Stained glass window depicting five Benedictine female saints, Saints Hildegard, Walburga, Scholastica, Mechtild, and Gertrude, located at St. Benedict Monastery.

Nancy Bauer
Stained glass window depicting five Benedictine female saints, Saints Hildegard, Walburga, Scholastica, Mechtild, and Gertrude, located at St. Benedict Monastery in Bristow, Va.

Pope Francis noted that the German Benedictine abbess, composer and philosopher challenged prevailing restrictions on women.