Watanabe, Ami2026-02-062026-02-062008Watanabe, A. (2008). Hildegard of Bingen as a Holy Healer: Healing the patient, restoring the world. Illumine, 7(1), 17–34. https://doi.org/10.18357/illumine7120081491https://doi.org/10.18357/illumine7120081491https://hdl.handle.net/1828/23230By examining the five letters exchanged between Hildegard of Bingen and two monks concerning a demon-possessed woman, this article explores the ways in which twelft h-century ecclesiastics understood and treated demonic possession. A close examination of the letters reveals that demonic possession was considered as a communal illness that threatened not only an individual’s well-being but also the spiritual integrity of the community. The identification of demonic possession as a communal disease explains why an ecclesiastic had to write to implore the help of Hildegard, who was known to her contemporaries as both a saint and a healer. Medieval understanding of demonic possession required a specific kind of cure: miraculous healing performed by a saint. This healing was culturally constructed in a way to restore the spiritual well-being of the community that medieval subjects imagined demonic possession disrupted.enCC BY-NC 4.0ArticleDepartment of English