Hildegard von Bingen

Hildegard von Bingen, who lived from 1098 to 1179 A.D. was given into the care of the anchorite Jutta von Sponheim at the age of eight. She and Jutta made their vows to the church six years later and were interred in two small rooms off the Benedictine Abbey of Disibodenberg in Germany, with only a revolving screen to connect them to the world. Hildegard had visions from the time she was quite small, which is thought to be one reason she was given to the church.

Jutta taught Hildegard to read and write, but Hildegard did not feel she was well-versed in theology. Jutta was deeply renunciate, flagellating and starving herself, until she died in 1136. Other well-born maidens had joined them, and at Jutta’s death they looked to Hildegard as their new magistra. In a bid for freedom, Hildegard helped them dress in fine gowns with their hair unbound. The young women were freed from their walled-in rooms and began helping in the abbey gardens, in the scriptorium and the infirmary.

With the help of others, Hildegard began to transcribe her visions in a document entitled Scivias. It was copied and illuminated, coming to the attention of other priests and even the pope. When she was to be questioned about her work in 1147, she wrote to Bernard of Clairvaux, who defended her work to the pope. It was highly unusual that a woman should write anything and heresy was a dire offense. But Pope Eugenius favored Hildegard’s work, calling her “God’s Sibyl.” The Pope requested that Hildegard continue, finishing Scivias, its title meaning “Know the Way.”

Wanting more autonomy for herself and her nuns, Hildegard asked for and was given land at St. Rupertsberg to build her own abbey.  When the abbot at Disibodenberg did not want to let them go, Hildegard fell ill and could not leave her bed. Finally, in 1150, they were allowed to leave. The new buildings did not exist, however, and Hildegard and about 20 nuns lived in privation there until they were built.

Hildegard was especially close to Volmar, a Benedictine monk she had known since childhood. He became provost at the new convent, plus Hildegard’s confessor and scribe. She was also especially close to Richardis von Stade, who helped copy and illuminate her writings. When Richardis was invited to become abbess of another convent, Hildegard was distraught. Richardis did move, but died a year later. Hildegard learned from this attachment, recovering to write the lyrics and music of a morality play, the Ordo Virtutum, which was performed at the time the new abbey at St. Rupertsberg was consecrated in 1152. Hildegard wrote that she was a “feather floating on the breath of God.” By this time Hildegard was 54, considered old for her time.

After finishing Scivias, Hildegard continued to write, documenting the herbal remedies used in her convent and what she knew of the causes and cures of disease. She wrote a great deal of liturgical music. She also documented further her visionary theology, which she felt came from “the Living Light.” 

By 1155, Frederick I, known as Barbarossa for his red beard, became Holy Roman Emperor, King of Germany and Italy. He was finally able to counterbalance the power of the church. He did not bother Hildegard or her convent at St. Rupertsberg, however. Hildegard went on four preaching tours all over Europe and also wrote letters to many European leaders. The treasure trove of her writing illuminates much about medieval times for scholars. Hildegard also founded a convent at Eibingen in 1165. She died in 1179 at 81.

Hildegard’s importance has resulted in much study and published material, as well as documentary films about this “unruly mystic.” I recently read a fictionalized biography, “Illuminations: a Novel of Hildegard von Bingen” [published 2012] by Mary Sharratt. Though she doesn’t hesitate to see Hildegard through 21st century eyes, Sharratt imagines Hildegard’s feelings as though she were a gifted and  courageous woman, operating on the authority of her visions. There is some value in this, as of course Hildegard was human. Though she must have felt very differently than we do, she created a new culture around her mostly through her own effort.

Recently the Scivias Institute has created a pilgrimage route in Germany to help tell Hildegard’s story, the Hildegard Way. It is 140 km along the Nahe River incorporating stops at the ruins of the Disibodenberg Abbey, a vaulted cellar at St. Rupertsberg and the abbey at Eibingen. All signage is in English and German.

Franny Keating Mehta

Ann Patchett

Franny is the prettiest baby. At her christening in Glendale, Burt kisses her beautiful mother. When Franny is six, her mother divorces her father and moves with Burt to Virginia, taking Franny and her sister. Franny’s story is told in Commonwealth [published 2016] by Ann Patchett. 

Franny’s step-father has four kids, who spend their school year in Torrance, California, but arrive in the summers to spend time with their father. While Franny and her sister would rather be in California, these four are happy to be in Virginia where the circumstances are less straightened. Thrown together without much supervision, these kids do as they please, giving their youngest brother Albie drugs and alcohol to keep him out of the way. 

One day at their grandparents’ ranch, Cal, the oldest, is stung by a bee. Since he has given his Benadryls to Albie, he has no way to prevent his allergic reaction. The girls think he is pretending, but when it becomes clear that Cal is no longer breathing, Franny’s sister comes up with a story which the girls must stick to. “We weren’t there. We were in the barn with the horses.” They don’t know what has happened, but do not want to be blamed.

This tragedy ends the communal summers. Franny goes to Catholic school, spending only two weeks a year with her father in California. When Albie sets fire to his school in California (no one is hurt, but his mother can no longer cope with him), he is sent to live with his father. The only two kids left in the house, he and Franny form a bond.

Franny, at her father’s request, goes to law school, but drops out after two years. She loves to read, but does not know what to do with her life. Living with a friend named Kumar Mehta, she works as a waitress in an up-scale hotel in Chicago. One day Leo Posen, a well-known author whose books Franny adores, walks in. Franny pours him drink after drink and finally has to escort him to his room as he is too drunk to find it. Posen is giving lectures at the University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop. He sends Franny a bus ticket, asking her to come to a party. Franny goes.

Though there is a 32-year difference in their ages, Franny loves Leo Posen and lives with him. She is grateful he would choose her and he finds her indispensable, the electricity in his life. She tells him stories of her childhood, of the six step-siblings thrown together and of Cal’s death. Leo Posen writes it all down in a novel which becomes a smash hit. Franny and Leo enjoy the never-ending book tour, the adulation. Leo takes a wonderful house on Amagansett for the summer. Too many guests come, forcing Franny into an unwelcome hostess role.

During the summer, Albie turns up. He has read the book and recognized what his siblings did to him. He has made little of his life, becoming an itinerant, usually a bike messenger. Franny apologizes, sorry that she has told Leo the story. She again bonds with Albie and eventually leaves Leo.

Returning to Chicago, Franny works at a law library, but also as a bar maid at the hotel she worked at before. When Kumar comes upon her, he immediately takes her into his firm, hoping that they will again love each other. He has lost a young wife who gave him two children before she died. It is not long before Franny and Kumar marry.

As their parents age, Franny and her sister take turns coming out to be with their father when he has chemo treatments. At Christmas one goes to Virginia to celebrate with their mother’s family, the other to California to be with their father. Franny’s mother has married for a third time, but Franny doesn’t take to this family as quickly as she did to her mother’s second husband. She protects her own family of Kumar and his two sons. By this time, her sister Caroline has a law practice and children; Holly lives in Switzerland in a zendo; Jeanette is a bio-medical engineer with a West African husband and a baby in Brooklyn; and Albie too is married with a child.

The story of Cal’s death and it's telling, in a novel and then a movie, reverberates throughout the lives of all the characters. Time, the distances they all travel, and the “inestimable burden of their lives” all play a part. Though we see through the eyes of several characters, Franny’s is the narrative most clearly told. Family makes up her life and her love for each of her ever-branching family members is clearly visible.

Ann Patchett has said that “all of the books that I write are about society building … How do we assemble these characters and make a little biosphere community?” The “commonwealth” made up of the characters in this book is complex. Each retains his or her authenticity. They are knit together by failure and forgiveness, yearning and intimacy in ways that make the book feel extremely current.