St. Hildegard's Wisdom

Do you have concerns about the happenings in the world today? Learn to apply this 12th Century Doctor of the Church's wisdom on spirituality, natural medicine, the arts and happy living.


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Category: Catholic Saints

  • Highlights From Interviews on St. Hildegard’s Wisdom

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    On this day, September 17, 2025, St. Hildegard of Bingen’s feast day, please celebrate with me with these excerpts from past interviews about saints, health, music, Benedictines, and St. Hildegard.

    Today, I also want to say a big thank you to the great interviewees who have contributed to St. Hildegard’s Wisdom thus far. My prayers for them are for a joyous day and good health. St. Hildegard of Bingen, pray for us!

    Please find below selections from the past interviews, and links to the full interviews:

    Excerpt from Answers About Catholic Saints – Fr. Cameron Faller, Pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in San Francisco.

    Why we pray to the saints:
    I’m already praying to God, but there’s something in us, because we’re social, communal beings, and we’re members of the body of Christ. We were not individually saved as much as we’re saved as a community because the body of Christ is a community. It’s natural for me to reach out to another Christian, another Catholic, and say, “Hey, can you pray for me?”…that is something we all naturally do on some level. Well then, that’s what we’re doing with the saints. We’re doing the same exact thing, and the only difference being that they’re already in heaven…they’re the living body of Christ…they’re closer to God, just objectively speaking. And so…just as we’d ask, another human being to intercede for us. We’re asking our friends in heaven to intercede for us.

    How we can be simple saints:
    …you think there (has) to be tons of…simple saints, meaning simple people that lived an extremely holy life, but they didn’t produce enough flair for somebody to push their canonization process…they’re still a saint. It’s just they haven’t been officially declared by the church to be a saint…the message of the gospel is rather simple. Ultimately, you have to become like children to enter the kingdom of God. Every soul in heaven has become like a child. What’s a child? It’s someone who is humble, completely dependent on God, surrendering to God, consistently doing what God’s asking…
    Listen here to the full audio recording.

    Excerpt from Angelus Echeverry, Musician to Monk and Sacred Music – Father Angelus Echeverry is a Roman Catholic Benedictine Priest-Monk from St Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, California

    My initial attraction to St. Hildegard was through her music. I came across her work during my undergraduate studies. Upon hearing it, I was instantaneously mesmerized. It did what it does for so many — it seemed to still time, lifting the soul, mind and heart toward the transcendental…

    The more I listened, the more I realized its goal was not to make the listener ‘feel’ anything particularly. It was not ‘emotional’ or ‘sentimental’. It did not try to sound sad or happy, anxious or excited, but rather invited the listener to something deeper than feelings alone….

    Eventually, it dawned on me why: it was and is music for prayer. This music, directed to God and seemingly inspired by Him, is beyond feelings and time — ‘eternal’ in its quality…. How auspicious that that should be the very monastic order to which God was calling me. This is why St. Hildegard is both a spiritual mother with whom I not only share a deep love of sacred music, but also a sister in the consecrated life; both of us children of St Benedict.
    Read the full interview here.

    Excerpt from Diamonds, Gemstones and Hildegard – Maureen Pratt, MTS, MFA, GIA GG, Gem-A FGA (Merit), Founder and Executive Director of The Peace in the Storm Project

    As I got more into writing in the space of Catholic spirituality, I started reading more and began revisiting Hildegard…I got into gemstones and gemology from a contemporary perspective. I found the historical perspective really fascinating…I’m a fellow of the Gemological Association of Great Britain…

    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.

    These things are here because of God. And so the admiration that she had for these minerals, we definitely should see today.

    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!
    Read the full interview here.

    Excerpt from Improve Your Health With Your Doctor and Also Natural and Spiritual Medicine

    Iwona Bednarz-Major, Founder, Director at Stone to Flesh

    Healing is rarely immediate; it’s a process, much like peeling back layers to uncover the vibrant health we were designed for.

    I always align the healing of a human heart with its surfacing issues, and with physical symptoms.

    While some people experience rapid shifts—whether through miraculous prayer or a profound lifestyle change—and enough of them do—most of us require patience and persistence.

    Prayer indeed is primary, infusing hope, grace, and supernatural healing into every step. Whether healing comes instantly or over years, what matters most is walking the journey with faith, wisdom, and a willingness to adjust as needed.
    Read the full interview here.

    Petra Sramko, Herbalist, Saint Hildegard Plants

    There are always times in our lives when we are pushed to change our point of view and attitudes in a lot of areas…I trust in God, and God sends us challenges to “grow”.

    Sure, Hildegard’s food will help you to improve your body condition, but if you will be constantly stressed, it will impact your life in the long run.

    Today’s medicine is excellent at solving health issues, cancer, dangerous health situations, etc. However, when it comes to solving chronic conditions, Hildegard medicine can step in.
    Read the full interview here.

    Excerpt from Interview With Sr. Nodelyn Abayan About Contemporary Benedictine Spirituality – Nodelyn Abayan, a member of the Sisters of Social Service of Los Angeles, spiritual director / vocation contact person

    The basics of Benedictine spirituality is always seeing the positive or the good in everything. That God is present in everything. And in the good, there’s always the beauty. There’s a big emphasis, like Hildegard is very, very big on beauty.

    And joy. And so that’s part, as Benedictine, as sisters who follow the Benedictine spirituality, we’re very big on beauty and a positive outlook on life. That there is always a reason and God is always present. We try to experience God in every single thing we do and make it palpable in our lives.

    At least for me personally, and I know in my community as well, we’re big on the role of silence in our lives, which is very Benedictine. Because it is in silence. It’s a silence prayer. I know there are different levels of prayer, but personally that’s where I find I can attune to God’s presence more, in silence. Because silence is the language of God.

    And another thing about Benedictines is hospitality. These are the words of Saint Benedict, that you treat each stranger, or your visitor, or your guest as if they are Christ. That’s why we’re big on hospitality.
    Read the full interview here.


    Excerpt from Herbalist and Naturopath, Dr. Sebastian Liew Supports Your Healing Life –Dr. Sebastian Liew, ND, MNHAA, MHS (UNE), Herbalist and Naturopath

    My faith plays a very significant role and shapes how I run my business, how I practice naturopathy, and my personal life. My faith via daily walks with God and his friends (saints and angels) helps me to feel complete.

    • Rejuvenates the way I see things (spirituality).
    • Creates positive relationships with nature and others and myself.
    • Makes life more meaningful and purposeful.
    • Ensures that I am loved despite my imperfections (unloved is the root cause of many diseases), which in turn promote my health in body and soul.
      Read the full interview here.

    Excerpt from Saint Hildegard’s Plants and Foods Are Good For You – Herbalist Petra Sramko of Saint Hildegard Plants

    She declares, that “I must honestly say that I love Hildegard. From an herbalist’s point of view, she is the one that specifies the plant as itself, as it is.” Hildegard specifies the energy of the plant, then she describes it and its impact on human health. And she follows that up with recipes. Petra says, “If someone is sick and you know their symptoms, you can then pair them with the right remedy from Hildegard. They take the remedy and gain their health back.” Petra admits, “I’ve tested it many times. There’s only one reason why they wouldn’t get healthy again. That’s only the case when God doesn’t want them to get healthy.” That’s something that St. Hildegard emphasized and is in her books.

    Petra concludes, “Health is about what you eat, how you eat it, your environment, the people around you, and your way of life. So this is Hildegard!”
    Read the full interview here.

  • Answers About Catholic Saints

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    You, too, can be a saint. Just ask Fr. Cameron Faller

    For reassurance about your ability to become a saint, please listen to my Q&A with Fr. Cameron Faller, Pastor of Holy Name of Jesus Parish in San Francisco.

    Holy Name will be celebrating its 100th anniversary on October 26, 2025
    100 Years of Faith – Holy Name of Jesus Parish Centennial Celebration

    St. Hildegard of Bingen is an exceptional saint who was blessed with many gifts and knowledge direct from God. But how many of us can be that great. Most of us can’t; it’s impossible. However, we can still be saints, simple saints. If we surrender to God and let Him guide us, then we can become the kind of saint that God intended us to be. We don’t need to be copycat saints (although we are to imitate Jesus) because God has a specific plan for each us. Let God create in you the saint you were meant to be.

    Saint Hildegard on the saints:

    The golden altar is to be understood as the works of the saints, which they did while still abiding in the body and which flash like a golden altar in the sight of God, for by these works they imitated the Lamb, that is, the son of God.

    389 Prayers and Meditations about Prophesy, The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume III

    Then, also, I heard the sound of a voice, as out of pure water, saying: This beautiful garden belongs to God almighty, and it is arrayed with the loveliest of flowers and with the beauty of all viridity, on which God feasts His eyes to His Delight. And this sound flew from the fiery air of the Holy Spirit, because every longing from the blessed elect and the saints flows from the fountain of the Holy Spirit, as it is written: “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:38)

    379 A Vision about Mankind’s Desire Wholly Directed toward the Lord’s Passion. The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume III

  • Roses to Replace Anger

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    rose pedals in fountain

    “Whoever gets really angry should take roses and less sage and smell this in the moment of anger. Sage comforts and roses bring joy and happiness.” St. Hildegard of Bingen

    “Rose-Sage Oil
    This perfume is Hildegard’s most powerful fragrance against the destructive mood of anger.

    Mix:
    5ml (1 teaspoon) of almond or olive oil
    4 drops of rose (Rosa damascena) oil
    2 drops of sage (Salvia officinalis) oil
    Store in a dark bottle.”
    Resource: Hildegard of Bingen’s Spiritual Remedies by Dr. Wighard Strehlow, p. 75

    Until you can make the oil, another suggestion is to plant a garden with roses. The beauty of roses adds a lot to a simple home garden, even the wilted petals. Just sit in your garden and enjoy the sights, scents (plants and flowers), and sounds (birds). If you live in a place that has no garden, bring in fresh flowers to gaze at or see if there is a community garden in your area. Visiting parks and nature areas is also great for your mind, body and spirit.

    I must also mention St. Thérèse of Lisieux, the Carmelite nun known as “The Little Flower”. I prayed a novena to her and now my garden looks like this (pictured above). Could be a coincidence, or maybe just little miracles from St.Thérèse and St. Hildegard.

    Note: As always, none of this is meant to be medical advice. Consult with your doctor first about medical matters.

  • Finding an Advocate

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    Still from Pretty Woman (1990)

    The reference to the movie, Pretty Woman, is mentioned near the end of the post. But it really does have something to do with finding an advocate.

    Advocate definition: “An advocate is a person who comes to our aid or pleads our case to a judge. Advocates offer support, strength, and counsel and intercede for us when necessary.”

    The tricky part is finding one. And the surprising part is that the advocate might find that the person they are saving is actually saving them. 

    I offer suggestions below.

    When I first discovered St. Hildegard, I was disturbed by how she was sometimes written about. Although people were praising her, they were doing so from a skewed perspective. They weren’t Catholic and so their thinking or rationale didn’t align with mine. And so I sought out to defend her legacy as a Catholic. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I had designated myself as St. Hildegard’s advocate. I wanted to save her. 

    The funny thing is, I’m not sure why I felt so compelled to defend St. Hildegard. I’m not German, nor do I speak German. I don’t speak or read Latin. I’m not Benedictine. I’m not a nun. I’m not a theologian. I’m just an ordinary Catholic woman. Nonetheless, I was driven to plead her case of being more defined under traditional Catholic terms. 

    What I have recently discovered is that with all my enthusiasm about spreading the word about St. Hildegard, she has actually been carrying me. Here I was thinking that I’m championing a cause to right the wrongs written about her. Yet, she has been smiling from above, saying in a sense, “Child, when will you realize I’m actually here for you? I can help you.”

    By researching and learning more about Hildegard, I can apply what I’ve learned about her to improve my own life and share that with others. And I don’t even know how much she has helped me spiritually, but I’m sure that’s part of it.

    That’s a striking revelation. That perhaps St. Hildegard found me, not the other way around. Saints are known to do that. It doesn’t make me extra special. Saints can do that for anyone. We can hear about them, start devotions to them, and all the while, not knowing that those saints found us first.

    In an article by Fr. Pio M. Idowu, titled, “Mary the Omnipotentia Supplex” in Co-Redemptrix, Autumn 2024 Issue 5, he mentions spiritual advocates we can count on.

    In Sacred Scripture, ‘advocate’ in English is paraclete in Greek. An advocate, Fr. Idowu says, “is someone who is called to the aid of another”, and as stated in the Bible, we have more than one advocate.

    Our Spiritual Advocates:

    Jesus: He intercedes with the Father on behalf of us sinners. An example: when we are in the confessional with the priest, Jesus is there too. The priest is there In persona Christi, in the person of Christ.  So when we confess our sins to a priest, we hear his voice giving us absolution, but it’s actually Jesus who is offering us forgiveness through him. 

    The Holy Spirit: Also referred to by Jesus as the Paraclete – the Advocate or Defender. The Holy Spirit is the third divine person of the Holy Trinity: The Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So that makes the Holy Spirit a very powerful advocate.

    Mary: Our advocate who takes our cases to Jesus, her son. Mary knows all our needs and she brings them to Jesus to take care of them. We should stay close to her (pray the rosary).

    The Saints: They are known as friends of God. We can pray to them to intercede for us to God, the Father. I recommend some saints here: women and men.

    We just need to reach out to these advocates in prayer saying what we need: healing, restoration, safety, peace of mind, resolving a financial, legal, or relationship problem, or whatever else needs fixing.

    We pray and hope and leave the rest up to God. There are no guarantees. Prayer is not magic. But we continue to trust in God for the best things for us.

    So even though there are actual people in the world with job titles of Advocate, there are also some in Heaven.

    If you have trouble finding an advocate here on earth, don’t give up. It can be difficult but not impossible. In the meantime, ask the ones in Heaven to help you. God is the only one in charge anyway. God’s solutions are the best ones because He wants what is best for us. We don’t always find ourselves amongst people who have our best interests in mind. Many are more concerned with their own problems, which makes sense, but that leaves us on our own.

    Spouse as Advocate

    Another advocate can be your spouse, and that’s a reason the church promotes marriage and over the years so has Hollywood. Rom-coms were/are all about love and romance, and what better way to lead to marriage. In marriage, a wife is offered the spiritual covering of her husband as protection. And so that union is a good defense against the world. Of course, you can’t just marry anyone that comes along and expect a good outcome. That wouldn’t be wise, so be careful.

    In the movie Pretty Woman (1990), Hollywood shows us a non-idyllic way a woman and man can find love even in the oddest of circumstances. Because even in real life, things don’t always progress perfectly. (It’s a movie for adults, and some Catholics might not approve of the storyline, even though it’s just a fictional movie. I watched it years ago. Use your own discretion. Or just watch the movie clip with the final scene below.)

    Pretty Woman is about Edward, a rich businessman who pays Vivian, a woman-for-hire to act as his date at some social events. But then this business arrangement takes a turn. He falls in love with her and she with him. What a predicament! 

                   Edward: So what happened after he climbed up the tower and rescued her?

                    Vivian: She rescues him right back.

    Watch the final scene here.

    But if you never meet an Edward, you can still turn to Jesus, the Holy Spirit, Mary and the Saints to advocate for you and protect you.

    I turn to all of them to advocate for me, and most certainly to St. Hildegard.

  • How About Hildegard, the Movie?

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    Movie still from Cat People. Image Credit: RockChick1980

    Make the movie St. Hildegard would have if movies existed in the 12th century.

    In my imagination I see a Hollywood movie about St. Hildegard of Bingen, starring Nastassja Kinski. I’m just daydreaming though because I have no idea if Nastassja Kinski would even be interested. She has been in many great films, such as Tess, Cat People, and Exposed. A film about an amazingly gifted German Abbess could be a surprising addition. And apologies if this is too abstract an idea.

    I love movies and always have. Someone suggested I write a play about St. Hildegard, but I’ve never written a play nor a screenplay. So I’ll leave that to the experts.

    Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is a prime example of how a movie can accomplish great things. It introduced Jesus to people who might not ever have heard of Him. It helps to see things on a movie screen, in case one can’t grasp it otherwise. Some people just can’t fathom everything naturally. I would say that movie wasn’t for entertainment but more for enlightenment. It’s a film about Jesus that could never be topped. Yet, I’m still waiting for Mel Gibson’s follow-up film about Jesus’ resurrection.

    The recent film about Mother Cabrini, Cabrini must be mentioned as well. It is the story of an extraordinary nun and how she worked to stop the discrimination of Italians in New York beginning in the late 1800s. She addressed many much needed reforms in her lifetime with God’s leading. Watch the film for the details.

    People love stories and that’s what Hollywood does best. There are many dramatic lives from the Bible to feature, but Christians continue to make the news. We still witness good people doing good things. Mother Teresa died in 1997 so she is one closer to our lives today. She too was a nun with a mission. There are many more, including unknown miracle workers, as well as miracles themselves.

    Unbelievers will always exist and will never accept the good news, no matter how it is presented to them. They’re missing out, but good movies can still inform them.

    And so St. Hildegard needs a great movie too, and at least one as well done as Mother Cabrini’s. It could showcase her many gifts that continue to benefit future generations, but that most don’t even know about. She left us with music, medicine, art, language and so much more.

    Pick an angle amongst her many gifts but be sure to make her own musical compositions the film’s soundtrack. She was a playwright, but they didn’t have movies when she was alive. If movies existed back then, you can bet she would have been a naturally gifted filmmaker as well.

    Make the movie St. Hildegard would have had Hollywood existed in the 12th century.

    Note: Like Mel Gibson, many Catholic filmmakers get their films made outside of Hollywood. They don’t receive Hollywood funding because these movies aren’t mainstream Hollywood-type films. Mel Gibson used his own money to fund The Passion of the Christ film. Other filmmakers use crowdfunding and creative ways to fund their Catholic films.

  • Catholic Mysticism or Something Else?

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    Fifth Vision – Hildegard of Biden

    Doubters dismiss Catholic mysticism as imaginations, drug-induced hallucinations or due to mental/physical disorders.

    Catholic mystics over time have had their skeptics, even from amongst the clergy. It’s possible to be misunderstood by those within the same faith. And so too it’s possible by those outside the church as well.

    But the truth prevails.

    Odo of Soissons (The University of Paris) to Hildegard.

    It is reported that, exalted, you see many things in the heavens and record them in your writing, and that you bring forth the melody of a new song, although you have studied nothing of such things. But this does not surprise us at all, because it does not exceed your purity and saintliness, without which no one can attain to such things. 1

    Nathaniel M. Campbell writes that,

    Hildegard, however, did not participate in most of the devotional practices that came to characterize medieval women religious. She counseled moderation and discretion rather than the extreme ascetic practices common in later centuries;…2”

    And he states that,

    She repeatedly stresses that her common visionary mode was wakeful rather than in ecstasy…Her fundamental method is to treat her verbal descriptions of her visions as one would treat the biblical text. To be sure, it is God’s voice, and not her own…3”

    Some like to interpret her visions as being the effects of migranes.

    Wendy Love Anderson states,

    …physician and amateur historian of science Charles Singer diagnosed the long-dead visionary with migraine, a “functional nervous disorder,” and this diagnosis moved into popular culture… making Hildegard the unofficial patron saint of migraine sufferers4.

    And she declares that,

    Dozens, if not hundreds, of twelfth-century Christians experienced visions… but even monastic visions started to become more current, as well as more controversial.5

    Were the visions figments of her imagination? Catholics can use imagination, for instance to achieve mental prayer. It’s not a frivolous thing, but instead a very specialized way of praying.

    St. Hildegard’s experiences were different, and not from her imagination.

    There is recent secular acceptance of psychedelics, Ayahuasca, and psilocybin/psilocyn (mushrooms) as medicine. That has led some to claim that the ancient mystics were just using or exposed to these types of “medicines” as well. That you can find “God” through these medicinal practices. California has an upcoming bill to give legal access to psychedelic plant medicines, for depression, addiction, and other ailments.

    For Catholics, these are not recommended, as Msgr. Stephen J. Rossetti explains in, The Dark World Cannot Heal.

    Bad experiences/reactions with prescription medications can happen as well. Some wild enough to seem the same experiences as those claimed by the psychedelic users. The solution is to alert your doctor so you can be prescribed a better alternative. And as for the “religious experience”, Catholics are told to move on. To take anything that could be interpreted as mystical and “forget about it”.

    St. John of the Cross, a mystic himself, advised this. As he wrote in, On the Danger of Visions, “Although visions and locutions which come from God are true, we may be deceived about them. This is proved by quotations from Divine Scripture.”

    Note that not all visions are from God.

    St. Hildegard kept her visions private initially until they were approved by her church superiors.

    Pope Benedict XVI explained in his General Audience in 2010:

    During the years when she was superior of the Monastery of St. Disibodenberg, Hildegard began to dictate the mystical visions that she had been receiving for some time to the monk Volmar, her spiritual director, and to Richardis di Strade, her secretary, a sister of whom she was very fond. As always happens in the life of true mystics, Hildegard too wanted to put herself under the authority of wise people to discern the origin of her visions, fearing that they were the product of illusions and did not come from God.

    She thus turned to a person who was most highly esteemed in the Church in those times: St Bernard of Clairvaux…He calmed and encouraged Hildegard. However, in 1147 she received a further, very important approval. Pope Eugene iii…authorized the mystic to write down her visions and to speak in public.

    This, dear friends, is the seal of an authentic experience of the Holy Spirit…shows complete obedience to the ecclesial authority. Every gift bestowed by the Holy Spirit, is in fact intended for the edification of the Church and the Church, through her Pastors, recognizes its authenticity.

    1. Barid & Ehrman, The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume 1. Pg. 110 ↩︎
    2. Campbell, The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, Picturing Hildegard of Bingen’s Sight: Illuminating Her Visions, Pg. 262 ↩︎
    3. Campbell, The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, Picturing Hildegard of Bingen’s Sight: Illuminating Her Visions, Pg. 263.  ↩︎
    4. Love Anderson, The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, The Context and Reception of Hildegard of Bingen’s Visions, Pg. 201 ↩︎
    5. Love Anderson, The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, The Context and Reception of Hildegard of Bingen’s Visions, Pg. 191 ↩︎

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  • St. Hildegard of Bingen, a 12th Century Catholic Abbess Is Going High Tech and Virtual

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    And colorful eye with logo text
    Image from Her Mind’s Eye

    St. Hildegard of Bingen was declared a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012. Yet, this Catholic Abbess from the medieval times still has many admirers today. That’s what intrigues me most about her and I continue to learn more.

    My latest find is Her Mind’s Eye, a “mind-bending” immersive musical by an eclectic professional team of creatives. It’s to highlight St. Hildegard’s“…life and psychedelic inner visions.” Coming soon to a venue near you, and hopefully to San Francisco.

    The high-powered production team is set to propel Hildegard into the 21st century. Her legacy is as relevant in 2024 as back in the medieval times. She contributed through spirituality, music, medicine, innovation and inspiration. Those continue to stream down to us even now. No one can tap out on St. Hildegard’s resources. Her female voice back then still chimes harmoniously with women of today. The more people that recognize her greatness the better. As such a multi-faceted spiritual creature, she is open to many interpretations.

    Her Mind’s Eye promises to infuse a new musical audience with her by using modern day technology. The work is an animated full dome film experience. It’s a “visually stunning portrayal of her visionary insights, resonating through time.”

    Algorithm is their creative production studio that’s based in Dublin, Ireland.

    Janet Roston is the Director/Choreographer and Cindy Shapiro is the Composer/Librettist. Together they are the co-founders of Incorrigible Entertainment. Their goal is to “support their vision and their ongoing mission to inspire audiences with stories about women who cannot be contained.”

    Here they speak about the project:

    The Story Editor is the acclaimed author Neil Gaiman, UK born, and now living in the U.S. near Minneapolis. His bio states that as a child he read the books of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, James Branch Cabell, Edgar Allan Poe, Michael Moorcock, Ursula K. LeGuin, Gene Wolfe, and G.K. Chesterton.

    Jack Wall, is the Music Director/Producer. He’s noted among the Hollywood elite of composers, ASCAP award-winning and BAFTA nominated.

    Fiona Maddocks, author of Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age, is the Project Advisor.

    This powerhouse team of talents complements Hildegard’s great gifts.

    Her Mind’s Eye is looking for investors who want to share in their vision for Hildegard.

    The production will be available in numerous formats with Algorithm’s cutting-edge Orbit technology. Formats include “Full Dome, Atelier des Lumières-style rooms, art galleries, cathedrals, VR and any other space that could be rendered immersive.”

    Living in San Francisco, I can’t help but hope it makes it to a venue here. I recently read how the SF Symphony is going through changes. That it’s in need of an uplift. That would be a great venue for this production. But that’s just my personal pitch. A tech haven like San Francisco seems a very likely place for this modern version of St. Hildegard of Bingen. Let’s bring St. Hildegard of Bingen here!

  • Saints of Old Are Still Our Modern Day Superheroes

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    The saints were miraculous human beings but they live on in heaven, eternally. We get to call upon them for help. That’s their role in heaven, to assist those of us who haven’t arrived there yet. If we strive for it, we will make it to heaven too.

    In the meantime, we can pray to them when we are going through trials, have fears, need to make decisions, or are in need of guidance. Of course, we can take those concerns to God as well.

    Sometimes the saints come to us though. We read a sacred story or find a prayer card with their image. There are many ways a saint can become known to us.

    I’ve already explained how I first heard about St. Hildegard. And I have listed other notable women saints that stand out.

    Let’s get in the habit of reaching out to them in prayer. They’re waiting to hear from us. They want to help us. They’ve been where we are and they made it through. The saints can help us get through too. It can’t hurt to try to ask them to come to our rescue.

    When you can’t find a real life superhero, reach out to a Catholic saint to help get you out of your troubles.

    St. Hildegard, pray for us. Please save the day. (Insert your own prayer request.)

  • Saint Hildegard’s Plants and Foods Are Good For You

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    Heart-shaped bowl full of broccoli soup.
    Benjamin Scribe / Shutterstock

    An interview with Herbalist Petra Sramko of Saint Hildegard Plants.

    I asked Petra what first drew her to Saint Hildegard of Bingen.

    She said remembers being in her parent’s weekend stone cottage. It’s situated the rural countryside of Slovenia, where her great-grandparents were born. She described the moment, “I was sitting in the kitchen, reading books about healing plants. One was from a German herbalist who mentioned Hildegard. Petra’s first thought was, “How could someone from the 11th century know this? That a heart elixir made of parsley and red wine could treat the illness of the heart?” That idea struck and stuck with her even though she later set the book aside.

    But then about 17 years ago Petra’s mind went back to that elixir. She remembered, “I was basically looking for that remedy and I found it again. And that’s the reason I started to study Hildegard’s recipes.”

    Petra’s academic studies began in Germany with a very intense four-day training. By that time, she had already studied Hildegard through several books. Her studies continued in Austria for one year of intense training. The curriculum included Hildegard’s healing plants, healing stones, spirituality, and more.

    She declares, that “I must honestly say that I love Hildegard. From an herbalist’s point-of-view she is the one that specifies the plant as itself, as it is.” Hildegard specifies the energy of the plant, then she describes it and its impact on human health. And she follows that up with recipes. Petra says, “If someone is sick and you know their symptoms, you can then pair them with the right remedy from Hildegard. They take the remedy and gain their health back.” Petra admits, “I’ve tested it many times. There’s only one reason why they wouldn’t get healthy again. That’s only the case when God doesn’t want them to get healthy.” That’s something that St. Hildegard emphasized and is in her books.

    Hildegard is very specific on how she writes about the healing plants. Petra loves this aspect, “It’s straight to the point and the remedies work wonders.” She admits that some patients resort to pills to get better, and they might in fact regain their health. But that you can achieve a more long-term effect with herbal remedies. Hildegard seeks to address all parts of the person: their personality, spirit, way of life, and way of living. She adds, “It’s basically a slow way of treating someone to regain health. And that for me is a journey through which a person can grow.”

    Hildegard’s popularity is more widespread in Germany than elsewhere. It’s possible to get a certificate in natural remedies and provide her treatments there. Petra hasn’t found that option available in other parts of Europe yet. This medieval German saint still holds influence within her home country very well.

    Petra applauds the certification, “Germany is very special in this sense. I would say it’s aimed to anybody who would like to treat the patient with nontraditional medicine. It could be any type of treatment that can help bring the patient’s health back.” She says, “It’s using nature to our advantage. Nature is there for us so we should also be there for nature. Kind of respect it. Love it the way it deserves. Not to destroy everything around us.”

    As with Hildegard, Petra says each body has a capacity to be healthy and to stay healthy. If we get sick, it might not just be physical, but also spiritual, or in the way we are living or leading our lives. Our bodies warn us that we are doing something wrong, but it also has the capacity to heal itself.

    Unfortunately, some of Hildegard’s writings are only available in German. Petra admits that reading Hildegard is difficult, via translations, also because it’s in a language from the medieval times.

    And that’s why Petra says she created her healing foods course,

    “Because I thought, let’s get the people interested in the healthy foods that Hildegard’s describing. Let’s create simple foods that people can cook, enjoy, and improve their health. You need to eat every day to have energy for life. So why not support your health with wise choices, by knowing about the healing qualities of the food and what’s good for you.”

    It can be difficult to find some of Hildegard’s recipe ingredients, either if out of season or not locally grown. But that’s the joy in it, says Petra, “That’s life with Hildegard. You sometimes have to kind of experiment and find your ways around it.”

    Petra concludes, “Health is about what you eat, how you eat it, your environment, the people around you, and your way of life. So this is Hildegard!”

    Note: Using natural remedies while taking medications requires close doctor supervision and approval.