Hildegard von Bingen: A Feather on the Breath of God

Hildegard von Bingen is emerging as one of the most remarkable creative personalities of the Middle Ages. She was born in the year 1098 to noble parents in a small village in what is now Western Germany. When she was eight years old she was sent to a monastery and began to live a life that she was destined to lead. She was a visionary, naturalist, playwright, poetess and composer. In 1141, having succeeded in becoming an abbess, she saw tongues of flame descending from the heaven and settled on her. After this she devoted herself to a life of intense and passionate creativity.

Her fame was not limited to Germany. She was also involved in politics and diplomacy. Popes, emperors, kings, archbishops, abbots and abbesses sought her friendship and advice.

Hildegard von Bingen reformed the higher and lower clergy, produced a prodigious body of written work on theology and philosophy and left us with a remarkable legacy in the fields of natural history and medicine. She also undertook preaching tours at an advanced age; made public appearances in marketplaces; and wrote both the text and music for hymns and a cycle of liturgical  songs. She was quite a woman!