Hildegard of Bingen

Hildegard of Bingen

Scivias, her best-known work, contains 26 visions with their interpretations. Its name is an abbreviation for Scito vias Domini, “Know the ways of the Lord.” In it she spoke with a prophet’s voice, using the first person, speaking as it were for God.
“I spoke and wrote these things not by the invention of my heart or that of any other person,” she said, “but as by the secret mysteries of God; I heard and received them in the heavenly places. And again I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, ‘Cry out therefore, and write thus!’ ”

A unique voice

In spite of her harsh denunciations, Hildegard believed that her “new song must float like a feather on the breath of God.” Still, though both Bernard of Clairvaux and Pope Eugenius III recognized her spiritual authenticity, she encountered fierce opposition from other church leaders.
During her last year, her superiors, unhappy with her opposition to local church policies, placed her community under interdict for six months. During that time she and her daughters were denied both the Eucharist and music.
Regardless, Hildegard pursued her ministry until she died: “By a just measure I mark out the ways of good and bad people, and weigh their wills according to what my eye sees of their desires.”


Galli, Mark, and Ted Olsen. “Introduction.” 131 Christians everyone should know 2000 : 258. Print.