Hildegard speaks about the foundation of the Rupertsberg women monastery - Station 8

What factors motivated Hildegard to move her community to Rupertsberg, and how did she overcome the challenges and establish a thriving convent?

Anno Domini 1150 when I was 52 years of age and therefore already an old woman, I moved with 19 of my sisters to the Rupertsberg in Bingen in order to establish there a new women’s convent according to the rule of St. Benedict. Many have asked why I did so. One answer is that the Disibodenberg women’s cell that had drawn more and more postulants had simply become too small for all of us. - Another reason was that after the Lateran Council of 1139 in which it was decided that monks and nuns should no longer sing and pray together in church, community life had become difficult. I was sad about this because I loved the psalm-singing in our cloister-church. – Thus the consideration of the idea to found our own women’s monastery had already matured when I was stuck by a heavy illness. It was then that God taught me in a vision that our women’s cell should be removed from the place where I was consecrated to God, the Monastery of St. Disibod. And the Holy Ghost then showed me the site where the river Nahe flows into the river Rhine, that is the hill that earlier had been named for the confessor Rupertus as the site for our new convent. Of course, I also knew that this site would be in the center of the Empire where ships with goods from far-away countries were transported on the river and where visitors from all over the world could reach us. Despite the resistance of the Disibodenberg monks we finally found generous sponsors in Richardis of Stade and the bishop of Mainz for our new foundation. Yet, even though we were very much looking forward to our move, we found ourselves first of all moving again to a building site at which we had to lend a hand ourselves. This was a true hardship for many of the noble sisters as they were not used to any hard physical work.

Still, the monastery developed splendidly. In 1177 we were visited by the Walloon monk Guibert of Gembloux who admired the beautiful atmosphere of peace and joy and delight. In a letter to his brothers, he wrote about this: “This monastery has not been established by an emperor or a bishop or a powerful or rich man of this earth but by a poor woman who had moved into this area. Within a short time, only in 27 years, the convent has highly developed as well in its monastic spirit as also in its exterior construction. It does not consist of magnificent yet imposing and spacious buildings as are fitting to nuns; and what is well arranged is that one has routed water-pipes into every room. Not only for the many guests that the house is never lacking and also for the various employers of which there are many, but also the nearly fifty sisters all expenditures for clothing and nourishment are sufficiently taken care of.”

Guibert of Gembloux also admired how we, mother and daughters, treat each other; how I teach my sisters; how I give advice to people seeking help; and how I am bound up fully with the writing of letters and books.

So I finally wish to say that this is true that my life in our convent in Bingen on the Rhine – in spite of all the hardship and testing – has been a great joy and a great gift to me till the end of my life.

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