Hildegard of Bingen 1098 – 1179
Hildegard of Bingen was a German Benedictine abbess, polymath, and one of the most important religious figures of the twelfth century. From the age of three she experienced visions of the divine, which she only began to record in her forties on the instruction of her confessor. Her trilogy Scivias, Liber Vitae Meritorum, and Liber Divinorum Operum presents a sweeping cosmological and ethical vision in which the order of nature mirrors the inner life of God. She also composed liturgical music, treatises on natural medicine, and a vast correspondence, and she founded two monasteries on the Rhine. She was named a Doctor of the Church in 2012.
Key facts
- Nationality
- German
- Era
- Medieval
- Movements
- Medieval, Christian
Selected quotes
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Attributed to Hildegard of Bingen:
“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth's greenings. Now, think.”
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Attributed to Hildegard of Bingen:
“Even in a world that is being shipwrecked, remain brave and strong.”
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Attributed to Hildegard of Bingen:
“There is the music of Heaven in all things.”
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Attributed to Hildegard of Bingen:
“Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence to the boundaries of speech.”
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Attributed to Hildegard of Bingen:
“I am the love that fills all of nature, every day, all year long.”