Born in Duisburg as the oldest of nine siblings, Elisabeth Killewald grew up in Dinslaken. She received the Abitur from the Lise-Meitner-Gymnasium in Geldern. She studied first church music and flute at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz. She joined the Benedictine Abbey St. Hildegard in Eibingen in 1976, assumed the religious nameClementia and made her vows on her 25th birthday, 25 April 1979. At the abbey, she worked first as an organist and member of the Choralschola, then took care of the elderly and sick in the infirmary. In summer of 2000 she was chosen by the convent to succeed Edeltraud Forster as the abbess. She was ordained on 3 October 2000 by Bishop Franz Kamphaus. and sanctuary of the Abtei As the abbess, she regularly led the annual procession on the feast of Hildegard on 17 September with her shrine carried through the streets. She lectured about Hildegard, for example at the Liborifest of the Diocese of Paderborn in the presence of Archbishop Hans-Josef Becker in 2010. When Hildegard was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church and a Saint on 7 October 2012 by Pope Benedikt XVI, she introduced Hildegard's life and work on St. Peter's Square during the ceremony. She resigned for health reasons on 27 May 2016, accepted by Albert Schmidt. She died in Rüdesheim am Rhein on 2 July 2016 after severe illness.
Publications
Abbess Clementia worked as an editor of the works by Hildegard of Bingen, in new translations from Latin, published by the Beuroner Kunstverlag:
Wisse die Wege. Works, vol. I, translated by Mechthild Heieck. 2010,.
Ursprung und Behandlung der Krankheiten. Causae et Curae. Works, vol. II, translated by. 2011,.
Lieder Symphoniae. Works, vol. IV, translated by Barbara Stühlmeyer. 2012,.
Heilsame Schöpfung – Die natürliche Wirkkraft der Natur. Physica. Works, vol. V, translated by Ortrun Riha. 2012,.
Barbara Stühlmeyer, Sabine Böhm: Tugenden und Laster. Wegweisung im Dialog mit Hildegard von Bingen, 2012,.
Das Leben der heiligen Hildegard von Bingen. Vitae sanctae Hildegardis. Works, vol. III, translated by Monika Klaes-Hachmöller, with an introduction by Michael Embach. 2013,.
Das Buch der Lebensverdienste. Liber vitae meritorum. Works, vol. VII, translated by Sr. Maura Zatonyi OSB. 2014,.
Awards
The composer Ludger Stühlmeyer dedicated his Quatre pièces pour Orgue:Prélude romantique, Caprice expressionique, Hymne impressionique, Fugue baroquein 2001 to her, "Äbtissin Clementia zugeeignet". It was published by the Sonat-Verlag in 2013, ISMN 979-0-50235-058-1.
