St. Rochus' Chapel near Bingen
The dissolution of the convent of Eibingen in 1814 coincided with the beginning of relations of the St. Rochus' Chapel near Bingen to St. Hildegard. To furnish the Chapel of St. Rochus, which had been destroyed in 1795 and reconstructed in 1814, the confraternity of St. Rochus bought the entire inside furnishing of the Eibingen convent church. In addition they received the treasure of relics, above all the mortal remains of St. Rupertus, the former patron saint of the Rupertsberg. Thus the Rochus Chapel became the home of the probably most authentic traces of the Hildegard era and the whole monastic tradition on the Rupertsberg and in Eibingen. By furnishing the Rochus Chapel with the altars and pictures of the Eibingen convent church, it became a Hildegard memorial church in the 19th century. When in 1889 the Chapel burnt down, nearly all of Hildegard's traces there were destroyed. Only some paintings could be rescued. In memory of this Hildegard tradition, a lavish Hildegard- and Rupertus altar was planned for the new St. Rochus Chapel in 1895, but only the Hildegard altar was completed. For an imitation of the rescued large picture showing the Saint's Vita, Max Mekkel had drawn the sketch; the carver family Busch of Steinheim put it into practice. The donor of the Hildegard altar was the widowed Mrs. Margarethe Krug, née Merz. For this reason, there is a picture of St. Margaretha at the closed side of the baldachin. A halfrelief statue of St. Hildegard is the centre of the altar. Eight stations showing scenes of Hildegard's life are surrounding her statue: four in the middle part of the altar, two at a time to the right and left of the statue, and two at a time on the inner sides of the altar wings. The scenes from the Hildegard Vita start on the left top side - as seen from the observer:
- The child Hildegard viewing a mysterious light.
- Hildegard being brought by her parents to Jutta's hermitage on the Disibodenberg.
- Hildegard writing the SCIVIAS on the Disibodenberg.
- Archbishop Heinrich of Mainz showing St. Hildegard's scriptures to Pope Eugen III. and Bernard of Clairvaux at the synod of Trier in 1147.
- The encounter with Bernard of Clairvaux (historically wrong).
- Emperor Barbarossa receiving Hildegard in lngelheim in 1155.
- Hildegard preaching to clergy and people.
- Hildegard's death on the Rupertsberg.
Unfortunately, only the scenes on the side wings have been completed, i.e. they are carefully wood-carved. The whole centre part of the altar including the predella is obviously only in a preliminary stage, namely a painted plaster model, which could not be worked out in wood because of lack of money. That is why the figures of the middle part of the altar seem to be rather rough; the soft lines of the group of figures on the side wings are missing. But this did not impair the popularity of this Hildegard altar. The outside of the side wings are decorated with two big paintings of the suffering Saviour: on the right side a Ecce Homo-picture - probably in memory of the big Ecce Homo-statue from Eibingen in the old Rochus Chapel -, on the left side the dead Christ removed from the cross. The reliquary of St. Hildegard is fit into the middle of the predella. It is flanked by two busts of saints at each side, portraying St. Berta, St. Wigbert, St. Bernard and St. Rupertus.
P. Dr. Josef Krasenbrink
Historical Sites