Anthony North: Mysticism is usually associated with the occult or eastern religions today, but Christianity had a number of mystics. Indeed, the monastic system was ideally designed to allow such mystics to exist. Saint Benedict: The father of western monasticism was St Benedict. Born about 480, he was sent to Rome for an education but was horrified by its decadence. At age 14 he fled to a village called Subiaco where he met a monk who took him to a cave.Over the next three years he lived ass a hermit and developed miraculous powers from deep meditation. Going on to gain many followers, he organised 12 monasteries of 12 monks, each under a prior. In 525 he went to Monte Casino where he destroyed the pagan temple there and began to build the famous monastery.Going about the country curing the sick, he also wrote ‘The Rule,’ laying down the guidelines for monastic life, including a probationary year, obedience to an abbot, asceticism and a life of work and prayer.He described his mystical experiences as a taste of heavenly food following a flood of shining light. Seeing the whole world before his eyes, he could look down from above and see how small everything was.St Hildegard of Bingin: Another early mystic was St Hildegard of Bingen, born to a noble German family near Bingen in 1098. Influenced by local Celtic traditions, she had visions from an early age before being educated by Benedictines from age eight.A prioress by 38, she was often ill and became an early feminist, believing in gender equality and even downplaying Eve’s role in the Fall. From her early 40s she began having illuminations about God, the soul and the interconnectedness of the universe.Advising, in her ‘Scivias’, that all living things are sparks of radiance from God, she records 26 ‘illuminations’. With an interest in science and love of music, she travelled throughout Europe denouncing corruption and criticising monotheistic faiths as dried up, even celebrating human sexuality. She died in 1179 in her eighties.
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