A Companion to Hildegard of Bingen

hildegard of bingen and the hirsau reform 83
in the eyes of abbots and religious, many of whom belonged to monastic
houses that were themselves shaped by the Hirsau reform. Hildegard
never established a religious order in the manner of the Cistercians. Rather,
she drew on the more flexible tradition of monastic reform as promoted
by William of Hirsau, whereby diffferent houses preserved their independence
while operating within a network of shared friendships and loyalties.
From an organizational perspective, the Cistercian Order would be
much more successful than the Hirsau reform because it provided a relatively
unifijied structure that transcended local loyalties. Hildegard could
never have been part of such an organized vision of reformed monastic
life. Nonetheless, she was free to communicate her vision of a reformed
church without being accused of flouting Scripture. While it might have
seemed unusual to her admirers for a woman to speak out publicly through
her writing, Hildegard saw herself simply as giving voice to the Holy Spirit
in urging people both inside and outside of the cloister not to spurn the
life to which they were all called.