Jutta died in 1136, and Hildegard was appointed superior. Benedict and made her religious profession. Eventually she was invested with the habit of St. She was taught to read and sing the Latin psalms, sufficient for the chanting of the Divine Office, but never learned to write. Here also Hildegard was given but little instruction since she was much afflicted with sickness, being frequently scarcely able to walk and often deprived even of the use of her eyes. At the age of eight she was placed under the care of Jutta, sister of Count Meginhard, who lived as a recluse on the Disenberg (or Disibodenberg, Mount of St. Her parents, though much engaged in worldly pursuits, had a religious disposition and had promised the child to the service of God. Hildegard was a weak and sickly child, and in consequence received but little education at home. Her father was a soldier in the service of Meginhard, Count of Spanheim. XXXVII, 143) shows from letters and other documents that she probably belonged to the illustrious family of Stein, whose descendants are the present Princes of Salm. Legends would make her a Countess of Spanheim. Later writers call the saint Hildegard of Böckelheim, of Rupertsberg, or of Bingen. The early biographers give the first names of her parents as Hildebert and Mechtildis (or Mathilda), speak of their nobility and riches, but give no particulars of their lives. The family name is unknown of this great seeress and prophetess, called the Sibyl of the Rhine. "Born at Böckelheim on the Nahe, 1098 died on the Rupertsberg near Bingen, 1179 feast 17 September.
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