Today marks the death of Hildegard von Bingen, one of the greatest women of history. Receiving next to no formal education in her youth, she became a polymath and the author of books on herbal medicine, the natural sciences, theology, and music. Hildegard invented her own alphabet. She composed what is arguably the first opera and certainly the first morality play, the Ordo Virtutum , as well as countless other pieces of liturgical music and poetry.
Hildegard also dictated three books of visions, of which the first is the most famous. Called the Scivias (short for scito vias Domini , know the ways of the Lord), the book is 150,000 words long and contains 35 miniature illustrations. She traveled as a preacher, a feat unparalleled for a woman of her time. She corresponded with and counseled popes, emperors, and other theologians like Bernard of Clairvaux. And while doing all this she was the abbess of a thriving convent in Germany.
Much of Hildegard’s theological work, especially as expressed in her music and poetry, speaks of viriditas . Literally meaning greenness , Hildegard used the term as a way of describing the fruitfulness of a soul growing in God, particularly the fruitfulness that comes from virginity. Her music, visions, and art are filled with strange beauty and deep orthodox faith.
For those interested in Hildegard’s music, I highly recommend the impresssive recordings 
Dear Reader,
Can I be direct with you?
War abroad. Socialists on the rise. AI upending human life. Endless uproar online. The modern attention economy doesn’t want readers — it wants users enslaved to the tyranny of the present.
First Things is the antidote: literary excellence, timeless truths, and a fixed point of reference in a culture that has lost its bearings.
But we can’t do it without readers like you.
Our goal: Raise $150,000 by November 1 to sustain First Things in the year ahead.
Your gift anchors readers in the permanent things.
Make your Fall Campaign gift now using the button below.
If you have any questions or would like more information, please contact Giovanni Del Piero, Director of the Editor’s Circle, at gdelpiero@firstthings.com or 212-627-1985.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
The Church in the Age of Therapy
In 1966, Philip Rieff wrote in The Triumph of the Therapeutic that “Religious man was born to…
Canada’s Deadliest Blind Spot
On September 20, the Daily Mail ran a story with the provocative headline, “Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother…
The Faithful Joy of Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen
Dolly Parton and Fulton Sheen seem to have had little in common. She favored rhinestones; he wore…
