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Line engraving by W. Marshall Source: This file comes from Wellcome Images, a website operated by Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation based in the United Kingdom. |
St. Hildegard von (of) Bingen died on this day in 1179, at the age of 81. She was a Benedictine Abbess at Bingen, a city on the Rhine in Germany -- but she is best remembered as a writer, a mystic, a philosopher and especially as a musician, composer and lyricist. She authored books on the subjects of theology, botany, medicinal use of plants, as well as poetry and songs, originally sung by the nuns at the Abbey. In recent years, her music has been sung, recorded and enjoyed as a gentle background to prayer and contemplation. Though beatified by the Roman Catholic Church centuries ago, it was in just May of 2012 that she was officially canonized, and in October of that year, named as a "Doctor of the Church" for her holy life, and for her teaching.
For those of you who enjoy Medieval music, as well as for those who have yet to hear it, the video below is a taste of St. Hildegard's work, performed by Ensemble Vocatrix in December of 2017 at the Zipper Concert Hall at the Colburn School. The performance is just over 20 minutes long; may it bless your quiet time today.
O God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the Fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
AMEN.*
*Source: Holy Women, Holy Men, Church Publishing, Episcopal Church of the United States.
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