Hildegarde de Bingen
1098-1179 12th century Feast day: September 17
Creation shot through with a divine sap, and the praise that rises from all that lives.
Who was Hildegarde de Bingen?
A Benedictine nun of the Rhineland, she founded the monastery of Rupertsberg and led her community for half a century. A theologian, composer, physician and preacher at a time when none of this was expected of a woman, she recorded her visions in the Scivias and left music of rare intensity. She named 'viriditas,' the greening force, the divine sap that runs through all that lives.
In their own words
Love abounds in all things, rising from the depths beyond the stars.
I am the fiery life of the divine substance: I blaze above the beauty of the fields, I shine in the waters, I burn in the sun, the moon and the stars.
O most noble greening force, rooted in the sun.