The new Abbey of St. Hildegard

Abtei During the years from 1900 to 1904 the new Abbey of St. Hildegard of Eibingen was built a little up the hill above the old monastery. Its founder, Prince Karl of Löwenstein (1834 - 1921), one of the leading personalities of German Catholicism in the 19th century, made it his task to revive the tradition of Hildegard's convents at the historical site.
In the abbey, rebuilt in the New-Romanesque style, there are living today about 60 nuns between 25 and 88 years of age. Like all Benedictines - as Hildegard of Bingen herself - the sisters are living according to the Rule of St. Benedict which more than 1400 years old - remains timelessly valid and relevant in its basic structure. Seeking for God is the beginning and the centre of each Benedictine vocation. If someone feels being called by God and wants to live wholly in His presence, he will promise to let himself be led by the Gospel, to make God the centre of his life and to seek Him in every human being and in each event, and to do that in the community of those, who are traveling the same path.
Benedictine life primarily is life in a community. Divine service and liturgy are the centre of monastic life. Since "nothing should be given preference over the work of God '- according to the Rule of St. Benedict -, the times of prayer shape the day in the convent. Seven times a day, the sisters gather for the common prayer in Choir. The prayer of the canonical hours is for the most part sung in Latin, and the old tunes of the Gregorian Chant are interpreting the Word of God in a deep and extraordinarily beautiful way. Personal prayer, times of silence, and spiritual reading belong essentially to daily life as well.
According to the words of St. Benedict "Then are they truly monks (or nuns), when they live by the work of their hands", the sisters earn their living by working in a book and artshop, a goldsmithery, a workshop for decorating candies, by restoring books and manuscripts, growing wine, selling wine, liquor and spelt. Scientific research on St. Hildegard's works and the care for pilgrims, pastoral care for individual guests, asking for days of retreat or quiet, are also tasks of the sisters. In every guest, the sisters try to recognize an appeal of God to which they - according to their possibilities - want to answer. The centre of everything is God's love, which a Benedictine community wants to testify by its presence in this world.

Sr. Philippa Rath OSB

Historical Sites