From medieval historian to playwright/screenwriter to gemologist and always writer. And on finding Hildegard.
From an interview with, Maureen Pratt, MTS, MFA, GIA GG, Gem-A FGA (Merit), Founder and Executive Director of The Peace in the Storm Project
Education: Maureen Pratt began studying medieval history as an undergraduate at Georgetown University. After her advisor noticed her concentration on colonial history, he encouraged her to try something different. So she took a course by Professor Jo Ann Moran, a medieval history specialist. She was fascinated by learning about ordinary peasant life and the real workers of the society, rather than the nobility or the clergy.
Being a lifelong Catholic, she was also interested in the church and its history and had the opportunity to take a course at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C. She studied the stories of the saints, how they were developed and the symbolism in them, as well as the very early church.
Finding Hildegard: The library at Dumbarton Oaks has a lot of original manuscripts, and that’s how she first discovered Hildegard. But she didn’t put much focus on her yet, that would continue in Los Angeles. Both her cousin and another friend there were very interested in Hildegard. Her interest in medieval history tied in very well with Hildegard.
Maureen had moved out to Los Angeles to earn her Master of Fine Arts at UCLA. She planned on a career in playwriting and screenwriting in Hollywood. Her master’s thesis was produced at UCLA and the LA Children’s Museum. She wrote a lot of fiction, and romance, as with her inspirational historical romance novella.
Sudden Illness: But suddenly in this midst of building her Hollywood career she was diagnosed with a catastrophic flareup of lupus.
What Now?: In Maureen’s words…
God was working in an amazing way through that first flare. Because I turned to him and I just said, “You’ve given me the gift of writing and these opportunities in writing, and getting my MFA. What do you want me to do with my skills and gifts now?”
Books:
I kept coming back to finding a way to help people with my writing and finding the gaps. Things that were not being addressed to help other people who were suffering. And so the first non-fiction book that I had published was, Taking Charge of Lupus: How to Manage the Disease and Make the Most of Your Life. It was a first of its kind.
There were a couple of books written by psychologists about coping mechanisms and things, but nothing really about, for example, I can’t go out in the sun. How do you manage that?
That book was published by Penguin. Now, of course, Penguin is part of Random House. But, it opened doors for me to work a bit as a volunteer in patient advocacy for people with lupus. And I did a lot of public speaking.
And so gradually I started writing devotionals. As I got more into writing in the space of Catholic spirituality, I started reading more and began revisiting Hildegard.
Gemstones:
I discovered the Gemological Institute of America, the GIA. I’ve always been fascinated with rocks. But the gemstone jewelry world was also really different. And there’s a science to learning gemology. When you work in the field for decades with gemstones, you can do many things. I’m a certified appraiser of jewelry and gemstones. I enrolled in the GIA course and started with diamonds.
I got into gemstones and gemology from a contemporary perspective. I found the historical perspective really fascinating. Over the pandemic, I also enrolled in the British Gemological Institute of Great Britain program and graduated with honors from that. I’m a fellow of the Gemological Association of Great Britain.
I had always been interested in rocks, but I became very interested in gemology at the time I was diagnosed with the flare of lupus.
Gemstones themselves have been here for millennia, as objects of interest. Objects of a certain kind of value. Objects that convey power. Because there’s been periods of time in human history when only the elite, only nobility or only the queen, for example, in a particular country, could even wear gemstones. In Egypt, there were certain gemstones that were reserved only for the pharaoh. For a rock to be a gemstone, it needs to be durable. And to have beauty, it needs to be rare. Sacred.
Hildegard and crystals and gemstones:
When Hildegard was looking at rock crystal, which is basically colorless quartz, you would see the crystal structure. Seldom, if ever, did you see a multi-faceted kind of crystal. This is a more natural state.
But from the earliest days they have been thought to have certain, if not medicinal, then an otherworldly, in a way, property that, if used a certain way… For example, Hildegard, suggested using saliva to wet the gemstone, to kind of unleash whatever is inside the gemstone to use it for healing. A homeopathic remedy.
She did not know all and we now know more. Because she had a sense of how gemstones came to be, which was fairly rudimentary, as did everyone else in her time…reflecting the notions that gemstones were formed through water and fire. And because of this formation process, they carry those kinds of elements within them. We know today that there is a chemical structure within each gemstone.
She would have seen pearl, which were organic in nature, particularly pearls from a particular mollusk found in the rivers of Scotland. And there were other pearls that were found in Arabian waters.
But probably the most important of those pearls do have a distinct structure in their formation, but it’s not the kind of crystal structure that you would see in a faceted, uncut ruby or sapphire.
What Hildegard’s writings about gemstones say to me is that I wish she could live today because she would just be at the cutting edge of whatever discipline she chose to apply herself to. She knew that these materials were precious and part of God’s creation. So she wasn’t deviating from Catholic faith. But you know everything reflects creation, God’s creation.
Appreciating precious gemstones:
These things are here because of God. And so the admiration that she had for these minerals we definitely should see today.
I often detect tension in people’s faces when it comes time to tell couples about buying an engagement ring. The question of, “Why buy a diamond?” Because it is expensive. So, expensive is not a waste of money. What people forget is that a diamond is from a natural environment, natural from the earth. Part of God’s creation. It is precious. It is durable and it is useful. It is rare. And so we’re not just throwing money away on something plastic. But we are in a sense, showing a kind of connection between the preciousness of the relationship with their beloved and the promise that they’re making to each other. And the outward expression of that.
I personally don’t see gorgeous gemstones as a waste of time or attention. Because they do reflect the beauty that God brings to us.
In doing a gem identification, I was looking at a faceted gemstone under my microscope, and inside the gem there was what’s called a negative crystal, which is a crystal shape of the gemstone so the overall shape of the gemstone. And it looked like it was in suspended animation, inside the gem, inside the sapphire. But the crystal itself, the negative crystal was a perfectly shaped sapphire crystal within the faceted gemstone. And it was just eye popping. How detailed God made creation! How many surprises there are just around the corner if you take the time to look. All of these things resonate with Hildegard’s awe and appreciation of the natural world. So that is definitely something that could be brought forward from her.
The medicinal qualities of the gemstones, such as putting a topaz in your ear, for your hearing loss, those don’t really have a place today. We should be thankful for the progress that we’ve made.
By that same token, in her day, they didn’t have chemical testing for gemstones. They didn’t know that a sapphire has iron and titanium in it.
If they would have had the instruments that we now have, the testing capabilities that we have, how much further Hildegard could have taken it!
There are a lot of collectors of rough crystals in the world, and not just for the purpose of New Age types of use (crystal shops), but for the beauty of them. In fact, in some cases, the mineral specimens are sold on the basis of their beauty.
If you’ve ever been to the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show, there are a lot of finished pieces. But there are also a lot of carvings and sculptures and all kinds of other items.
Gemstones as medicine?:
In the use of gemstones for medicinal purposes, I would first consult a medical professional.
We are told that not everyone, even during Jesus’s ministry, was cured. But God does want us to heal. Sometimes what God intends for us to go through is these tough times at home. So that we can learn to pray, trust and follow Jesus. But still seek the appropriate medical support.
I have been approached with advice, obviously, in the course of living with a serious chronic illness that is sometimes debilitating and can be life threatening. People will have all sorts of advice. And I’ve had people come up to me, almost cornering me in a room and say, “I have the cure for your liver.” I had always taken anything that I might be remotely interested in, to my doctor and Jesus.
Because any natural ‘treatment’ has a chemical base and it’s not necessarily benign. Natural doesn’t mean it’s appropriate.
It’s really tempting if you are faced with a catastrophic illness to desperately want that sudden cure. To be the way it is in scripture, when Jesus breathes on somebody, that it happens immediately. But I want to manage my health prudently with my doctor and Jesus.
Spirituality:
Hildegard was a visionary and in some ways a prophet. But she was also limited by the understanding of her time. I think of the complexity of her spirituality as remarkable. But it was also forged in a particular time. Scientifically speaking, it was something that she absorbed.
The Christian practice of health care is a fascinating long subject.
There was a spirituality that was being used in the practice of medicine that…That is beautiful. We certainly hope not to lose some of that today in healthcare. I think that’s the kind of thing that has helped us.
Note: Please use your best discernment regarding your health. None of this information is meant as medical advice.
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