{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox saint | honorific_prefix = [[Saint]] |name=Bertha of Bingen |birth_date= unknown |death_date= 757 |feast_day=15 May |venerated_in=[[Roman Catholic Church]], [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] |image= Bertha von Bingen.jpg |imagesize= |caption= |birth_place= |death_place= |titles= |canonized_date= |canonized_place= |canonized_by= |attributes= |patronage= |major_shrines= |suppressed_date= |issues= }}
'''Saint Bertha of Bingen''' (German: ''Heilige Berta'', died {{Circa|757}}) was the mother of [[Rupert of Bingen]]. Her biography was written by [[Hildegard of Bingen]], who lived in the same region and popularized her cult, about four hundred years later.<ref>[http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92398 Borrelli, Antonio. "Beata Berta di Bingen", Santi e Beati]</ref> Bertha and Rupert share a feast day on 15 May.
==Bertha of Bingen== Bertha was a descendant of the [[duke of Lorraine|dukes of Lorraine]], and had considerable property along the rivers [[Rhine]] and [[Nahe (Rhine)|Nahe]]. She married Robolaus, a pagan, who died when their son Rupert was three years old. Bertha then retired to today's [[Rupertsberg]] with her son and the priest Wigbert. She built a small church and led a secluded life with much vigilance and fasting, gave the needy some of her wealth and gradually gathered other people to follow her example.<ref name="Bistum">{{Cite web |title=BERTHA VON BINGEN |url=https://bistum-augsburg.de/Heilige-des-Tages/Heilige/BERTHA-VON-BINGEN |access-date=2023-08-21 |website=[[Roman Catholic Diocese of Augsburg|Bistum Augsburg]] |language=de}}</ref>
Bertha devoted her energy to educating Rupert. Following a pilgrimage to Rome, she gave away the rest of her possessions and came to live near [[Bingen am Rhein|Bingen]] (called Rupertsberg after her son). Rupert died at age 20, but Bertha outlived him by 25 years.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Saint Hildegard |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hveMDSLm5G4C&dq=Saint+Bertha+of+Bingen&pg=PA294 |title=Symphonia: A Critical Edition of the Symphonia armonie celestium revelationum [Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations] |date=1998 |publisher=Cornell University Press |others=Contributions by [[Barbara Newman]] |isbn=978-0-8014-8547-3 |edition=2nd |pages=294 |language=en}}</ref>
==Veneration== The little church on the Rupertsberg became a place of pilgrimage and was still standing when Hildegard founded a monastery there around 1150.<ref name=Bistum/> Hildegard moved, with her nuns, from [[Disibodenberg]] to [[Rupertsberg]], and established a monastery on the site of the ruined castle, where Bertha and Rupert were buried. The ''Vita Sancti Ruperti''<ref>{{Cite book |last=Throop |first=Priscilla |title=Three Lives and a Rule |publisher=MedievalMS |year=2010 |asin=B00588E3EI}}</ref> was written about this time, "[…] to revive the cult of St. Rupert and to legitimize the vision that called her to move there".<ref>{{Cite book |last=King-Lenzmeier |first=Anne H. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cQoSn3LPgUkC&dq=saint+bertha+of+bingen&pg=PA122 |title=Hildegard of Bingen: An Integrated Vision |date=2001 |publisher=The Liturgical Press |isbn=978-0-8146-5842-0 |pages=122 |language=en}}</ref>
The monastery at Rupertsberg was destroyed in 1632, during the [[Thirty Years' War]]. Their relics were transferred to [[Eibingen]].<ref name="odden">{{Cite web |date=2006-12-20 |title=Den hellige Rupert av Bingen (712-~732) |trans-title=Saint Rupert of Bingen (712{{endash}}~732) |url=https://www.katolsk.no/biografier/historisk/rubingen |access-date=2023-08-21 |website=Den katolske kirke |language=no}}</ref> Bertha's head is kept in the Hildegard Church; Rupert's arm is on display in a reliquary in Eibingen church. Other relics were brought back to Bingen in 1814, where they are venerated in the chapel on the Rochusberg.<ref name="Bistum" />
== References == {{Reflist|30em}}
==Sources== * Herbert J. Thurston and Donald Attwater, eds. ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'', vol. 2. Allen, TX: Christian Classics, 1956. Page 322. * Anne H. King-Lenzmeier: Hildegard of Bingen: An Integrated Vision. Liturgical Press, Colledgeville 2001, {{ISBN|0-8146-5842-3}}, S. 122.
==Literature== * Werner Lauter: Rupert von Bingen. In: Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexikon (BBKL). Band 8, Bautz, Herzberg 1994, {{ISBN|3-88309-053-0}}, Sp. 1018–1021. * Ernst Probst: Hildegard von Bingen - Die deutsche Prophetin. GRIN, München/Ravensburg 2010, {{ISBN|3-640-68859-7}}, S. 19, 20 & 52.
==External links== * [http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/92774 "San Ruperto di Bingen", Santi e Beati] * [http://www.hildegard.org/rupert/rupert.html Klosterstiftung Sankt Hildegard] * [http://kirchensite.de/fragen-glauben/heiligenkalender/heiligenkalender-einzeldarstellung/datum/2000/05/15/heiliger-rupert-von-bingen/ '''Kirch and Leben'' magazine] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707024036/http://kirchensite.de/fragen-glauben/heiligenkalender/heiligenkalender-einzeldarstellung/datum/2000/05/15/heiliger-rupert-von-bingen/ |date=7 July 2017 }}
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