Hildegard of Bingen, O.S.B. (German: Hildegard von Bingen; Latin: Hildegardis Bingensis; 1098 – 17 September 1179), also known as Saint Hildegard and Sibyl of the Rhine, was a German Benedictine. Hildegard of Bingen was born in 1098, to a family of minor German nobility. As the tenth child, she was dedicated to the church, and sent to an anchoress, Jutta, for education. When Jutta died in 1136, Hildegard was elected head of the small convent at Disibodenberg.

Scivias, an illustrated tome,, and perhaps the. Scivias, (“Know the Ways”) describes 26 of Hildegard’s most vivid visions. The book deals with the interconnectivity of man in the universe; the concept that man represents a microcosm of the cosmic macrocosm, in other words, the belief that the universe exists simultaneously within each of us, while also encompassing everything else externally. The Story Behind Scivias Through Scivias, philosophy full of archetypal images and a hero’s journey, wherein the soul predates the body and persists beyond experience on earth. Hildegard’s descriptive, visionary recitation of her visions framed a powerful and compelling perspective of existence and divinity that impressed many who would discover her work, including Carl Jung, who drew much from Scivias to inform his thinking.

Hundreds of years after Scivias, Hildegard’s mandala images would be a reference point for Jung’s process of individuation, described in his Red Book. Scivias is renowned for its 35 images, or Illuminations, accompanying the descriptions of Hildegard’s visions as part of the original illuminated Rupertsberg manuscript. The images have become, perhaps, more popular than the actual narrative contained within Scivias. The specific origin and nature of the thumbnail illustrations remains unknown. There is some disagreement about whether the images were completed during Hildegard’s lifetime or after her death.

The mainstream view generally accepts the completion of the original Rupertsberg manuscript around 1175, before her death in 1179. The Original Rupertsberg Scivias-Codex The story of the manuscript is almost as interesting as the book itself. Hildegard of Bingen’s Scivias-Codex survived Hildegard in separate manuscripts, two of which lasted 800 years before being destroyed within the last century.

Image from Rupertsberg Codex which survived the second World War The original manuscript, was first kept in Rome, and later, in 1814, arrived in Wiesbaden, where Goethe saw it and wrote: “an old manuscript containing the visions of Saint Hildegard, is extraordinary.” In 1942, during World War II, the Scivias-Codex was transferred for safer keeping to Dresden. Soon after, the original Scivias manuscript was lost in the chaos of war. At the end of the war in 1945, Dresden came under the occupation of Soviet troops. Despite attempts to safeguard the original Scivias manuscript it disappeared and remains missing without a trace to this day. 35 Thumbnail Illustrations Much of the appeal for the Rupertsberg Scivias manuscript comes from the fine detail of the accompanying illustrations. The 35 thumbnail images attempt to interpret the three dimensional nature of Hildegard’s perception in her visions. The thumbnails capture a unique, self-contained symbolism, including Christian theological allegories and unusual portrayals of people and creatures of mythological proportions.

Ostensibly created under the oversight of Hildegard herself, the thumbnails found in the Rupertsberg original Scivias manuscript offer detail and imagery not common during that time period. Specifically, the use of bold colors and language that was both unusual and compelling. Reconstructing the Lost Scivias Manuscript Fortunately, for posterity, in 1925 photographs of the original Scivias manuscript were taken as part of a series of exhibitions in Cologne. In addition, in 1933, a duplicate manuscript was created and stored safely at the Abbey of St. Hildegard in Eibingen. Today, the duplicate remains at the abbey, the same place where four Benedictine nuns inspired by Hildegard dutifully produced it. Scivias Facsimile Beginning in 1927, three of the sisters edited the text, leaving the paintings to their colleague, Josepha Knips.