St Hildegard of Bingen
Dear Friends,
September 17th is the saints day of St Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179). Throughout her life, Hildegard suffered – what we now believe to be – a series of severe migraine attacks. She describes feeling great pain and seeing concentric circles of colours and patterns of light, which she interpreted as visions of divine energy and of the Creator orbiting his creation. The pain, she wrote, was the result of facing God’s holiness.
In the aftermath of each vision or attack, Hildegard was able to create wonderful works of music, poetry and painting, many of which survive to this day. Each of these works contains profound theological reflections. I quote her description of God’s divine presence in creation: “I, the fiery life of divine essence, am aflame beyond the beauty of the meadows, I gleam in the waters, and I burn in the sun, moon and stars ... I awaken everything to life.”
St Hildegard was in many respects ahead of her time. She was entirely unafraid to critique elements of the institutional hierarchy, she was a feminist, she was an prophetic ecologist (I quote: “The high, the low, all of creation God gives to humankind to use; If this privilege is misused, God‘s Justice permits creation to punish humanity”), she held science and faith in fine balance, she pioneered holistic medicine, she was a fan of spelt bread, and she also believed that beer was “most wholesome and pleasing to God”.
What can I say? We need more saints like her! People who in the very ordinariness of life are able to spot the extraordinary life and energy of God, and inspire others to discover the same.
Love and prayers
