Declared by some “the greatest woman of her time," Hildegard was a Benedictine abbess, philosopher, liturgical poet and composer, botanist and herbalist, polymath, mystic (she had visions of humans as “living sparks” of God’s love), and, in time, a saint. She was born in 1098 AD, the daughter of a minor knight, Hildebert of Bermensheim. When she claimed to have visions, the family packed her off to the monastery at Mount St. Disibode at the age of eight, there to be instructed by the “blessed Jutta” for the next decade. When she was 18, she became a nun.

Around 1136 she was elected magistra (“instructress”) by her fellow nuns, and in 1165 would found a monastery herself at Eibingen, in the Celtic tradition housing both men and women (in separate quarters, of course). Besides her spiritual works detailing her visions and debating theology, her musical compositions and poems, her administrative duties, and her voluminous correspondence (over 300 of her letters remain extant), she experimented in the monastery’s herbal garden and infirmary. As she gained practical knowledge of diagnosis, prognosis, and healing, Hildegard blended physical treatment with holistic applications centered on “spiritual healing.” She catalogued all her findings and practices – along with a heavy dose of theology – in two lengthy tomes.

The first, the 'Physica,' is made up of nine chapters that describe the scientific and medicinal properties of various plants, rocks, fish, reptiles, and mammals. The second, 'Causae et Curae,' is an exploration of the human body, its connection to the natural world, and remedies for various ailments that afflict it. The mysticism she elevates in these notwithstanding, her works became standard medical references, used long past her death in 1179.