How did Jutta of Sponheim influence Hildegard's life and spiritual development, and what factors contributed to Hildegard's decision to delay discussing Jutta's life and death publicly?
Jutta of Sponheim was my teacher. I was her closest confidante and became her successor as the second magistra on the Disibodenberg. For 30 years we lived together; yet, for a long time, I have restrained from talking about her and I have left it to others to compile the Vita of Lady Jutta, the Recluse. There is a reason for all this that not only has to do with our mutual life but also with Jutta’s early death.
I was given to my relative Jutta of Sponheim at the age of eight. By that time, she was a virgin of 14 years. As was customary for sons and daughters of nobility, I could also receive a good education there. For girls, different than for boys who had to learn the virtues of a Christian knight, this education emcompassed not only fine handicraft such as embroidery and weaving but also learning to do calligraphy. Jutta who since her early childhood had been taught reading and writing by her mother Duchess Sophie of Sponheim already had a good education. From Jutta, I learnt the psalms; that means I learnt to read and write Latin.
But there was also another reason, why I was brought to Jutta. Jutta was a beautiful lady beloved by everyone. Yet even though many noble and rich men wished to marry her, during a severe illness at the age of twelve, she herself had pledged to forgo marriage. And against the will of her relatives, she had been consecrated by bishop Ruthard of Mainz. As Jutta now wished to undergo the religious education of the pious widow Uda of Göhlheim who lived the habit of the holy religion, it seemed reasonable that I too - who had already been consecrated to God at birth by my parents - was given into her care.
Now Jutta, like our teacher Uda of Göhlheim, was fascinated by the strict reform movements of our time. In order to prevent her from going on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, her brother, duke Meginhard, now established a foundation for a women’s cell at the newly founded Benedictine Monastery on the Disibodenberg. And he convinced his sister that she could better pursue her wish to renounce the world better in a monastery.
Thus, on All Saints Day Anno Domini 1112, we entered the Monastery of Saint Disibod as recluses. I remember well that at dawn, we were waiting in the monastery’s hospice to be welcomed by a pious widow. Trutwib who lived on the holy mountain and had just joined the early Lauds, had a mysterious vision of the life and death of Jutta that later on came true. For Jutta truly wished to be buried with Christ and to gain with Him the glory of the resurrection. She did this by strict asceticism, secret self-flagellation and by wearing an iron chain on her naked body. Sometimes in winter, she walked in the snow barefoot. She pursued her fasting and self-abnegation to an extent that we were all concerned that she would eat enough.
Even though Jutta was very friendly to everyone and had far-reaching contacts with many people, we had to witness how she got weaker and weaker. Her early death on Christmas day 1136 was not a surprise to us.
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17 дек 2023
