Hildegard Pilgrimage with Deacon Shanon Sterringer, ARCWP - Day 1 -C, Rudesheim, Germany - July 28, 2019

After leaving the Hildegard Abbey in Eibingen, Shanon drove the group through vineyards and down a steep hill to the beautiful town of Rüdesheim on the Rhine River. Some in the group ended the day with a stroll around the town of Bingen. Shanon's commentary follows:

St. Rochus Church is visible across the Rhine River from the Eibingen vineyards. More on St. Rochus in an upcoming post!

Beautiful view of the town of Eibingen/ Rudesheim and the Rhine River! The grape vineyards here stretch for as far as the eye can see!  We are in Riesling Valley!

Vineyard shrine!

Niederwalddenkmal monument, more commonly known as Germania, is a statue built in late 1800's to commemorate the unification of Germany.  The statue majestical overlooks and protects the Rhine River between Rudesheim and Bingen.  

This is our hotel (the big white building on the river bank).  We chose to stay in this location because it is on the corner of the Rhine and Nahe Rivers adjacent to where St. Hildegard's Rupertsberg Monastery once existed.  The Rhine River goes up to Mainz (Hildegard lived her whole life in the Diocese of Mainz and left many pages of correspondence with various bishops and prelates of Mainz) and the Nahe goes up to Disibodenberg (the site of the monastery she was tithed to as a child).  The view of Rupertsberg from our hotel window is truly amazing.

Following a visit to St. Hildegard's Abbey and a brief time in meditative prayer at the Parish Church (listening to one of her chants in the presence of her reliquary), we spent a couple of hours walking the streets of Rudesheim, Germany.

Following a day in Rudesheim / Eibingen, we traveled back across the Rhine River to explore Bingen and Rupertsberg. This yellow building sits on the banks of the Nahe River where St. Hildegard's Monastery once was. 

The Basilica of St. Martin sits right across from Rupertsberg on the Nahe River in the town of Bingen.  We were in the area at 7:00pm on Sunday evening and heard the bells were ringing for evening Mass. It was a treat to be able to join the community for a few minutes of the liturgy.  

The Basilica of St. Martin sits on the Hildegard trail!  There is a beautiful image of St. Hildegard outside of the gates.