Jutta of Sponheim

Daughter of the count of Sponheim, Jutta refused marriage and at twenty had herself enclosed in a cell built against the abbey of Disibodenberg, according to the rite of reclusion — the door walled up, the office followed through a window. An eight-year-old child, Hildegard, was entrusted to her by her family: Jutta taught her the psalter, Latin and chant, and was for thirty years her only teacher. Vocations came in such numbers that the cell became a small convent of women. At her death in 1136, her companions elected Hildegard to succeed her.