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How far has women’s health developed since the medieval times of St. Hildegard?
Popular opinion says it’s still a work in progress. When my menopause issues started, there wasn’t much offered for relief. I was a bit lost even though I reached out to my medical doctors. Black cohosh was all I was given, which didn’t help much. At that time, there wasn’t a lot about it online, and since my mother never had symptoms, I had no example to follow. But there’s a growing movement to change that.
Many women are turning to functional doctors, naturopaths, using herbs, supplements, Hormone Replacement Therapy, and other options available to them as they deal with common issues with PMS and all the stages of menopause.
Good Information Found in Two 2026 Docuseries
I recently found two docuseries that explore the topic of women’s health, homones and healing. These are offered for general reference only and not as medical advice, nor as endorsements of any religious or political beliefs. If anyone knows of any Catholic docuseries on the topic, please let me know.
Shealed Part 1: Becoming: Shealed begins with a nine-year-old girl’s talk with her mom about the delicate topics of womanhood. It informs through science to replace silence within the family. It has helpful information for women of any age.
Balance: A Perimenopause Journey: This docuseries follows two female monks asking lots of questions and seeking remedies for their perimenopause symptoms. It’s a thorough discussion on a topic that “affects every single woman in the world”.
Hildegard gets the last word.
A Hildegard-related resource is a book by Minji Lee, Assistant Professor of Religion and Medical Humanities at Montclair State University, New Jersey. She has a Ph.D. from Rice University. She wrote The Medieval Womb: Hildegard of Bingen’s Views on The Female Reproductive Body.
In it Lee writes, “While I was in graduate school, I suffered greatly with my menstruation.” So when she read an article on it by Marla N. Power in an anthropology of religion class, the result was impactful. She writes, “Power’s study profoundly influenced my desire to explore how women’s bodies have been interpreted throughout religious history.”
With her own experience with extreme menstrual symptoms, she can both relate to and relay her findings in this underserved topic.
She writes,
“I failed to recognize that my body was sending an important message that my lifestyle—insufficient sleep, no weekends, long hours in the graduate office, constant stress—was unsustainable. In Hildegardian terms, my body was manifesting symptoms of imbalance.”
While taking a semester away from her studies, she spoke with her mother’s devout Catholic friend, who was also a physician. She “offered not only medical treatment but also counselling and spiritual guidance”. And she offered a complementary spark to Lee’s research, which was just beginning with her reading of Hildegard’s Cause et cure and Scivias.
Here’s what drove her studies,
“What remained absolutely clear throughout my graduate studies was the consistent presence of women who supported me through various health issues…These women’s assistance helped me envision Hildegard’s era, when women necessarily supported one another in the absence of modern medicine.”
Lee says that Hildegard “transformed traditional ideas about women’s bodies” and went against the norms of that time.
Yet, she’s not trying to show Hildegard as a “proto-feminist” because Hildegard was still very traditional but not weak. She had a strong voice and was sought out by influential men and women of her day for her wisdom.
Even though she entered religious life as a child and remained celibate, she “showed sympathy to women who were wives and mothers, understanding their reproductive processes and functions.”
Hildegard believed that men and women were God’s creatures whose roles were meant to complement each other.
Hildegard disagreed with common thought about Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. It was not about Eve’s eating the forbidden fruit that foretold women to thereafter be “subjected to men” and punished with painful childbirth. For Hildegard, “it was more important for Adam that Eve was given to him by God.” Adam didn’t leave Eve.
There’s a hope that men will be patient with women through their medical struggles as well, with fluctuating hormones and womanly health issues.
Flowing Positivity
Contrary to other medieval writers, Lee writes that Hildegard
“uses these concepts of fluidity and porosity to explain women, especially their sexual and reproductive bodies…Her vision offers an alternative understanding: one where the porous female body becomes not a liability but a mirror of the cosmos and a channel of divine vitality.”
After years of studying Hildegard’s writings, Lee writes that Hildegard “transformed medieval views of women’s bodies from negative to positive.”
Lee says that Christian medieval belief was that women’s bodies were porous and permeable; “…the terms ‘porosity’ and ‘flow’ are central to analysing Hildegard’s depiction of women’s reproductive and spiritual bodies.”
Lee defines “flow” as not only referring to blood, humours and milk, but perhaps the move of the Holy Spirit, with “spiritual energy, grace and salvation through the female body.”
The greening power of viriditas
She names Hildegard as a game-changer in “the theological and medical understanding of the female body.” The key to it is “Hildegard’s distinctive understanding of this greening power” of viriditas.
For Hildegard, she states, viriditas is
“…the divine life-force manifest in all creation, flowing most visibly in women’s bodies through menstruation, pregnancy, and childbirth.”
Viriditas is a natural flow that along with moisture in the body, keeps it healthy. And that women’s menstral cycles and viriditas go hand in hand.
Lee includes from Hildegard’s Causes and Cures,
“The stream of a woman’s menstrual period is her life-giving viriditas and her exuberant vigor.
This sprouts into offspring, as a tree with its vital force sprouts and flowers, producing leaves and fruits. So a woman, from the vital force of the menstrual blood, produces flowers and leaves in the fruit of her womb.”
“Hildegard’s viriditas is directly related to flowing and flowering.” But also as “the embodiment of divine creative force.”
Lee cites from Hildegard’s Scivias:
“I [soul] am the living breath in a human being, placed in a tabernacle of marrow, veins, bones and flesh, giving it vitality [viriditas] and supporting its every movement.
…for it gives vitality [viriditas] to the marrow and veins and members of the whole body, as the tree from its root gives sap and greenness [viriditas] to all the branches.
Women helping women
In the Afterword of the book, Lee writes about some similarities between Korean traditional medicine and that of Hildegard’s, including the use of mugwort as a remedy for various women’s issues.
As in Hildegard’s time to now, as Lee mentioned, it’s about women helping women with the issues we all deal with. I’ve had some great help recently from two women doctors on learning about HRT and my vitamin deficiencies.
It’s good to be tested and monitored during the healing process of any medical issue. You’ll find that done in those two docuseries I mention above as well. And both are full of recent medical findings and discoveries.
I hope this has been helpful in getting to know St. Hildegard better and also women’s health. In previous posts, I’ve had conversations with a naturopath and other healers who use Hildegard’s remedies. Be sure to check them out.
Why do Catholics pray to saints? Why pray to St. Hildegard of Bingen?
Hildegard gave advice to many people over her lifetime, including public figures and popes. Some might say if only she were still around to offer advice on surviving in this chaotic world. But according to the teachings of the Catholic faith, we can pray to her as she is a saint, a Doctor of the Church, and part of the communion of saints. And we can read the wisdom she wrote down as spiritual readings.
Here are some examples of advice Hildegard gave based on her letters:
Hildegard to Abbess Sophia 1164-70
“Now then, rein yourself in, lest your mind become inflamed with the sweetness which is very harmful to you in the instability of secular life…Beware, therefore, lest you lose the grace through the instability of your mind.”
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume 1. Translated by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman
Hildegard to the Congregation of Nuns 52r 1148-50
“God has infused human beings with good understanding so that their name will not be destroyed. It is not good for people to grab hold of a mountain which they cannot possibly move. Rather, they should stand in the valley, gradually learning what they are capable of.”
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume 1
The great Bernard of Clairvaux recognized her gifts of discernment.
Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to Hildegard 1146-47
“We rejoice in the grace of God which is in you…
And so we ask all the more, and humbly beseech, that you remember us before God, and not only us but also those who are bound to us in spiritual community.”
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume 1
St. Hildegard of Bingen as a saint and Doctor of the Church, is part of the Church’s spiritual heritage and communion of saints. And therefore, we can still seek her wisdom and intercession.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church
2. Arrangement of the material in catechism
A catechism should faithfully and systematically present the teaching of Sacred Scripture, the living Tradition in the Church and the authentic Magisterium, as well as the spiritual heritage of the Fathers, Doctors, and saints of the Church, to allow for a better knowledge of the Christian mystery and for enlivening the faith of the People of God.
We believe in the communion of saints, St. Hildegard is among them.
From the Catechism of the Catholic Church: Paragraph 5. 946. “…The communion of saints is the Church…”
947 “Since all the faithful form one body, the good of each is communicated to the others…”
948 “…communion “in holy things (sancta)” and “among holy persons” (sancti).”
29. “We believe that the multitude of those gathered around Jesus and Mary in paradise forms the Church of Heaven where in eternal beatitude they see God as He is, and where they also, in different degrees, are associated with the holy angels in the divine rule exercised by Christ in glory, interceding for us and helping our weakness by their brotherly care.”
We pray to the saints for their intercession in bringing our petitions to God.
And so I sat down with pen and paper and listed some requests to ask for St. Hildegard’s intercession. If I had a direct line to St. Hildegard, I’d be a very blessed person, but I can’t claim that. But that said, anyone can pray to a saint and ask for their help.
Here’s my prayer to St. Hildegard:
St. Hildegard, my website is about you. I sometimes listen to your music as I write my blog posts. I started the website because I saw a need to get the word out about you within the Catholic community, which was lacking, at least that I noticed back in 2019. Things have changed since then, and I see your name much more online and in Catholic news. I don’t claim credit for that; maybe it’s merely an algorithm change, or because I’m always seeking out news about you.I want to serve you and others the best I can. Please pray for me.
I sometimes read your writing while I’m in the adoration chapel. I also see a spiritual director so I can stay on track with my Catholic faith. I put all my worries into your hands, St. Hildegard. Help me to share wisely about you, so that people will gain from your wisdom. May your words reach many and change hearts toward God.
I also ask for your intercession for my special intentions. Please pray for me.Amen.
More from SOLEMNI HAC LITURGIA (CREDO OF THE PEOPLE OF GOD) OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF PAUL VI June 30, 1968
30. “We believe in the communion of all the faithful of Christ, those who are pilgrims on earth, the dead who are attaining their purification, and the blessed in heaven, all together forming one Church; and we believe that in this communion the merciful love of God and His saints is ever listening to our prayers, as Jesus told us: Ask and you will receive…”
“Hitherto you have not asked anything in my name. Ask, and you shall receive; that your joy may be full.” John 16:24
“Fear not, for I am with thee: turn not aside, for I am thy God: I have strengthened thee, and have helped thee, and the right hand of my just one hath upheld thee.” Isaiah 41:10
Therefore, we pray with reassurance from the teachings of the Catechism, the Holy Bible and spiritual readings, that we can put our trust in the saints to intercede for us.
We pray and wait for God’s will to be done. Prayer is not magic. Some prayers are answered, some are answered in ways we never expected, while others seem to bring no immediate resolution at all (or as far as we know). But we ask that we receive what God wills for us and in His time. We can receive solace and peace just by praying and knowing that our petitions have reached God.
Do you have a prayer request for St. Hildegard of Bingen to intercede for you?
For more reading about prayer, please read the chapter I wrote in Crowned with Grace! My chapter title is “Our Lady of Miracles”, specifically about the painting of the Madonna dei Miracoli from Cicagna, Italy, that is located here in San Francisco, CA. It includes a prayer to Our Lady.
Archbishop Cordeleone at St. Mary’s Cathedral on Easter Sunday 2026
We have many modern-day Catholic leaders to learn from, such as Archbishop Cordileone here in San Francisco. We’re fortunate that the church is alive and the pews are full today. We learn from our rich Catholic history that keeps us rooted in biblical teachings. Looking back to the Doctors of the Church, such as St. Hildegard of Bingen, for the wisdom that is ageless, we pass the faith on to today’s world, seeking guidance and reassurance that God is still with us. This consistency in faith shows us that God truly is eternal.
St. Hildegard of Bingen left us with beautiful imagery and writings that we can enjoy on this Easter, centuries after her passing in 1179. Her writings are based on visions from God to guide the Church and enlighten the people.
St. Hildegard had mystical visions since childhood, but she kept them to herself until Pope Eugene III gave her permission to share them. In her acclaimed work, Scivias, she describes 26 of her mystical visions. She herself writes that she was fully awake and aware during these visions, not in a state of rapture or ecstasy. She completed the work around 1151, taking over 10 years to write it. The title Scivias is shortened from “Scito vias Domini” in Latin to “Know the Ways of the Lord” in English.
Scivias Book 2, Vision 1– Hildegard of Bingen
…And I heard the voice saying to me from the aforementioned living fire:…you are nonetheless touched by My light, which kindles in you an inner fire like a burning sun; cry out and relate and write these My mysteries that you see and hear in mystical visions. So do not be timid, but say these things you understand in the Spirit as I speak them through you…
15. “The risen Christ appeared frequently to His disciples
But just as the children of Israel, after being liberated from Egypt, wandered in the desert for forty years before coming into the land flowing with milk and honey, so too the Son of God, rising from the dead, showed Himself for forty days to His disciples and the blessed women who wept and had a great desire to see Him. This He did to encourage them, lest they should waver in faith and say, “We did not see Him, so we cannot believe that He is our salvation!” He showed Himself to them frequently, to strengthen them that they might not fall.”
A rose garden
The blessings of the past should not be forgotten, nor those who were blessed to share them, even if centuries ago.
During this season of Lent, do we fast? Do we do specific mortifications? Do you know?
Looking back, we can draw examples of mortification practices from Jutta and Hildegard; each one had a completely different approach, Hildegard’s being more moderate.
540 “Jesus’ temptation reveals the way in which the Son of God is Messiah, contrary to the way Satan proposes to him and the way men wish to attribute to him. This is why Christ vanquished the Tempter for us: ‘For we have not a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sinning.’ By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert.“
Fr. Martins states, “One of the most basic and traditional forms of observing Lent is fasting: mandatory for all Catholics (except for those exempted by age or illness) on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday and encouraged throughout the season.” He goes on to write that it’s an ancient Christian practice but also part of all major religions. Even the ancient philosophers, like Plato, fasted. That practicing penance “reminds us of our own mortality”, and “makes us feel our lack of self-sufficiency and our dependence on God.” That “it is a prayer made with both the body and mind.” And that when Lent is over, we can celebrate Easter and “consume the good things we have gone without.”
Jutta vs. Hildegard on mortifications
Two voices from the medieval times were Jutta and Hildegard, offering us varying versions of mortifications.
Janina Ramirez in Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages, Through the Women Written Out of It, writes about the early relationship between Jutta and Hildegard. Hildegard was “given as a tithe to the church by her noble parents while she was very young”. She was placed under the supervision of Jutta of Sponheim, who was only five years older than her, and “whom she’d share a single room for 24 years.”
Jutta was also from a noble family. She was the daughter of a count. Growing up in a castle didn’t entice her to marry another noble, though. Instead, she was firmly resolved to become a nun. She is described as “extremely pious and ascetic, practicing frequent fasting and self-flagellation, praying barefoot for hours in extreme weather, wearing chains and horsehair shirts, and refusing all meat.” After years of these harsh practices, Jutta died at age 44.
Hildegard had witnessed Jutta’s years of severe mortifications and was “horrified” by them. When Jutta passed away, and Hildegard was chosen as the successor abbess in 1136, Hildegard discouraged extreme self-punishment.
Yet, Jutta did have “prophetic powers” as written in Voice of the Living Light by Barbara Newman. Jutta was known as a healer, and she “made St. Disibod into a mecca for pilgrims…”
In that sense, Hildegard found a great example in Jutta. “She also saw firsthand what an unusually gifted and energetic nun might make of her vocation.”
Newman compares the two this way, “A savage ascetic, Jutta died at forty-four, worn out by her austerities, while Hildegard, though of fragile health, prized the classic Benedictine virtue of moderation and lived to be eighty-one.”
Hildegard had her own prophetic powers via visions starting from a young age. It could be that those beautiful, colorful visions that Hildegard experienced made her approach so different from Jutta’s.
From Hildegard von Bingen’s Mystical Visions, translated by Bruce Hozeski.Vision Five: 13.
“In the area where the woman shone with the color that was similar to the purple hyacinth, there was fire that was restraining the woman. This shows the perfection of those who imitate the word in their burning love…No law forces people to seek the narrow way, but the people breathe in my sweet scent according to their own will and not by the force of any law…”
But back to Jutta. Fiona Maddock further describes Jutta in Hildegard of Bingen: The Woman of Her Age, “She gave herself up as a living sacrifice in vigils, prayers and continual fasting. In practice this entails depriving herself of sleep…Jutta dressed in a rough, lowly attire and was content to eat only the leftovers at table.
Saint Benedict’s Rule, on the other hand, “preached dietary moderation”. There were specific instructions for days of fasting.
“Abstinence was both a penance and a sign of devotion, often practiced collectively within the community. Dry eating—that is, only bread, salt, water, a limited intake of fruit and vegetables—was common.”
Jutta’s mortifications were not considered as being moderate and so she was often reprimanded by her monks. Her elders would insist that she abstain from such “extreme behavior”.
Hildegard, in contrast, had a healthier approach. As abbess, she followed Benedict’s Rule, and “she frequently warns against excess in any guise, either partaking of food or its denial…”
Hildegard’s advice for all of us
In The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume II, translated by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman.
94r. Hildegard gives advice to another Abbess.
This is good advice for all of us.
“…But see to it that you show proper concern for your little garden, being careful not to overwork it, lest the viridity of the herbs and aromatic virtues fail, so that they become incapable of bearing seed because they have been worn down by the plow of your toil….Therefore, beware lest you heed the commands to wound the body too frequently.”
And so Lent doesn’t need to be seen as a time of total deprivation and self-flagellation. Jutta had her own calling; who can say as a prophet what her reasoning was, as it differed so much from St. Benedict’s Rule and that of Hildegard.
Many of us still need direction on what to do and not do during this Lenten season and other times when penance is needed. Let’s take the advice from Hildegard and do any penances and mortifications with moderation.
More spiritual direction on Lent
For more spiritual direction on Lent, here is a video by Fr. Javier Olivera Ravasi, SE of Star of the Sea Parish, on Mortifications for 21st-Century Christians. (Examples for Seeking Holiness) Sermon for the First Sunday of Lent.
As gifted as Hildegard of Bingen was, it took great courage for her to share her visions. Even though Hildegard had visions from God, it would have been risky not to seek out reassurance from a superior.
In Scivias, Book Three, Hildegard reveals that, “And I heard the One who sat on the Throne saying to me, “Write what you see and hear.” She continued,
“…I am exceedingly afraid and do not dare recount Your mysteries. O good and kind Father, teach me what to say according to Your will! O reverend Father, sweet and full of grace, do not forsake me, but keep me in Your mercy!”
Confirmation from Bernard of Clairvaux
She sought advice from the abbot Bernard of Clairvaux, and he gave her assurance and firm confidence in the spiritual validity of her writings.
In a letter from Abbot Bernard of Clairvaux to Hildegard, he wrote,
“We rejoice in the grace of God which is in you. And, further, we most earnestly urge and beseech you to recognize this gift as grace and to respond eagerly to it with all humility and devotion…
And so we ask all the more, and humbly beseech, that you remember us before God, and not only us but also those who are bound to us in spiritual community.”
In the book, Hildegard of Bingen: Homilies on the Gospels, Beverly Mayne Kienzle writes that it’s commonly said that Bernard of Clairvaux and Hildegard never met beyond exchanging letters. However, “monastic legends” report that they did meet at Rupertsberg, according to the fifteenth-century abbot Johannes Trithemius. He “recounts that Bernard examined the seer’s writings, acknowledged the gift of the Holy Spirit in them, and expressed unspeakable admiration for her work.”
Reasons to Fear
A monk had relayed to Bernard of Clairvaux that there were skeptics of Hildegard’s writings as “womanly dreams”, the “phantasms of a ruined mind”, or that she was informed by demons. It shows why Hildegard might have had fears and so sought out permission from her superiors before she shared her visions via writing. Without the backing of the Pope himself, Hildegard could have risked excommunication, been called a heretic or a woman dabbling in darkness. Things of God aren’t always easily or immediately understood or accepted, even by the “holy ones”.
Protection from God
Kienzle writes that,
“Bernard replied that people who were filled with vice could not recognize true revelations…The abbot of Clairvaux then assured Hildegard that God would protect her against the shameful actions of foolish men, and he promised that he would have the pope read her volumes, just as he did those she had sent to Trier.”
Hildegard was granted permission and even encouraged by Pope Eugene III to write down her inspired writings.
Hildegard’s Homilies
How blessed were her Benedictine nuns to regularly receive her teachings, as their “magistra, teacher and superior”. They recorded those teachings in a book of homilies on the gospels, the Expositiones evangelorium.
Abbott Johannes Trithemius added that Hildegard composed fifty-eight homilies on the gospels for liturgical use on Sundays and feast days. Thus, establishing Hildegard as “the only known female systematic exegete of the Middle Ages”. The homilies are found in the Riesenkodex, with the other inspired writings by Hildegard.
Examples from Kienzle’s book on Hildegard of Bingen: Homilies on the Gospels:
Excerpts from Homily 9: The Lord’s Birth
“This little girl, pure and chaste, without the shaking of a tempest, was pure flesh, and therefore, the Word brought himself into her and grew as a human.
And we saw in faith and miracles his glory in many revelations of heavenly miracles.
“He was in the world, yet he was not made for the world like other human beings.”
“…And his own, the ones he had created, did not receive him, because they were unwilling to receive his honor and miracles…”
“Whosoever received him were enlightened by him, knowing him.”
Sources of Confirmation For the Rest of Us
Confirmation can come from scripture, as in Matthew 7:20 “Thus you will know them by their fruits”.
If what we are doing is producing good fruit for God, then all’s good. Hildegard certainly served God well. That’s something we all can aspire to do.
While we can’t compare ourselves to Hildegard, and we don’t all have a saintly abbot to seek advice from or a pope to approve our writing, there are other options. We can follow Holy Scriptures for guidance on what it means to produce “good fruit” and to serve others well. And for Catholics, the Catechism of the Catholic Church is also a guide. We can also seek spiritual direction from credible sources and join writing groups. And as she is a Doctor of the Church, we can read more of Hildegard’s writings.
Resources:
The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume I, translated by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman Hildegard of Bingen: Scivias, translated by Mother Columbia Hart and Jane Bishop Hildegard of Bingen: Homilies on the Gospels, translated with Introduction and notes by Beverly Mayne Kienzle
Also, please check out the book, Crowned with Grace: A Collection of Marian Titles and Devotionswith an Introduction by Dr. Mark Miravalle. I wrote one of the chapters, Our Lady of Miracles (Madonna dei Miracoli) that includes devotion to Mary, my Catholic faith, and lighting candles and praying for miracles.
You know her. You love her. Saint Hildegard of Bingen!
St. Hildegard of Bingen, born in 1098 and living to 1179, is still well-known and in people’s hearts today. Young artists, Catholic or not, are influenced by her and are creating art that pays homage to her. What would a woman of God do with such notoriety? Hildegard brought glory to God, His church, and His people. And so her Godly-inspired works and words continue to inspire and impress, not only because she was a saint, but also as a Doctor of the Church.
Barbara Newman explains in her translation of Symphonia how St. Hildegard’s celebrity status first began:
“After her official recognition by the highest authority in the Church, she found that she had become a celebrity. Not only was her writing vindicated, but her counsel was sought by clergy and the laity alike, ranging from ordinary matrons to the Emperor Frederick Barbarossa to Odo of Soissons, master of theology at Paris.”
Surprisingly, celebrity and influence was possible for women back then, in what others today would consider dark times. In Those Terrible Middle Ages!:Debunking the Myths, Régine Pernoud writes that,
“Certain abbesses were feudal lords, whose power was respected equally with that of other lords; some wore the cross just like a bishop; they often administered vast territories with villages, parishes…Certain women exercised even in secular life, a power that many men would envy today.”
“And it is scarcely surprising that the period ends with a woman’s face: that of Joan of Arc…”
Hildegard’s celebrity continues now with many contemporary artists, scientists, physicians, etc. inspired by her life and works. However, it seems Hildegard, as a self-professed “punny little woman” would have brushed off her celebrity status, preferring humility. She was, even so, prolific, her influence used for good, to bring glory to God and to help His people.
And so, as much as I herald the accomplishments of St. Hildegard, she would want me to bring glory to God as well. She didn’t seek fame, but it came. Blessed by God her talents and gifts are to be celebrated, but by always giving credit to the Lord as she did.
As it is written:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16)
My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. (John 15:8)
To Jesus through Mary
Barbara Newman writes that the theme of Hildegard’s Symphonia, “…celebrates the mystery of God-become-man in the child of Mary.” She adds that,
“By remaining inviolate yet divinely fruitful, Mary regains the lost heritage of Eve. Her body becomes the emblem of paradise regained as well as the path to it…”
11. Antiphon for the Virgin (Hodie aperuit) – Hildegard of Bingen
Today a closed portal has opened to us the door the serpent slammed on a woman: the flower of the maiden Mary gleams in the dawn.
Today a closed gate / has opened to us / that which the serpent choked in a woman. / So the flower of the Virgin Mary / gleams in the dawn.
My short video – St. Hildegard of Bingen – at the door
12. Antiphon for the Virgin (Quia ergo femina) – Hildegard of Bingen
Because it was a woman who built a house for death a shining girl tore it down. So now when you ask for blessings seek the supreme one in the form of a woman surpassing all that God made since in her (O tender! O blessed!) he became one of us.
Because a woman constructed death, / a bright virgin demolished it. / Therefore the supreme blessing / comes in the form of a woman / beyond all creation: / for God became man / in the Virgin, most sweet and blessed.
(Antiphons from Symphonia, translated by Barbara Newman)
Christ the King
On this day in the church, the Solemnity of Christ the King, please listen to a homily by Fr. Mike Schmitz, “The Moment of Victory” | Solemnity of Christ the King. In it, he speaks about Christ the King, and the story of Esther and her beautiful brilliance. She was blessed by God to become Queen, and what happened then? What did she do with the status and gifts she was given? For such a time as this…
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
Saint Ursula and Her Maidens. Artist: Niccolò di Pietro Date: ca. 1410
St. Ursula, St. Hildegard’s favorite saint.
In 1106, during St. Hildegard’s childhood, St. Ursula’s relics were discovered and they caused quite a stir. And so St. Ursula most likely became one of St. Hildegard’s favorites. Barbara Newman in Sister of Wisdom adds that, “Of all the saints in the calendar, none appealed to Hildegard more than the legendary Ursula, who supposedly led a troupe of eleven thousand virgins to martyrdom at Cologne…Ursula, too, became for her a figure of Virginitas, a type of the church longing for her bridegroom…”
Vittore Carpaccio, Apotheosis of St UrsulaSaint Ursula. Artist: Bernardo CavallinoThe Martyrdom of Saint Ursula By Caravaggio“Memling, St. Ursula and the Holy Virgins” by Frans Vandewalle, CC BY-NC 2.0“Memling, St. Ursula Shrine, part 1” by Frans Vandewalle, CC BY-NC 2.0“Memling, St. Ursula Shrine, part 2” by Frans Vandewalle, CC BY-NC 2.0Saint Ursula and Her Maidens Artist: Niccolò di Pietro Date: ca. 1410Saint Ursula of Cologne and Four Virgin Martyrs South Netherlandish ca. 1500Martyrium der hl. Ursula anagoria. Germanisches Nationalmuseum, CC BY 3.0
1b. In true faith’s vision did Ursula with God’s Son fall in love— a husband with the world did she abandon, to gaze instead upon the sun and call upon the Fairest Youth to say:
2a. “With deep desire have I desired to come to you, to sit with you at heaven’s marriage feast— I’m racing by a different way to you, like a sapphire cloud that races ‘cross the clearest sky.”
3a. When Ursula had made this declaration, report of it went out through all the people.
3b. And they declared, “The innocence of girlish ignorance knows not of what it speaks.”
4a. And they began in concert to make fun of her— until the fiery weight fell on her shoulders.
4b. For then they recognized that such contempt for the world is as Mt. Bethel.
5. They also recognized the sweetest secent of myrrh and frankincense, for contempt for the world mounts over all.
6a. But then the devil seized their limbs, to slay the virgins’ noblest bearings with their bodies.
6b. And this with piercing cry heard all the elements and ‘fore God’s throne declared:
7a. Ach! The scarlet blood of the innocent Lamb to pledge his troth is shed.
7b. And all the heavens hear this and praise the Lamb of God in symphony supreme, for the ancient serpent’s throat is choked upon these pearls compiled from the Word of God.
Hildegard von Bingen: 11,000 Virgins – Chants for the Feast of St. Ursula – Anonymous 4
This is an interesting podcast about St. Ursula and the Eleven Thousand Virgins. There are different versions of St. Ursula’s story. This is a thorough historical version.
Hildegard refers to the voice in her visions as the living light, God. How beautifully vivid her writings are that nature comes alive within them.
Excerpt from Hildegard to Henry, Bishop of Liège Letter 37R 1148-53, Hildegard of Bingen Selected Writings, p. 67.
“The living light says: the path of the scriptures lead directly to the high mountain where the flowers grow and the costly aromatic herbs; where a pleasant wind blows, bringing forth their powerful fragrance; where the roses and lilies reveal their shining faces.
But because of the shadows of dark living air, that mountain did not appear until the Son of the most High had enlightened the world. On that day, the sun rose from the dawn, illuminating this world so that all the people could see its aromatic herbs. That day was very beautiful, and sweet tidings came forth.”
Along with the scriptures, we are grateful for Jesus “enlightening” the world. We can join in that rejoicing by spending time in the paradise of nature that God has gifted us with.
Yes, there can be harsh winds, strong waves, and torrents of rain. But there can also be light April showers, dew drops on grass, and the warmth of the sun on our skin. Nature can be cherished outdoors. The writings of St. Hildegard remind us that the spiritual and natural worlds go hand in hand.
Meditating on St. Hildegard’s words can create a wonderful afternoon of prayer and insight.
Spiritual time in prayer outdoors is very beneficial, but there are also health benefits to going outside. We can enjoy the living light.
He talks about “Photobiomodulation Therapy (PBMT), also known as Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) or Near-Infrared (NIR) Light Therapy. PBMT is a safe, non-invasive treatment using red or NIR light (600-1100 nm) to activate mitochondria, reduce oxidative stress, and stimulate cellular repair.”
But he says that “natural sunlight delivers many of the same mitochondrial benefits.”
It’s anti-aging as it activates stem cells and DNA repair, and helps with sleep. Light supports memory and mood. It promotes circulation. And improves glucose metabolism. It helps with healing wounds, and encourages tissue repair. It can increase your energy levels. And surprisingly, light is good for your skin, even stimulating collagen and reducing wrinkles and scars. Also, it might benefit some eye ailments. And as always, speak with your doctor about your specific concerns.
10-30 minutes of morning sun (face and arms) for circadian rhythm (helps with sleep).
5-30 minutes of solar noon sun for vitamin D.
Late afternoon sunlight for red/NIR benefits
Spend time outdoors daily.
Mother Mary in the garden
Here are more positives to take to prayer with you, when you are outdoors:
Hildegard of Bingen- Scivias, translated by Mother Columbia Hart and Jane Bishop, p. 115.
Vision Four
7. How anger, hatred and pride are restrained
“When anger tries to burn up my tabernacle, I will look to the goodness of God, whom anger never touched; and thus I will be sweeter than the air, which in its gentleness moistens the earth, and have spiritual joy because virtues are beginning to show themselves in me. And thus I will feed God’s goodness.”
When we practice the sacraments, we gain in virtues. When we concentrate on gaining virtues, our tendency toward vice diminishes. Regular Mass attendance and frequent confessions are deterrents to growing in vice. Accentuate your virtues!
“And when hatred tries to darken me, I will look to the mercy and the martyrdom of the Son of God, and so restrain my flesh, and in faithful memory receive the sweet fragrance of the roses that spring from thorns. And so I will acknowledge my Redeemer.
Praying the Chaplet of Divine Mercy reminds us that Jesus is merciful. It’s a quick about 15 minute prayer, but something you can take along with you for mediation on your walk.
“And when pride tries to build in me a tower of vanity without foundation on the rock, and to erect in me loftiness wants no to be like itself but always to be taller than the rest–oh, who will help me then, when the ancient serpent who fell into death by wishing to be above everyone is trying to cast me down?…And thus in God’s sublimity I know the sweetest good, which is humility, and feel the sweetness of the unfailing balsam and rejoice in the delightfulness of God as if I were amid the fragrance of all perfumes. And thus I ward off the other vices by the impregnable shield of humility.”
Reciting the Litany of Humility prayer daily or whenever needed squelches tendencies toward pride. It’s very conducive to sitting outside and taking respite.
Father Angelus Echeverry is a Roman Catholic Benedictine Priest-Monk from St Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo, California.
Angelus is Choir Master, Cantor, and Organist at the monastery and performs his works locally. Some of his compositional influences are: Hildegard of Bingen, Victoria, Bach, Messiaen, Part, Penderecki, among others. His website features his ethereal and sacred concert music.
Sit back, close your eyes and listen to one of his featured songs; and you’ll think you’re surrounded by heavenly angels, a blessed spiritual atmosphere indeed, “sung prayer”.
When I heard he was holding an upcoming retreat on St. Hildegard and her music, I reached out.
In the interview below, he kindly describes what drew him to her and more about his own musical background. I learned it’s not just his music that is heavenly.
He sees Hildegard as a spiritual mother but also a sister in the consecrated life, as both are “children of St. Benedict.”
My interview with Fr. Angelus Echeverry.
Please enjoy the mystical insights and music of Angelus Echeverry.
Your website states,“His music is oriented toward and inspired by the sacred mysteries of God.” You mention that one of your compositional influences is Hildegard of Bingen. What first drew you St. Hildegard and/or her music?
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. It did so organically and effortlessly all the while eliciting in the listener a great and profound peace, even if they did not know what the texts were saying. This all indicated to me that these chants possessed qualities different from other musical styles. The entire topic was mysterious, fascinating and most appealing.
Hildegard’s music, moreover, always felt authentic as it is functional music, having a liturgical end. 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. It is able to ‘slow down’ the text, if you will, through the use of modal motifs and lines which linger upon the sacred words.
Yet, another draw for me to her music was that meditating upon and worshipping God was the sole reason she composed. Like Bach, every note written was for God’s glory. This was the aim of her music, and it was born from the fruit of her spiritual life and heart.
All of these elements combined resonated deeply with me, not only as a composer, but particularly because in the years to come, I would be discerning monastic life, the same life that Hildegard herself lived.
You were listening to St. Hildegard’s music when you were discerning your monastic vocation. Can you describe that?
My monastic call came in a moment of profound prayer in 2002, a moment later described to me by a priest as having been a “mystical experience in the depths of contemplation.”
It doesn’t surprise me now, in retrospect, that during that experience I happened to be listening to Hildegard’s music.
Her music in that prayer experience is significant for a number of reasons. It is as if God was using sacred music to lead me into his will for my life.
In other words, this music which seeks God in contemplation, was a sort of icon symbolizing what God was calling me to; to live as a monk, as one whose primary purpose is the seeking of God in contemplation.
By God’s grace, now a monk for 15 years, I can see even more connections to St. Hildegard than her music alone.
As a composer, myself, there is that obvious link, but more than that, she was a Benedictine nun. 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.
Not only then, but now, when I listen to chant, especially her treatment of it, it helps to elevate my heart and mind to God. Hildegard’s music assisted me and continues to do so in this pursuit.
The closeness I feel toward the Saint is further amplified by our shared experience in the mystical life, as well as our desire to be instruments of healing, myself serving in this capacity through my priesthood, spiritual direction and deliverance ministry.
Though my vocation did not spring directly from an experience of her music, her music helped me to see that I was in fact being called by God to the hidden life. I feel Hildegard’s music is like this. While sound is indeed present and points to the Truth, it nevertheless remains ‘hidden,’ ‘disappearing,’ that only God may be its reason for being; its center and purpose.
You have studied and performed all types of music, including singing for the progressive rock band, Themes. How did that shape your music to now sounding so heavenly? I assume St. Andrew’s Abbey in Valyermo is a great spiritual setting for inspiring your music, also.
Like all of life, our past experiences can’t help but influence our current reality in one way or another; and it’s the same with music. For me, the unifying thread, throughout my writing in these different styles, was simply about making good music. So, whether I was writing for my three-piece progressive rock band, creating electronic music, or composing sacred choral music, the driving goal was about writing something meaningful.
Sometimes people ask me “What is your main instrument?” My response is always the same, ‘the pen’. It’s always been about writing music for me; this is the composer’s heart — creating.
However, after my religious experience, my music took a significant turn. Prior to that, it had been just that, my music; written by me and for me and for some imagined audience. But afterward, everything became about God. This created in me a new outlook, one of including God in the creative process. Now, everything I write is for God’s glory and is something I am doing with the Lord.
I will often use religious icons to gaze upon while I compose. Icons inspire me and help ignite the creative fire. As an icon is a visual window to what it represents, so I desire my music to be a type of window into the Divine. The icon seems to ‘tell’ me how the music should go. Its subject, whether it be Christ, Mary, or the Saints, I see as interceding to God for this work, who sends his Spirit to assist me.
This is not a ‘formula’ for composition, nor a belief that I am ‘taking dictation’ from God. Rather, it is a reminder that I am no longer alone in the writing process, but cooperating with God in this creative moment. I do all this to keep the ear of my heart open to God’s inspiration.
When the music is finished I like to think that the best bits are his, and the others are mine, but in the end, it is a collaboration of sorts. Composing with God allows me the freedom to go where I may not have otherwise gone compositionally. This prayerful mode of writing often leads me to something less flashy and more essential.
Finally, while being at the Abbey can indeed be inspirational, I am to the point where the need for feeling inspiration is less important, than simply praying to and trusting in God to accompany me in this process of creating sacred music. His presence is all the inspiration I need.
Can you describe the healing we can receive from St. Hildegard’s music specifically, but also with music in general?
Although many styles of music can create well-being, healing and states of joy or hopefulness, chant and sacred polyphony, particularly for believers is preeminent because it is filled with and drivenby the Word of God.
Chant, being primarily scriptural, beyond the fact of its beautifully structured melodies and the ebbing and flowing of its natural rhythm, is essentially sung prayer. All prayer to the Holy Trinity is healing, because prayer connects us to the Divine One.
In a music conference at the monastery, I once gave the example of a sung minor third interval. If we were to sing it on a random vowel it can be very beautiful, but if it is sung, let us say on the word “Jesus” or “Amen”, its meaning is made even richer, more beautiful, and therefore, by its very nature, more healing. Those two notes become ‘charged’ with spiritual meaning and healing. Of course, one needs to be disposed to receive healing. One’s heart should be open.
This is the beauty of music, the healing happens in its listening. “Music calms the savage beast” we have heard, but when? In real time, as we hear it. This is the key, making time and space for the music, allowing it to touch us deeply and to affect us in the moment through its beauty and message.
The humble posture of Hildegard’s music becomes a means toward contemplation; toward inner silence. In other words, her music is like a place where the listener may go, to release their worries, even if for a moment, allowing the sound of prayer to inspire the mind and soul in remembering the reality of God and heaven; where the believer will be perfectly healed in Christ.
Is there’s anything else you’d like to add about yourself, your monastery, music, or St. Hildegard?
Hildegard’s music, it is important to remember, was influenced by a number of factors: from her lifelong monastic practice, the hearing and chanting of the psalms day in and day out, to her life of prayer and her mystical experiences with the Lord through her various visions and inspirations.
In the end, St Hildegard’s music is not so much about her, but about God.
I would also like to express my gratitude to my Abbot, Most Rev. Damien ToiloloO.S.B. for giving me permission to do this interview.
Finally, I would just like to include a few links to my:
Thank you, Fr. Angelus for giving us so much to contemplate! Hildegard’s music was inspired by God and through her very holy practices in living her monastic life. The glory goes to God. And that her music is a means to contemplation. Music for prayer. Creating an inner silence to take us to a place where we too can find God, as she did. And as your music does also; and your words that are so anointed. I say, thank you to your Abbot as well!
For those unfamiliar with Saint Hildegard of Bingen, here are 12 definitions from various writers to get you well-acquainted with her mystique.
A Model for All Women
She’s clearly the confirmation of Christian feminism. She’s clearly the call to women to be everything they can be, to be the fullness of themselves, without an ounce of fear. She is the “open sesame” to a woman’s insight and a woman’s Gospel life.
… she is also a model for all women—laywomen, too—because if a cloistered woman religious from the 12th century can take upon herself the learning, the authority, and the wisdom position that she did, then we’re all called to key roles in our Church.
Hildegard tells us that compassion is at the very heart of all healing. For her, the voice of mercy is never strained. It is always there to comfort us. Hildegard’s understanding of health was holistic: soma and psyche, body and mind, action and thought, were aspects of a whole.
– Consecrated Spirits, compiled by Felicity Leng, p. 78
3. Wild and Strange
…Hildegard might be the most paradigmatic exemplar of what I have referred to as “wildness.” She is by turns uplifting, inspiring, provoking, and off-puttingly strange. Poet, abbess, composer, visionary, prophet, reformer, painter (maybe) and “holistic” physician, she claims to have had visions from the age of five, visions made up of strange, symbolic pictures, similar to the images that haunt the apocalyptic pages of John, Ezekiel, Isaiah, and Daniel.
– An Introduction to Christian Mysticism, Recovering the Wildness of Spiritual Life by Jason M. Baxter, p. 20
4. AHoly and Royal Influencer
…corresponding with four popes (Eugenius III, Anastasius IV, Adrian IV, and Alexander III) and with two emperors (Conrad III and his son and successor Frederick Barbossa). Such correspondence brought her into the mainstream of general European history. Her letters also include correspondence with the English King Henry II and his queen Eleanor who was the divorced wife of Louis VII. She urged Henry to be aware of the flattery of his courtiers and she warned Queen Eleanor to be aware of unrest and inconstancy. In a letter to the Greek emperor and his empress Irene, or Berta as she was called, she wished them the blessings of a child.
– Hildegard of Bingen, The Book of the Rewards of Life, Translated by Bruce Hozeski, p. xvi
5. A Prophet Amongst Men
Never did she suggest that, as a woman and a Christian, she had any “right” to teach or prophesy in the Church. Nor did she claim or demand equality with men. Rather, she insisted that God had chosen a poor, frail, untutored woman like herself to reveal his mysteries only because those to whom he had first entrusted them – the wise, learned, and masculine clergy – had failed to obey. She lived in a “womanish age” in which men had become so lax, weak and sensual–in a word, effeminate–that God had to confound them by making women virile.
– Sister of Wisdom, St. Hildegard’s Theology of the Feminine, by Barbara Newman, p. 3
6. Extraordinary and Exceptional
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179), mistress of St. Rupert’s Monastery and “Sybil of the Rhine,” would have been extraordinary in any age. But for a woman of the twelfth century, hedged by the constraints of a misogynist world, her achievements baffle thought, marking her as a figure so exceptional that posterity has found it hard to take her measure.
–Voice of the Living Light, Hildegard of Bingen and Her World, Edited by Barbara Newman, p. 1
7. HerFirsts and Onlies
• …Hildegard was the only woman of her age to be accepted as an authoritative voice on Christian doctrine; • the first woman who received express permission from a pope to write theological books; • the only medieval woman who preached openly, before mixed audiences of clergy and laity, with the full approval of church authorities; • the author of the first known morality play and the only twelfth-century playwright who is not anonymous; • the only composer of her era (not to mention the only medieval woman) known both by name and by a large corpus of surviving music; • the first scientific writer to discuss sexuality and gynecology from a female perspective; • and the first saint whose official biography includes a first-person memoir.
–Voice of the Living Light, Hildegard of Bingen and Her World, Edited by Barbara Newman, p. 1
8. Conservative
Contrary to some modern perceptions of Hildegard, her thought was in many ways more conservative than revolutionary, depending on the time-honored methodology and learning of the monastic milieu in which she spent her life.
–Secrets of God, Writings of Hildegard of Bingen, Selected and Translated by Sabina Flanagan, p. 2
9. A Visionary
This German abbess’s power and influence seeped into every crevice of twelfth-century life. That she also happened to be a woman who only found her voice in mid-life merely adds to the richness of her story… Her boldness, courage and tenacity made her at once enthralling and haughty, intrepid and irksome. By contrast, the ills and terrors caused by, or perhaps even causing, her spectacular and overwhelming visions often rendered her helpless and torpid.
–Hildegard of Bingen, The Woman of HerAge, by Fiona Maddocks, p. ix
10. Talented/Gifted
Would you expect anything less from an abbess/artist/cosmologist/composer/ counselor/dietitian/dramatist/epistoler/healer/linguist/mystic/naturalist/ philosopher/poet/politicalconsultant/preacher/prophet/visionary who wrote theological, naturalistic, botanical, medicinal, and dietary texts, as well as letters, liturgical songs, poems, and the play, while supervising miniature illuminations?
–St. Hildegard of Bingen Doctor of the Church, by Carmen Acevedo Butcher, p. xvi
11. No Priestly Aspirations
Though a woman cannot be a priest, Hildegard suggests that her chosen virginity puts her in a more intimate relationship with God than a male virgin; hers is marriage…his fellowship…Though woman cannot be priest and consecrate the body and blood of my son, God tells Hildegard, she can sing praise of the creator, as the earth can receive rain to water its fruits…she as virgin can receive the (highest) priest and all the ministry of God’s altar as spouse and with him possess all its wealth.
–To the Glory of Her Sex, Women’s Roles in the Composition of Medieval Texts, by Joan M. Ferrante, pp. 159-160
12. WithVisions of God
…Hildegard sees the source of life, God himself, the three-in-one Love, as super-bright light (image of the Father) in which there is a sapphire-blue image of a man in brilliant beauty (an allusion to the Word made flesh). The image of the man, however, burns through and through in the soft red of sparkling flame (sign of the Holy Spirit). The bright light and the sparkling flame, which surround the image of man, are a single abundance of light: the triune God (second vision).
Human beings earn participation in this divine life through Holy Mother, the Church…
–The Life of the Holy Hildegard, by The Monks Gottfried and Theoderic, p. 7
Even 12 definitions might be a lot to ponder regarding St. Hildegard. Imagine the power of her mind and visions and what she accomplished in her time! Always giving glory to God for what she had and did. There’s a never-ending wealth of spiritual riches that she left for us. Let’s appreciate the good works God created in, through, and with her.
And know that God can do great things for us and with us too.
How do you define St. Hildegard? Please let me know in the comments below.
The text in the video I assembled is from The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen, Volume II (Translated by Joseph L. Baird and Radd K. Ehrman). It includes excerpts from the letter from Hildegard to the Abbess Hazzecha. And with scripture at the end. Hildegard had visions from God and so what she wrote was divinely inspired. Her words can be taken as prayer.
I created this graphic as part of a class I took with Kate Farrell on The Heroine’s Journey.
In classic fairytales, the princess gets the prince and they live happily ever after. We’ve been watching movies and reading books for years on that premise. The boy gets the girl. The girl gets the boy. If relationships were automatic and everything fell into place perfectly, then that storyline would also always happen in real life. But it doesn’t.
There is a Hero’s Journey and a Heroine’s Journey. I don’t believe the Heroine’s Journey is necessarily a feminist take on the Hero’s Journey, just a different route. To learn more about the differences, please take Kate Farrell‘s class as she can explain it better than I can.
Oh, the many choices we can have in life!
Hildegard was a very gifted child who had visions early on. The best place for her in the 12th Century was to be sent to a monastery. She could be best educated there and use her talents for God. St. Hildegard’s path was not to marry a nobleman.
Why do women of the 21st Century still pursue religious vocations? In this time of so many modern advancements in the home, more equality in the workplace, and the still strong call to motherhood, why choose to be a nun or a sister?
“The charism of the SSS is firmly rooted in the dynamic presence of the Holy Spirit at work within each sister as she engages with the larger community in making decisions that take us into places and situations where we are being led…Many SSS have engaged in the field of social work in various manifestations – from legislative work, community organizing, and one on one social services.”
Redwoods Monastery, is a small Northern California community of Roman Catholic women monastics founded in 1962 from the Cistercian Monastery of Nazareth in Belgium. They say,
“Our life is a pattern of prayer, study, meditation, and manual labor that is woven into the fabric of community, centered on Christ as our Lord and brother. We meet Him daily in the Eucharist, in lectio divina, and the “everydayness” of our monastic vocation.”
There are so many religious orders to choose from that offer different vocations in different locations. There’s nothing antiquated nor boring in that, especially when the Holy Spirit inspires it.
But back to Vasilisa: As mentioned above, I created the featured graphic as part of a class I took on The Heroine’s Journey. Kate introduced the class to the story of Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Beautiful. As more of a memoirist than a fiction writer, class assignments led me to compare my personal story with Vasilisa’s.
My life’s path didn’t end in getting the “prince”, at least not the one in fairytales. Instead, my life has led me to come to know Jesus, the Prince of Peace. I’m a single woman, but I don’t have a religious vocation. I still have too much of a feminist spirit to choose one vocation. Or I’m just too much of a free spirit. (But neither of those makes me right necessarily.) As a writer, I explore different worlds and I want to walk down more paths. But I do so with Jesus and my Catholic faith.
Women are single for many reasons, and not always permanent ones. Life changes so whatever state in life a woman is in, she is okay. Single doesn’t mean wrong. Single is a moment in time or it’s a lifetime. It just depends on so many variables. In today’s upside down world, how does anyone find anyone anyway?
I really like this inspirational video about women who are alone with no husband.
A Woman Who Walks Alone With No Husband | Billy Graham
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.
St. Hildegard of Bingen – But Paradise is the place of delight, which blooms with the freshness of flowers and grass and the charms of spices, full of fine odors and dowered with the joy of blessed souls, giving invigorating moisture to the dry ground; it supplies strong force to the earth, as the soul gives strength to the body, for Paradise is not darkened by shadow or the perdition of sinners. (Scivias Pt. 1 Vision 2)
My photos from four different walks in three different locations.
Abbot Gedolph of Brauweiler had asked Hildegard to pray for a woman who had an evil spirit. He and the other priests failed at attempts to free her themselves. The evil spirit said that Hildegard could, by way of her visions and divine revelation.
Here is an excerpt from Hildegard’s letter to Abbot Gedolph of Brauweiler, with her response:
The following message that I will speak is not coming from me, but from Him who is.
…the Spirit of God, who in the beginning swept over the waters and who blew the breath of life into the countenance of human beings, might blow out the unclean spirit from the disturbed human being.
…At his command fly away! Listen to him who is.
St. Hildegard did eventually get the woman freed. She also did other miracles over her lifetime, through her visions directly from God. As “revealed through him who is and who lives!”
Evil spirits aren’t always the problem, but prayer always helps anyway.
Our troubles and setbacks might not always be because we have an evil spirit. But prayer is recommended either way.
St. Hildegard of Bingen, pray for us!
This is not to be taken as authoritative advice. Go here to learn more about Spiritual Warfare. But it’s best to seek out the assistance of a priest for help in these matters. I’m just a Catholic writer. I’ve learned that to be set free it takes more than prayer but also a consistent practice of the faith to stay free.
I’m no St. Hildegard but I put together this inspirational meditation on, “Setting My Past Free”. In this video, I release myself from past discomforts, and set myself free. Consider it a type of meditation/prayer to purge my past, with the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Feel free to follow along to release things from your past too, even if just as a prayer.
It’s a new day, every day, to begin again. Amen.
Resource: The Life of the Holy Hildegard by The monks Gottfried Theoderic, Pgs. 88-89.
I asked three Hildegard Health experts a few questions about Pharma medicine vs. natural remedies. The experts are Iwona Bednarz-Major, Dr. Sebastian Liew, and Petra Sramko. Their responses are below.
I’m still learning about St. Hildegard, and that’s why I like to interview experts. I don’t want to put the wrong information out there. I also do my research.
I understand there are different perspectives on Hildegard, including with her medical information. I’m not siding with one way or another. I’m just presenting information that might be helpful to people new to her as I am.
Here in the U.S. people are becoming more and more health conscious. And many are totally new to the concept of healing eating.
Note: No one can be guaranteed of total health ever because we live in such a toxic world.
Personally, I have found it very difficult to navigate the whole medical system and stay well. I don’t believe my problem is mental (originating in my mind from birth), but rather outside stressors that then affect my mind and body via trauma.
My heart rate and blood pressure have been very high because of that. Recently, the stressors took me away from starting a new nutrition plan, even though I have one. And so I turned to medical help because that’s what I knew to do, as a much needed quick fix.
Here are some of the topics I bought up to the experts:
Here in the U.S., there’s a new awareness to incorporate healthier eating and active lifestyles. However, we still need surgeries, technology for X-rays and MRIs, and such. And we need pharmaceutical medicine for quick fixes and other serious conditions.
More people are wanting to be healthier, but being realistic is still the best practice. And healing our inner and outer bodies takes time.
Many of us have had years of eating fast food, soft drinks, chips, fried foods, and desserts, or what I call, “party food”. Sometimes we want to treat ourselves with fun foods and drinks. I know I do.
So even though I am now trying to incorporate more of Hildegard’s recommendations, my body needs time to adjust. I can’t be purified overnight. And I doubt I will ever have the discipline to give up party foods and drinks completely. In moderation and special occasion indulging is the goal.
We need both pharma medicine and herbal and natural remedies, until we are easing into more natural lifestyles. And even then, we still might need prescription medications.
My body needs to heal with good foods and healthy living, but it takes time. Meanwhile, I still might need to rely on medications, although low doses (I’m very sensitive to medications). Maybe 10 years from now my body will be cleaned out enough to rely only on natural remedies: if I were to be so fortunate.
I asked the experts if they agree with me. Or if they have patients that adjust immediately and are healed.
Now I’ll let the experts answer, in brief:
Iwona Bednarz-Major, Founder, Director at Stone to Flesh Second Degree Specialist (continuing studies), St. Hildegard’s von Bingen Studium. Academic Theological Course
Medication and medical advice and protocols are important because they sustain us through acute states. Worry is the enemy. I always advise people to follow their doctor’s orders until they feel they can uptake new regiments, slowly, and with doctor’ approval.
You’re absolutely right—we often need both conventional medicine and natural remedies as we journey toward holistic health.
Our bodies are intricate creations, shaped by years of lifestyle choices, environmental exposures, and, at times, deep wounds that require time to heal.
Medications can provide crucial support during this transition, while we work to restore balance through nourishing foods, herbal remedies, seasonal person appropriate fasting, and intentional whole person care.
Healing is rarely immediate; it’s a process, much like peeling back layers to uncover the vibrant health we were designed for.
I don’t have patients because I do not diagnose, cure, or treat, but I share my knowledge and let the recipients of consultations be educated and given the best possible information before they decide on their pathways to healing. 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.
The level of toxicity, years of neglect, various hidden issues, lead to chronic metabolic chaos, and although our bodies have an immense power to heal, for most people it will take time, consistency and desire to turn toward God made life-giving principles.
The path to a natural lifestyle is not one-size-fits-all, and relying on medicine temporarily doesn’t mean you’re failing. It means you’re honoring where your body is right now while striving for something better.
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.
Dr. Sebastian Liew, ND, MNHAA, MHS (UNE), Herbalist and Naturopath Please see my 2024 interview with Dr. Liew for more.
I practice both scientific phytotherapy and traditional Western herbal medicine, including Hildegard.
Depending on what is the diagnosis, I have treated complex conditions such as autoimmune without medications or reversed it.
Of course, it needs to be a very holistic approach and a practitioner to follow up is necessary.
His book “My Healing Life” is like experiencing a consultation visit, and getting his recommendations. In it, you find out how to do his Spiritual Heart Exercise.
Hildegard writes about the connection of body – mind – soul.
You (in reply to me) write the following – “…. but rather outside stressors that then affect my mind and body.” Well, you are directly writing in this sentence that you already know that they are killing you.
What can you do about the outside stressors apart from taking medicine? Is there any other way how you can handle them? For example, start moving more /dopamine/ to build stronger mind and soul, pray more and relax your soul. As I do not know about the stressors, I am just guessing.
Can you change your inner attitude towards the stressors and be friends with them?
Can you physically remove yourself from the stressors?
There are always times in our lives when we are pushed to change our point of views and attitudes in a lot of areas……I trust in God, and God sends us challenges to “grow”.
Sure, Hildegard 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.
It’s a very tricky issue. It is very difficult to answer.
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.
I do not want the people to get the impression that HvB medicine can rashly solve everything …that is not true…
Here’s my promised part on Hildegard medicine.
Healing Wisdom of Hildegard Medicine Did you know that nature holds the power to heal our bodies in ways that go beyond modern medicine? The teachings of St. Hildegard von Bingen, a medieval healer and visionary, offer a holistic approach to health that combines food, lifestyle, and soul care.
Hildegard wrote that our health depends on harmony of body, mind, and spirit. Rooted in the Benedictine rule of ora et labora (pray and work), her methods emphasize natural remedies, wholesome living, and spiritual reflection.
Why Modern Medicine and Hildegard’s Approach Can Work Together? Modern medicine excels at managing symptoms and achieving “healthy numbers,” but when it comes to long-term healing, Hildegard’s practices can be transformative.
However, if you’re on medication, it’s crucial to consult your doctor before beginning any natural remedies. Some natural remedies might counteract your medications.
Three Pillars of Hildegard Medicine 1. Food as Medicine Your healing starts with what you eat. Hildegard emphasized consuming foods that positively or neutrally impact the body while avoiding those that harm it. This tailored approach creates the conditions your body needs to heal.
2. Lifestyle Adjustments Small changes can lead to big results. Begin with simple steps, like a 15-minute walk after dinner, and find ways to move more throughout your day. Remember, your body is the home of your soul—caring for it physically strengthens you spiritually.
3. Healing the Soul Hildegard believed soul care was essential for physical health. Spend time in prayer for yourself and loved ones. Reflect on your life to identify vices and virtues, then work to transform your weaknesses into strengths. This spiritual practice can lead to profound inner peace and renewal.
If you’re dealing with lingering health challenges and aren’t on medication, Hildegard medicine might be the natural path to wellness you’ve been searching for. Embrace her timeless wisdom and discover how food, lifestyle, and soul care can lead to total healing.
Small steps, like a healthier meal, a mindful walk, or a heartfelt prayer done regularly, can make a world of difference.
As St. Hildegard von Bingen wrote, if God wants you to heal, you will become healthy….
Many people, like me, are going to be new to Hildegard Medicine. Many will do as I am doing, still relying on medicine as their quick go-to. I also take supplements. New foods and herbs seem to take more time, over time.
It’s the same with prayer. As a Catholic abbess, St. Hildegard was also naturally gifted spiritually. She received visions from God.
Prayers can be answered in an instant. A healing can be immediate. But that’s not guaranteed. We put our trust in God and then we leave our prayer requests in His hands. We say, God willing.
We do not force nor manipulate to make our prayers get answered because what we would then receive wouldn’t be of God. It’ll just be something we concocted on our own or with forces that are counter to God. Catholics want only what we receive from God. Healing from Jesus. Spirituality from the Holy Spirit. All the Holiness of the Divine Trinity.
Of course, friends and family might like to buy us gifts that make us happy. Or a boss might reward our dedication. But our prayer requests are often only known to God, as special intentions or petitions. We say them in the silence of our hearts in prayer. And therefore, only God hears them. Or if we are praying to a saint, Mother Mary, St. Joseph, etc., our request is for their ears only. We may also ask others to pray for us, but even then we don’t need to say why. That’s not required. We can pray for ourselves or ask others to pray for us. And we can say prayers for others as well.
Patience is not easy. Even if our prayers take forever to be answered or never do, we still leave it up to God. We wait for it to be answered in His time.
Jesus is a healer; there are many instances in the Bible of his miraculous healings.
St. Hildegard of Bingen was Catholic and so aligned with the Catholic Church. Read her writings and you’ll find God everywhere. And therefore, good food, healthy living lead to healing but also prayer and trust in Jesus as our healer.
Not everyone has access to health consultants so I hope this post will be informational. It is not medical advice, nor specific to anyone in particular. And you are free to ignore the spiritual aspects of this blog post. Hildegard supporters are not required to be Catholic nor spiritual, although I encourage it.
I started this website to present the Catholic Spirituality side of St. Hildegard and her alignment with the Catholic Church. Although I do recognize that even in her day, way back in the medieval times, she was very avant guarde, very ahead of her time. In future posts, I would like to cite those ways she challenged the church to make it even better. With visions from God, her advice can be taken seriously, and as Godly.
I hope you find this post helpful. Feel free to kindly comment, make suggestions or requests.
In Spes Non Confundit BULL OF INDICTION OF THE ORDINARY JUBILEE OF THE YEAR 2025, Pope Francis writes,
“Hope does not disappoint” (Rom 5:5). In the spirit of hope, the Apostle Paul addressed these words of encouragement to the Christian community of Rome…
Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring. Even so, uncertainty about the future may at times give rise to conflicting feelings, ranging from confident trust to apprehensiveness, from serenity to anxiety, from firm conviction to hesitation and doubt. Often we come across people who are discouraged, pessimistic and cynical about the future, as if nothing could possibly bring them happiness. For all of us, may the Jubilee be an opportunity to be renewed in hope. God’s word helps us find reasons for that hope. Taking it as our guide, let us return to the message that the Apostle Paul wished to communicate to the Christians of Rome.
And for words of wisdom from St. Hildegard’s writings in Scivias,
No unjust impulse takes the blessed angels from the love and praise of God.
This is shown by the great multitude of very bright living lamps;
They are the vast army of heavenly spirits,
Shining in the blessed life and living in great beauty and adornment,
Because when they were created by God
They did not grasp at proud exaltation
But strongly persisted in divine love.
For, receiving fiery brilliance,
They acquired an unclouded splendor…
So in this upcoming Jubilee year of 2025, let’s be very bright living lamps, who along with all the blessed angels, help share the love of God. Then, we can let everyone know what it is to hope, as we do everyday, with the strength given to us in God’s heavenly graces.
What are the Benedictines up to today – their sisters and nuns? Who is carrying on the spirit? Here I introduce you to one of them.
Sr. Nodelyn was my spiritual director a few years ago, and she has kept me in the loop with her community ever since. Back then, I didn’t even know she was Benedictine. I didn’t know to ask, as I was newly back to the church. So in this interview, I’m learning along with you.
Bio: “Nodelyn Abayan, a member of the Sisters of Social Service of Los Angeles, is a spiritual director and the vocation contact person for her community. Recently, she earned her doctorate in educational leadership and social justice from San Francisco State University. Her passion lies in early childhood education and supporting families. She is an adjunct professor at City College of San Francisco, where she teaches in the Child and Family Studies Department.”
Here’s my interview with Sr. Nodelyn Abayan about Contemporary Benedictine Spirituality.
From our audio interview (held on-site) on December 5, 2024.
Me: I’ll give you a rough idea of what I want to ask you about: the basics of Benedictine spirituality, about St. Hildegard, and about the interesting article I read that states that Hildegard was progressive, and Teresa of Avila was conservative. I had never thought of our faith as being conservative or progressive. I never heard those political terms…
Nodelyn: Used in the religious sense.
Me: Yes. But it also said that both were reformers of the church. So if you want to talk about that, because I think there’s a divide between people. I call myself traditional, but it doesn’t mean that I identify with… Obviously, I’m considered a cat lady, so I don’t identify with trad wives.
Nodelyn: With what? With who?
Me: Trad wives.
Nodelyn: I don’t know what that…
Me: It’s a very…
Nodelyn: The 50s kind of thing? The 1950s?
Me: Yes. I say traditional, but I’m not that kind of traditional. So there are many beliefs within our Catholic faith.
Nodelyn: One thing that I want to tell you is we follow the Benedictine spirituality. We’re not as immersed as the nuns. The Sisters of Social Service follow the spirituality of the Benedictine spirituality. That’s one thing that you have to be clear about.
Me: But you’re not Benedictine?
Nodelyn: We are Benedictine, but we follow the spirituality. But if you say, are you a Benedictine nun? No, I’m not a Benedictine nun. I’m a Sister of Social Service who follows the spirituality of St. Benedict, Benedictine spirituality. When you interview somebody, say, oh, she’s a Benedictine nun. That’s different from us. The nuns, some of them, they tend to follow the rules strictly. If they have to wake up, because there’s about eight times they have to pray.
Me: Is that the rule? The Rule of St. Benedict.
Nodelyn: That’s part of the rule. Which, for us, we don’t. We pray, but we don’t follow it as strictly. That’s why I say we follow the spirituality of it. We know the importance and significance of prayer in our lives, but we don’t wake up at 6 o’clock in the morning or 3 o’clock in the morning, and all of us pray together. I believe in the past they did that, but we kind of modified it. It depends on our ministry, whatever is the call of the ministry. So it would be interesting for you, to find a real Benedictine nun. Because we follow the contemporary Benedictine spirituality.
Me: Yes.
Nodelyn: 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.
Me: Yes, and joy.
Nodelyn: 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.
And we know the importance of prayer. We do the Liturgy of the Hours, which the nuns also do. We follow the breviary of the church so we pray.
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.
Me: Do you have a certain type of prayer? For instance, Teresa of Avila did mental prayer.
Nodelyn: For me it’s following my breath, or sometimes I use the mantra, Maranatha, Come Lord Jesus. Sister Celeste, she also does her own quiet prayer. Sometimes we meet there (pointing to another room), but it’s not intentional. It’s our personal prayer in silence.
Every morning when I wake up, that’s the first thing I do. I meet God in silence. That’s one thing as Benedictines, we really, really take silence seriously. In our prayer, during the day, and for me, I’ve been practicing at least to have two days of silence, or one day of silence a month. Because that’s when I grow roots. It’s like when I go deeper. Because the world is offering us so many narrow things, just a lot of false, false, false things. The truth is when, in silence, I encounter truth. It is in silence in front of God, that this is who I am. I mean, not physically, but this is who I am. Accept me for who I am. And that’s when I feel God’s presence the most in silence.
Silence, beauty, joy, and the role of hospitality, those are very Benedictine. If you study the Benedictines, the Rule of Saint Benedict, it started in Norcia, Italy.
Me: Do you do your chores, or daily duties during your day of silence?
Nodelyn: At the beginning of the month, or even a day before, I already have scheduled a protected day. It’s a protected day for my silence. When I do my silence, I need to get out of the house, to be out of my routine. Sometimes I go spend overnight in a retreat center. Or I go and spend a whole day by the ocean, but I bring my lunch. I can hear a different sound, and I can listen to God more, if I’m not in my usual…It helps, at least for me, if I’m in a different location. I don’t normally do the normal things when it’s my day of silence.
Me: It’s kind of like fasting.
Nodelyn: Fasting from the usual, if you want to look at it that way, from your usual work. It’s like a Sabbath. But I find it so nourishing to my soul. And it’s not just my own thing, but I feel like it’s also that God wants to have that time with me. It’s an invitation from the Holy Spirit, to say, “Hey, let’s go and have a picnic together.” And I take it seriously.
Me: Do you read there?
Nodelyn: Sometimes I read, but sometimes there are months that I just don’t do anything. I just walk and listen to the waves. Last month or two months ago, I went to the Berkeley Marina, by the water there. So beautiful! And I just listened to the waves, and I had my food. But I do write, though. Because I have to write down whatever is going on. Or sometimes I listen to God and what God is telling me.
Me: Journal?
Nodelyn: Yeah. I do journaling. And this I just started recently, about six months ago.
Because when I was studying to become a sister, once a month, on weekends, we’d have to have silence. After I finished my doctorate, I had so much noise in my head with all of that. And I feel like God is calling me now to be quiet again. And so when I graduated I went back to the silence again. Or having silence as part of my month. I try to do it daily, too. I have 20 minutes of silence in the morning.
Nodelyn’s cat, Julian
Julian will come to me. Either I sit on my cushion or sit on a chair and Julian will be on my lap. And I don’t do anything. I listen to my breath because I know my breath is God’s breath. And that was given to us in the Genesis story (Genesis 2:7). It’s the same breath that every time you breathe, you’re breathing God. And it’s your life. God has given us the life.
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.
You have experienced that when you come here for our dinners and celebrations.
Me: Yes.
Nodelyn: Hospitality is when you welcome. You’re really welcoming Christ through the people, or through strangers. And my community specifically, and it’s very Benedictine also, is the family-oriented-ness. We care for our families and our sisters, my community, is my family. But my blood family is very much connected to the community, which is part of the hospitality because they welcome my family.
Me: Do you have local family?
Nodelyn: My blood family? No, they’re all in the Philippines. But it’s not like other communities, where you forget about your family once you become a nun. Not for us. We value that family spirit. That’s how we connect with each other. Maybe it’s Benedictine because it’s part of the hospitality. You welcome those people the sister loves.
Me: It’s not a monastic life, then?
Nodelyn: It’s not like a monastic life where you’re going to cut yourself off from your biological family. There’s an element of monasticism in our lives; silence is very monastic. Finding beauty and joy, it’s very monastic. But you can also take that in your own everyday life if you want. It doesn’t have to be in a convent.
Another thing is our liturgical spirit, that we follow the calendar. You can see our chapel is decorated in Advent. That’s very Benedictine. We follow the church calendar in our prayer. You can see how we preserve the beauty even in our house. And even the way we speak. We value beauty just because our work is so hard.
Sister Frederica Horvath, she is the foundress of the Sisters of Social Service in Los Angeles. There’s one also who founded in Buffalo. She said it’s really important that we keep up our houses. If you visit different houses of the Sisters of Social Service, they’re well-maintained and beautiful. Because as social workers, she said, we work so hard and we encounter so much ugliness in life. Our community house is our sanctuary. It’s our refuge. We have that sense of beauty in order for us to be nourished once again. And so that we can go back to our ministry.
Me: It reminds me that I read a little bit about St. Benedict introducing spas and healing baths. So is there anything that you practice that is like self-care? Based on what he..
Nodelyn: Self-care? He was a sensible monk. He was very big on balance. Like the balance of work and prayer. The balance of also pleasure and leisure. Leisure and work. You don’t just work and work. Benedict understood how important it is to be human. To be fully human, you have to take care of your body, yourself.
Me: In recent years a mainstream term has been Work Life Balance. They got it from him it seems.
Nodelyn: And Hildegard is very big on that too.
Hildegard, she was progressive during her time. Because of the words that she used, she had had visions, and the role of women during that time. That’s why we consider her as progressive during that time. She was a doctor. She had so many gifts and talents. And she was a musician. She composed songs.
Me: Cosmology.
Nodelyn: Also, she was big on cosmology. She used herbs and put medicines together, and loving your body.
Me: Because Hildegard’s monastery was also the local clinic. They served the women and men. That’s self-care too; they kept the community healthy.
Nodelyn: I balance work, and also my prayer and also my wellbeing. I’m a walker. I walk more than 10,000 a day in nature. And I also dance Zumba. As a sister we study that this body is a gift from God to you. This material body is what you use to carry on the work of God. If you’re not taking care of it and you’re abusing it, you’re disregarding the gift. And then you’re not able to do the work that God wants you to do. If I take care of my body, I feel more joyful. Because I have more energy because I eat well, I sleep well, and I dance. But if you abuse your body, it’s hard to be joyful.
Me: Because it’s all connected. Our body is connected to our brain. And if we don’t feel good, then we’re not going to have joy. We’re going to be depressed. And then we can’t help people.
Nodelyn: And we can’t help people. Although some people who have experienced depression, understand, right? I’ve been there. But of course, you’re able to help more if you have a joyful spirit.
Me: If you have blockages of pain in your body, then not everything is circulating. That’s kind of Eastern medicine, where they have the chi. But, we have that too. It’s just different, we don’t follow the Eastern…
Nodelyn: No, you can get some beauty from the Eastern, you can use it on your own, but we don’t follow it. If you’re going to have an equivalent of the chi, which is in the Eastern tradition, it’s the energy. And in our Catholic tradition, it is the Holy Spirit. It’s the energy of God. And so you don’t want to block the Holy Spirit.
Me: Yes.
Nodelyn: And that’s why our community, the Sisters of Social Service has a dedication. We dedicate ourselves to the Holy Spirit. We have a devotion to the Holy Spirit. For one thing, you cannot contain the Holy Spirit. It’s very fluid. And it’s because the kind of work that we do, we are out there. And you cannot contain us. You cannot contain the energy and the joy of God.
Me: Is it graces also? That the graces you have when you’re helping, people around you get some of your graces. Or not yours, but they get graces?
Nodelyn: Each one of us has grace. But once you meet with someone, it kind of rekindles. You unleash it. By the virtue of creation, the spark of the divine is in each one of us. And now the work of the people who dedicate themselves to God fully is to help people rediscover it. It’s in you. It’s not like I give it to you because you have nothing. No, that’s not true.
God has a spark of divine in each one of us. And the task of the people who follow God, disciples of Christ, is to help people rediscover that in themselves. Or empower them. And discover it. Rekindle it. It’s in you. You just have to open up a little bit. And discovering what are the things that block it in order for the Holy Spirit to be alive again in your life. It’s always there. Sometimes it’s dormant. Now our task is to figure out in life, what is it that keeps it, dormant or not unleashing it, what is in me?
Me: And you teach. So how does your teaching affect when you teach kids? Because you deal with babies too, right?
Nodelyn: Oh, I deal mainly with the parents, but they bring their babies. And so how does that affect them?
Me: Yes.
Nodelyn: Well, it’s up to them to discover it, but I just know that when they leave my place, there’s always joy in their faces, their sense of happiness and satisfaction. It’s not my doing. I believe it’s the work of the Holy Spirit. For one thing, I value each person who comes into my classroom or into my space, that they are created in the image and likeness of whoever they are. Whatever faith, because I don’t work in a parish setting or a church setting. I work with the greater church, these are all people of God, regardless of their religion, and God loves all of them.
I value each one of them who come, and I build relationship with them, a positive relationship. And if they need help in terms of parenting or anything about child development, then I’m always willing to offer my advice or my knowledge and my experiences.
I don’t want to dismiss your question (I asked off audio) about how people need to be accepting of who you are, but I kind of answered it already. You don’t have a hold of what’s in the mind of people. And I think one thing that I feel, at least for me, is I’m very much secure that who I am in front of God, and so then I’m not as much affected by what people think. They will say whatever they want to say.
Me: For me, it’s different. You have an EDD. You have Sister Celeste and your community. You have people that vouch for you, that you’re very credible, you’re very legitimate, you’re titled. But somebody like me, who people can question, see?
Nodelyn: They still question me, Christine. Those titles, I think you’re looking at it differently. I still get questioned. No, don’t even put me up there. I have to tell you the truth, those titles are all just illusions, and the securities are illusions. I think what you’re saying is that I have the security, but I don’t. The way we live as sisters, do you think the church is accepting of whatever we say? We have experienced that too. It’s a community. But the thing is, it’s nothing like, me better than you. It’s just that sense that what I’m doing is I feel God wants me to do, and I have that faith and I have that trust. And you hold on to that faith and you hold on to that trust. And the trust that God loves me no matter what. And that’s what I’m holding onto. Titles, nothing, securities are less.
Me: Hildegard was accepted by politicians and the Pope and everybody, do you think sisters and nuns are different?
Nodelyn: In some ways.
Me: Do you think sisters or nuns are listened to, are valued enough in the church?
Nodelyn: It depends on the context. But I don’t know if you heard a lot about the Synodality that’s happening in the church lately. The last result of that, it seems the nuns and the sisters are not being heard as much as we want to. But my feeling with that is that it’s probably not the time yet. It might come. But we have struggled a lot as women in the church for the longest time.
Me: I think parishioners too. Women parishioners too.
Nodelyn: Yes.
Nuns are considered lay people. We’re not considered ordained. The priests are considered ordained. We’re considered among the lay because we’re not ordained. We’re not men.
Me: Am I lay?
Nodelyn: You’re lay.
Me: You’re considered a lay person? But you have a vocation, a religious vocation.
Nodelyn: We have a religious vocation, yes.
Me: I don’t, right? I don’t.
Nodelyn: Yes, but if you’re going to be technical about the terms in the church, the nuns and sisters are considered lay people.
Me: That’s crazy! You devote your lives to the church?!
Nodelyn: Because we’re not ordained. See, they are ordained. The men, the priests are ordained ministers. Ordination is different from our profession as sisters. It’s still looked at as, it seems to me, still higher compared to our profession, which I think in the eyes of God is the same.
And then there are some lay people who secretly have given their lives to God, and that’s between that person and God, not that it has to be, ordained or a religious sister.
Me: They have a private monastic life.
Nodelyn: And at the end of the day, it really is, between you and God. But it’s also, no matter what you want to do, God’s life, God’s love will never change. God will continuously love you. God loves. There’s this poem that I read yesterday morning. It’s just so beautiful. Because if God doesn’t love, then he won’t be God anymore. It’s just God’s nature. It’s God’s nature. God loves. God is love. So if God doesn’t love, who is God? I don’t know. It’s my belief.
Me: And I believe it too. I like the good news. That’s the good news.
Nodelyn: That’s the good news.
Me: And that’s why I don’t believe we should be miserable.
Nodelyn: That’s the Benedictine spirituality of joy and beauty. I think we are created to enjoy the life that’s given to us, but each person has different ways of concept, of enjoyment, because you can be joyful even if you don’t really have anything.
Me: There are a lot of people, poor and they’re very happy. In the Philippines (and those in the U.S.), they’re very joyful people, right? They’re always happy. And they don’t have to be high-powered executives. They’re just people working, hard-working people, and they’re very happy, right?
Nodelyn: But a lot of Filipinos have deep faith too.
Me: They’re Catholic.
Nodelyn: Yeah. That deep faith. And that we’re very gracious people. We know that everything that God has given to us are graces and we want to share it. And that when you share, you feel more joyful.
Me: It comes with God. Right? It comes with Him.
Sr. Nodelyn is also a writer and her latest article can be found here.
My Healing Life: My Most Important Work in Life, authors – Sebastian Liew and Bruno Saint Girons
Dr. Sebastian Liew wants to empower people to “stay vibrant in body, mind, and soul, finding their true selves and the grace to love themselves, nature, and others.”
I begin with an intro to Dr. Liew, and then, an interview where he shares tips about his Catholic faith and hormone health for women.
Dr. Liew is best known for pioneering German herbal medicine in Asia. He has been actively promoting European Hildegard medicine there. And he was awarded the Hildegard Prize by Dr. Wighard Strehlow, at the Hildegard Society in Germany. He has a doctorate degree in naturopathy and a master’s degree in herbal medicine (Australia).
He founded Leaf to Life ®, a Western herbal product brand, and is also the author of several books. MY HEALING LIFE is his movement to support you and activate your inner doctor and live a healthy life.
Here is my (email) interview with Dr. Sebastian Liew, ND, MNHAA, MHS (UNE):
I asked Dr. Liew about being Catholic. Because St. Hildegard was a Catholic nun/abbess and that influenced everything she did, and the many gifts she received.
Yes, officially I am Catholic; a convert from Buddhism many years, especially a miraculous cure from a year-long depression with one visit to Mother Mary’s Shrine in Singapore.
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.
Without this communion with God and his friends (angels, saints), we feel isolated and alone in our struggles despite having friends and family. Why? Because it allows us to be grounded in our true self – which is communion with God. Like a drop of water going back to the ocean.
I mentioned to Dr. Liew that Hildegard gained recognition for gifts in her 40s. And that she did a lot to help women. I wondered if Hildegard had any recommendations for women regarding managing PMS and menopause.
I think the main remedy in Hildegard medicine for menopause is a life of moderation. If we spent years of extreme stress and insufficient rest (which in turns weaken the liver and adrenals) prior to menopause, women may have either early menopause or very terrible menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, anxiety, digestive issues.
Hildegard taught us to live in harmony with nature. I know its not easy for modern women.
During PMS, women should take it easy and relax. All the fundamentals – sleep quality, regulated life, balanced emotions via herb rose and sage in Hildegard medicine. Hart tongue elixir in Hildegard medicine may be helpful. And although she didn’t mention these herbs for menopause but for other purposes are very helpful – sage, vervain, and yarrow.
Here’s what he has planned for the future:
I am currently doing research and in-depth analysis on the 35 virtues and vices of Hildegard medicine with my 7 terrains in my new book and hopefully it comes out a model to help us in mental and spiritual health.
Get more health tips from Dr. Liew in his books, listed below:
The True Trinity in True Unity – St. Hildegard of Bingen
I have survived many life challenges with the help of my Catholic faith and through holistic living. I encourage others to do the same through St. Hildegard’s Wisdom.
Holistic living is relying on what God has given us in nature to heal our minds and bodies. And it includes certain (but not all) healing practices that align with our Catholic faith. We need to cross-check to make sure we’re not falling into the wrong things that can affect us adversely spiritually. Therefore, our mental and physical health and spirituality are intertwined.
We live our Catholic faith daily and that affects our body, mind and spirit. They all go together. Hildegard was Catholic and she also taught about nutrition, etc. It all goes together. Being Catholic influenced everything that St. Hildegard did.
I’m trying to show all the benefits that Hildegard is known for that lead to healthy living. We need to be strong in our faith, not just eat well and exercise.
But there is also an emphasis on enjoying life.
St. Hildegard of Bingen left us with a lot of wisdom on all of that.
St. Hildegard is well-known for the Latin term, Viriditas. In English some call it ‘green vigour’. It’s meant to describe greenness, or vitality for the body and soul received from nature.
Ways to reach out to our natural environment includes: water (lakes, oceans), plants (flowers and trees), animals (pets) and air (oxygen from trees). We require that interaction to be human so we don’t turn into digital beings.
Being joined with nature regularly can make healing possible. You can detach from the world, be inspired, and relax.
The Japanese use a different term for that benefit, forest bathing. In the U.S. there’s actually a mental health practice for it called, forest therapy.
Others might recommend you hug a tree, but the concept is the same. Connecting with nature is good for you.
Viriditas perks:
your mental health improves just by being there or seeing it
lowers blood pressure
helps you sleep better
the green color is soothing to the eyes
on a hot day, you can cool down under the shade of a forest
lie under a tree and you can take time to pray (if in a safe space)
be grateful for God’s natural creations
Other ways to incorporate more greenery into your life is to plant a garden. Daily gardening also provides exercise.
If you are a city dweller without a backyard, then select plants to place around your house or apartment. If you have pets, be sure to check for ones that aren’t toxic.
If you can, make a space for an indoor window box.
The best plan though is to go outdoors for a walk or hike. Trees filter out pollution so the air in a park should be clean. Your lungs will soak up the freshness. Some beaches have a lot of vegetation and so that’s another option.
Try to schedule at least one day a week to visit a garden or park. Do so in silence – no cell phones or headphones, and no interruptions.
Adopting St. Hildegard’s healthy habits can set you on a path to increased longevity and happiness.
“God is the ultimate force and no good work goes without reward. I, Hope, live close to the realm of God, nourishing all God’s works and making the invisible visible.” St. Hildegard of Bingen (Source: Hildegard of Bingen’s Spiritual Remedies by Wighard Strehlow)
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?
It’s about living a healthy, full life. People are very interested in living longer, being healthier and spiritually fulfilled. Hildegard is not just a saint for her spiritual practices, but also for many other things vital to happy living.
Here are 10 tips from St. Hildegard’s gifts for living a full happy life:
Entertaining
Tasty food and drink in moderation are a way to share meals with others, socialize, and savor the good life. It’s about your quality of life. Overindulging (gluttony) in anything should always be avoided. But taking time to prepare healthy meals, setting a nice table, and then sitting down, thankful for your food, is a nice way to dine. Everything in moderation, but we can plan special occasions.
Because we can’t serve others if we don’t practice self-care for ourselves first.
A video prayer I created from the Antiphon for God the Father (D 153, R 466r) by Hildegard of Bingen. Source: Latin collated from the transcription of Beverly Lomer and the edition of Barbara Newman; translation by Nathaniel M. Campbell.
Yes, this actually happened. Last night, Bishop Athanasius Schneider spoke on the importance of Catholic tradition in San Francisco, CA! It was a blessing to attend. I hope this brings many blessings to our city and nearby.
Today is the Feast Day of St. Hildegard. A way to celebrate is to watch the Bishop speak on the value of keeping up tradition.
I consider myself traditional but not because of the Mass I attend, nor because I want to be a Trad Wife.
Since I’ve written other blog posts about being traditional, I decided I need to clarify that. Because if you see me at Mass and I’m not wearing a veil, does that disqualify me? Can I still write about St. Hildegard who came from a time and tradition of long ago?
I am open to attending both the Novus Ordo and the Latin Mass. The Latin Mass is a very different experience; it’s mystical, meditative and healing. The Novus Ordo Mass has its benefits too and that’s the one I’m most familiar with. I don’t remember attending the Latin Mass as a child. I’ve only recently been to a church that celebrates it regularly. I’m happy that I have that option in my city, and in the other cities around me. We need to keep that sense of the sacred alive.
However, I don’t want to feel self-conscious about how I receive the Holy Eucharist during Communion. That shouldn’t define me as traditional or not. Not all priests welcome the prompting of someone wanting to receive on the tongue. And I’m often afraid to test the waters. So I say, When in Rome…do whatever everybody else is doing.
Where I go to Mass and how I receive Communion should not be about waging wars or fighting battles. Those are battles I don’t want to fight as a parishioner. I want to feel peaceful in my parish.
Some are sticklers for how they practice the faith as traditionalists. Some take it to the extreme. I’ve heard of men in the Trad movement who don’t want to allow women to vote. I don’t believe that type of thinking is helpful, but that doesn’t make me a strict feminist either.
At my current older age, I couldn’t even aspire to being a Trad Wife, but I’m sure I wouldn’t make a very good one anyway. I grew up in California, the land of beaches, surfers, and good secular music. (I was never a hippie.) I like to breathe and I don’t do well when I feel confined with strict or stifling expectations.
Tradition to me is that the Catholic Church is where my grandmothers and my mom went to church. I like to experience the church the way they did. In my memories of them, they didn’t go to the Latin Mass. Now that all three of them are gone (to Heaven), I find comfort in visiting Catholic Churches, to carry on that tradition for them and for me.
Some current St. Hildegard supporters are in favor of women becoming priests. I’m not. As much as I love to defend myself as a woman, I don’t agree with that. Being a priest is for men only. That said, we still need women to serve other roles in the church, as they already do. It’s a topic for a different discussion but one that puts me in the traditional lane.
Whether traditional or not we are to follow the Magisterium of the Catholic Church, although that’s not always an easy task. We learn, try, fall, get up, and try again.
I speak for myself. I’m not qualified to answer for others about who can be considered a Traditional Catholic and who can’t. St. Hildegard died before Vatican II. But Mother Angelica was here for it and I found this great video about that.
Sr. Charista Maria and Sr. Mary Clare of the Missionaries of Our Mother of the Eucharist present, What Did Mother Angelica think of Vatican II, TLM, Charismatics, St. John Paul II?
Being an unmarried spiritual woman in the Late Middle Ages wasn’t easy, ask the beguines. The beguines sought to do good works, but they didn’t follow specific rules. They could commit to being a beguine, but they could also quit at any time. They did their own thing and that didn’t sit well with others. In my personal experience in modern times, that can still be true, whether conservative or more liberal. Some social conventions are still expected from women, and some are still frowned upon. But again, St. Hildegard shows us the way through.
According to Grace M. Jantzen in Power Gender and Christian Mysticism, “In Northern Europe, one of the forms of religious life for women in the thirteenth century was for women to live in small groups in family houses or in houses bought by pooling their resources.” These women were named beguines. They didn’t live under a religious order with vows, but chose their own virtues of poverty, chastity, and to serve the sick and needy in their towns. They didn’t have a strict rule of life, nor did they live under any authority. They lived spiritual lives untethered from normal conventions. They just did good for others. In the mid-fourteenth century about 15% of adult females living in Cologne were beguines, and there were more in France and Germany.
Interestingly, Cologne at that time was among seven cities named, an Imperial City. It meant it was independent from ecclesiastical (relating to the church) lords. And so naturally beguines flocked there, and tried to flourish, but with many difficulties even in that free city.
The ecclesiastical authorities came to consider these women as exercising heresy as free spirits. They were under no specific controls, rules or any specific religious order. While the women did good deeds and sought to follow the ways of Jesus Christ, their unbridled lives led to suspicions. Skeptics called them witches. Thus, removing any chance of them being seen as pious. But not all men were threatened by the beguines and many valued their charitable works.
Grace M. Jantzen writes that, “In the high and late Middle Ages, numerous women visionaries claimed spiritual authority for themselves. The construction of mysticism could no longer exclude women. What is apparent in the high Middle Ages, however, is the increasing wariness of the male ecclesiastical authorities toward (women) visionaries.”
In 1318, the Archbishop of Cologne ordered all beguines to be moved into convents.
Hence, a dilemma spiritual women have faced over the centuries: What if they don’t happen to get married (for the myriad of reasons that exist), but don’t want to be cloistered into religious life either?
I grew up (and still live) in liberal San Francisco, CA, so much of me still is so. However, being born in the early 1960s, I’m more traditional. It was a bit conservative back then, in my neighborhood near the beach anyway. So I’m a mix. Because in the 80s, 90s, and 2000s, things changed but were again innocent as compared to these turbulent days.
So while I can relate to more liberal thinking women, I still navigate back to a sweeter more calm time, and yes, more traditional. That’s what became of me, with my circumstances, and because I turned back to God.
After very scary recent times that I went through unprotected, I knew I wasn’t safe without God. But I will admit, it’s still a battle between my old life and this new one. I believe that God allowed those turbulent times for a reason so that I would fully embrace Him, and my roots in the Catholic Church.
It’s easier for me because I had such jolting crises when I was left exposed to the world – scared straight, they say. Straight meaning to get back in line; turn back to God or live in Hell. Only God could save me because no one else understood what was happening.
Single women that don’t sit below a specific authority structure will face scrutiny and fears from others. They are seen as overly audacious because they aren’t conforming somewhere. That can be said today as well. Even though women have strived for more status in everyday life, there are still some norms that will never change. That’s just the way it is. And it’s best to follow that.
A woman who is a total free spirit even in modern times needs to be in some kind of containment or else she will be way too vulnerable to the evils of the world. For many marriage is a tried and true go-to. But that is a tricky topic. It’s not an easy choice.
I’m a lot like the beguines; I don’t like commitment. Like them, I like to get to change my mind. That’s the leftover liberal part of me I guess. Plus, my choice in men makes me selective and picky, a compliment to those I have known.
I have, however, committed to never leaving God.
I never want to break away from the teachings of the Catholic Church. But I choose not to make any specific religious promises either. I’m just an ordinary parishioner who loves studying the faith and then sharing it. I never want to be under any threat as the beguines were. I hope we have advanced since that time. I try to make myself as transparent as possible to Catholic Church authorities.
Truthfully, the teachings of the Catholic Church are easier for me to follow now, as an older woman. Even so, I struggle. I’m not perfect but I respectfully do my best.
Minor corrections here and there for the Catholic Church are good from time to time, but a total upheaval would bring everything crashing down.
When all goes well in the Church, we benefit from its structure and teachings. I don’t need to see women leading Mass or at the altar to feel “seen” by the Church. The sacredness of Jesus’ church should remain intact.
But women should be consulted, listened to and learned from. Thankfully, now women that are single or married, moms or not, have made promises or are in certain religious vocations or not, can all make a contribution to the Church. Many are becoming writers, like myself. There are many Catholic women’s organizations popping up to support us, in creating Catholic businesses as well.
The contribution of women is more necessary than ever,” emphasized Pope Francis, acknowledging the challenges of hatred, violence, and ideological conflicts in today’s world.
He spoke about the urgent need for women’s contributions, which he said are characterised by tenderness and compassion, in order to foster unity and restore humanity’s true identity.
That said, let’s not forget the past, such as that of the beguines.
Grace M. Jantzen states that they should be remembered, “…in a study of who counts as a mystic, and that their lives should be included in the parameters of the question of power and gender in the Christian mystical tradition.”
And here she notes the importance of St. Hildegard:
Thus Hildegard of Bingen marks an important transition in the social construction of mysticism: whereas, as she insists, it is men who should be the mystical ones, expounding the knowledge of God by means of their insight into the mystical meaning of scripture, because of their laxity God has had to turn to herself, a woman, and give her the message to be communicated, doing so by means of visions rather than by the normal’ method of years of prayerful study of the scriptures.
St. Hildegard of Bingen chose the right path for a woman who had visions beginning in childhood. At that time, there was no other alternative but to join a religious order. Even so, she did not share her visions with others until she knew she had proper permission. She brought her visions to the attention of Bernard of Clairvaux in her later years when she was already an abbess, and he an abbot.
She wrote him a letter asking for his advice and with a plea for validation.
He wrote back declaring that her visions were a gift from God but told her to remain humble. A gift from God is to be accepted respectfully, with a humble heart to serve Him through whatever mission that may be. Pope Eugene III gave Hildegard confirmation as well.
“As long as Hildegard was willing to bow to the judgement of the pope and his representatives, they could affirm her vision without undue threat.” – Grace M. Jantzen
St. Hildegard was wise to take the necessary steps to gain authentication and approval from the higher ups. She did so with meekness, but also with intelligence to safeguard against being called a heretic or a witch. As a woman of God, she would want to be as far away from that as possible.
She complied with good reason.
“Accordingly, if a religious experience, a vision, or an alleged insight into scripture or Christian doctrine was deemed to be false, it was also deemed to be demonic in origin.” – Grace M. Jantzen
St. Hildegard of Bingen was confirmed a visionary, but is also a Doctor of the Church. She was an abbess and remained obedient under authority; however, she also was a great representative for women. As a leader, she submitted to church authorities, so that she could then advocate for the women that needed her direction and assistance, in what this will always be, a man’s world.
I hold up St. Hildegard of Bingen as an ultimate Catholic women’s spiritual leader. But honestly, after reading about the beguines, I think I’m more like them. I need more freedom. I have weaknesses and limitations. I could never aspire to the heights of Hildegard. I humbly sit below and look up to St. Hildegard of Bingen in awe (and so this website).
Establish my footsteps in Your word, And do not let any wrongdoing have power over me. Redeem me from oppression by man, So that I may keep Your precepts. Make Your face shine upon Your servant, And teach me Your statutes. Psalm 119:133-135
Hildegard’s letter to the Abbot concerning gossip:
The spears of malicious words hurled by the faithless and the slanderous are like a dangerous wind, suddenly assailing a person’s heart. And this is the storm aroused by the first angel when he despised God. As I frequently observe, these onslaughts often afflict even a person in felicity whom God cherishes highly, because the Enemy has learned of his bliss and seeks to oppress him with that storm so that he, too, may fall. But he is not powerful enough to snatch him from God’s bosom. Although difficulties and tribulations from the elements befall him, he retains his self-restraint, because God is watching over him.
References:
Jantzen, G.M. (1995). Power Gender and Christian Mysticism. Cambridge University Press.
Baird, J.L., Ehrman, R.K. (1994). The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume I. Oxford University Press.
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.
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.
Barid & Ehrman, The Letters of Hildegard of Bingen Volume 1. Pg. 110 ↩︎
Campbell, The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, Picturing Hildegard of Bingen’s Sight: Illuminating Her Visions, Pg. 262 ↩︎
Campbell, The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, Picturing Hildegard of Bingen’s Sight: Illuminating Her Visions, Pg. 263. ↩︎
Love Anderson, The Cambridge Companion to Hildegard of Bingen, The Context and Reception of Hildegard of Bingen’s Visions, Pg. 201 ↩︎
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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