People admired Hildegard of Bingen during her lifetime and flocked to her on the Rupertsberg in order to ask the prophet for advice. From the 1170s – presumably under the instruction of or at least with Hildegard’s knowledge – her scriptures were revised and compiled with regard to a possible salvation after her death. The Vita, which originated between 1174/75 and 1190, and the fragment of the Vita by her last secretary Guibert of Gembloux also prove worship to Hildegard and were supposed to serve as the preparation of a canonization as well.

Since the pontificate of Alexander III (1159-1181), the process of canonization had become a domain of the Papacy and a formal procedure was developed. In 1227, this process was initiated by the nuns of the Rupertsberg when they addressed a petition to Pope Gregory IX (1227-1241) and he then opened the canonization process with his letter Mirabilis Deus of 27 January 1228. He entrusted the clerics of Mainz with an investigation of the life, reputation, merits and miracles of the deceased Abbess.

It took the clerics in charge five years to take witness testimonies and to examine the work of Hildegard. In December 1233, they sent a report as well as the writings themselves to Rome. There it was determined that the statements were not clear enough and the names of many witnesses and healed people as well as details about places and times were missing.

The Pope had no other choice than to reject the application, but in 1237, he assembled another commission that apparently never took up their task. It seemed at that time, the interest in canonizing Hildegard was larger in Rome than in Mainz. In 1243, Gregory’s successor Innocent IV had to order a third commission to complete the investigation. The first report was then corrected and added to by further evidence of miraculous healings, but whether this report ever reached Rome is extremely doubtful. In any case, a formal canonization by the Holy See was never performed.

It can only be speculated about the reasons for a delay in the process by the commissaries of Mainz clergy: Perhaps they had not been familiar with the new process or they did not accept the new right of responsibility by the Pope. It is also possible that they wanted to prevent a large place of pilgrimage on the Rupertsberg as competition to the churches and monasteries of Mainz.