations. It prompted her to write her most famous composition SCIVIAS. It took ten years to complete. Because she had the approval of Pope Eugene III, it was read out at the Synod of Trier (1147-1148.)

When Jatta died in1136 Hildegard became the Superior of the Convent. But as this community grew, she felt the compulsion to step out of the cloister. Taking fifty nuns with her, she opened a new convent at Rupertsberg. In 1165, a sister convent was opened at Eibingen, eight miles away.

Hildegard wrote many papers. She built up a voluminous correspondence with clergy, rulers and even lay people. Her focus was on Renewal of the Church. She travelled to different places on preaching tours, making known her views on Creation of mankind and Redemption of the World. Popes, Emperors, nuns and priests sent people to Rupertsberg to hear her messages.

Hildegard was a natural feminist. She would not allow the Church to relegate women to an inferior role. She argued that woman was for man and man for woman, thus making them both of equal status. She taught that sexual pleasure was not a sin, and therefore should not be tainted by guilt; that menstruation was not unclean, but the shedding of innocent blood in wars was definitely unclean. She also opposed the Church’s teaching that woman was not made in the image of God. Rather she believed that in the inner being of God, there was a feminine and masculine relationship, confirming the complementarity of the sexes.

The atmosphere in the convents which she established was liberal. She encouraged the nuns to develop their spiritual, intellectual and artistic talents. There was no dull, somber atmosphere that prevailed in most convents. Here they could sing, play instruments and grow spiritually by listening to lectures on Theology. The nuns lived as normally as possible. They were allowed the luxury of warm baths, daily exercises and beer to put flesh and redness into their cheeks.

During the forty years she presided over Rupertsberg Convent, thousands of pilgrims came there for healing of their medical ailments. The Church ordered her to stop these miracles.

Even at the age of eighty, this feisty lady defied the Church authority, by burying a young man excommunicated by the Church, in the cemetery at Rupertsberg. The Canons ordered the body to be exhumed, but they couldn’t find the spot, as Hildegard had removed all the markers from the graves. The Canons retaliated by prohibiting mass, sacraments and music in the Abbey. The case dragged on for some time and was finally lifted in 1179. She died six months later, and was buried in the Eibingen church.

The Rupertsberg Convent was completely destroyed during the Thirty Year War. All that is left is a vaulted cellar.

In 1998, on Hildegard’s 900th birth anniversary, the Hildegard Forum was constituted at Rocher’s Hill. Since then there has been a renaissance and renewed interest in her visions and mystical knowledge.
A historical museum was also opened in her honour in 1998, in an old electricity generating station on the Rhine.

This daring polymath – a scholar, theologian, healer, writer – will probably never be elevated to sainthood because of her radical views. But Pope John Paul II finally conceded that this maverick saint was a “Doctor of the Church.”