Sacramental penance as existential liberation in Hildegard von Bingen’s Liber Vitae Meritorum

Abstract

Proclaimed doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, the 12th century mystic Hildegard von Bingen remains relatively unknown to contemporary theologians. This note is an invitation to a more profound reception of her contribution to sacramental and moral theology. Through ananalysis of key passages from Hildegard’s principal ascetical work, the Liber Vitae Meritorum, I show how the rich symbolic language of her visions helps her to firmly situate the moral life with in the over all narrative of the economy of creation and salvation.This synthesis provides the necessary background for understanding her teaching on the sacrament of penance, which is the means by which the moral experience of the individual Christian makes contact with the global context of the divine plan.