Hildegard of Bingen Quotes
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. The quotes below are attributed to Hildegard of Bingen, organized by topic.
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Hildegard of Bingen on Death
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“O dawn, you washed them away in a woman who was clean. O form of woman, sister of Wisdom, how great is your glory! For in you there rose a life unquenchable that death shall never stifle. Wisdom exalted you to make all creatures fairer in your beauty than they were when the world was born.”
Ad Vitam S. Ruperti Epilogus 6, Pitra 364.
Hildegard of Bingen on God
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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:
“All living creatures are sparks from the radiation of God's brilliance.”
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“O venerable father Bernard, I lay my claim before you, for, highly honored by God, you bring fear to the immoral foolishness of this world and, in your intense zeal and burning love for the Son of God, gather men [cf. Luke 5.10] into Christ's army to fight under the banner of the cross against pagan savagery. I beseech you in the name of the Living God to give heed to my queries.”
Letter to Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 1146-47 -
“Now, O son of God, set in the valley of true humility, walk in peace without pride of spirit, which, like a precipitous mountain, offers a difficult, or near-impossible, ascent or descent to those who attempt to scale it, and on its summit no building can be built. For a person who tries to climb higher than he can achieve possesses the name of sanctity without substance, because, in name alone without a structure of good works, he glories in a kind of vain joy of the mind.”
Letter to the Monk Guibert, 1176 -
“Angels, living light most glorious! Beneath the Godhead in burning desire in the darkness and mystery of creation you look on the eye of your God never taking your fill: What glorious pleasures take shape within you!”
O gloriosissimi -
“O Eternal God, now may it please you to burn in love so that we become the limbs fashioned in the love you felt when you begot your Son at the first dawn before all creation. And consider this need which falls upon us, take it from us for the sake of your Son, and lead us to the joy of your salvation.”
O eterne deus
Hildegard of Bingen on Knowledge
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“Father, I am greatly disturbed by a vision which has appeared to me through divine revelation, a vision seen not with my fleshly eyes but only in my spirit. Wretched, and indeed more than wretched in my womanly condition, I have from earliest childhood seen great marvels which my tongue has no power to express but which the Spirit of God has taught me that I may believe." Steadfast and gentle fath”
Letter to Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, 1146-47 -
“Now, O son of God, set in the valley of true humility, walk in peace without pride of spirit, which, like a precipitous mountain, offers a difficult, or near-impossible, ascent or descent to those who attempt to scale it, and on its summit no building can be built. For a person who tries to climb higher than he can achieve possesses the name of sanctity without substance, because, in name alone wi”
Letter to the Monk Guibert, 1176 -
“Ad Vitam S. Ruperti Epilogus 6, Pitra 364.”
O dawn, you washed them away in a woman who was clean. O form of woman, sister of Wisdom, how great is your glory! For in you there rose a life unquenchable that death shall never stifle. Wisdom exalted you to make all creatures fairer in your beauty than they were when the world was born.
Hildegard of Bingen on Love
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Attributed to Hildegard of Bingen:
“I am the love that fills all of nature, every day, all year long.”
Hildegard of Bingen on Nature
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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.”
Hildegard of Bingen on Truth
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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.”
Hildegard of Bingen on Virtue
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Attributed to Hildegard of Bingen:
“Even in a world that is being shipwrecked, remain brave and strong.”