Hildegard’s Art and Music

Hildegard 1098 – 1179

In 2012, Hildegard was canonised and named a Doctor of the Church by Pope Benedict XVI. Her Feast Day is September 17.

St Hildegard is widely described as an artist, author, letter writer, composer, mystic, pharmacist, poet, preacher, theologian and a woman prepared to challenge church leaders. Where to begin in describing this remarkable and talented woman? In such a short reflection I will have to be selective. Certainly a saint to return to in the future.

I have a vision of St Hildegard at a convent meeting with her sisters going through the plans for the future. She stands confidently, with a smile and a glint in her eye but you know not to be fooled by this. She is a strong leader and skilled at multi-tasking. At the end of the meeting your head is spinning, excited you have caught her enthusiasm but you just wish she would slow down a bit, it tires you out just listening to her.

Like many mystics, Hildegard saw the harmony of God’s creation and the place of women and men in creation.

“Glance at the sun. See the moon and the stars. Gaze at the beauty of earth. Now, think. What delight God gives to humankind with all these things. Who gives all these shining, wonderful gifts, if not God?”    Hildegard

Probably in around 1135, at the age of 42, Hildegard recorded her visions by the use of art in the form of mandala. Mandala is a Sanskrit word for ‘circle’. Mandala is Indian art form which represents wholeness, reminding us of our relation to a world beyond us yet also within our bodies and minds. Below is an example of the art form. In ‘All Beings Celebrates Creation’ we see the connection of all angels, all people, all beings celebrating God’s creation. It is highly likely that Hildegard supervised this piece of art. This practise was and still is used to a greater or lesser extent, having a studio assistant, a skilled artist in their own right working alongside someone with the creative and inspirational ideas.

 

The important thing with ‘All Beings Celebrates Creation’ is to move beyond the art style itself. To see in it that we do not celebrate God by our self alone or just as a congregation, our celebration joins the whole company of heaven. ‘Let all the world in every corner sing’

It is hard to imagine a world without music, difficult to come together in worship and not to raise our voices in praise. In medieval worship the musical influence came through chants. A simple form but one that can be moving and draw you into the words both spiritually and emotionally. It enriched, enlivened and could bring words to life.

Hildegard knew this. Her music was largely lost to the world until it was rediscovered in the second half of the last century. Below is ‘Oh! How Wonderful It Is’. It is sung in Latin but the translation is there to follow.     To listen click here.

O quam mirabilis est
O quam mirabilis est
prescientia divini pectoris,
que prescivit omnem creaturam.
Nam cum Deus inspexit
faciem hominis,
quem formavit,
omnia opera sua
in eadem forma hominis
integra aspexit.
O quam mirabilis est inspiratio,
que hominem sic suscitavit.

Oh! How Wonderful It Is
Oh, how wonderful it is
The prescience of the divine heart
That has foreseen every living being
Because when God examined
The beauty of man
That he had shaped
He considered all his works
With this form of man
To be complete.
Oh, how wonderful the soul is
That makes man stand out in such a way

Now our time of reflection:
Focus on your attention on your breathing. Take several deep breathes and let sit calmly relaxing and let us be awakened to the presence of God.
Imagine being out in a breeze first thing in the morning, the breeze awakens you. Hildegard points to a spirituality that is about us being awake to the Divine, to the Spirit and to the unity that is God and his creation.

“The blowing of the wind, the mild, moist air, the exquisite greening of tree and grasses, in their beginning, in their ending, they give God their praise”   (Hildegard)

It is a reminder of Jesus in his conversation with Nicodemus talks about being born again, about waking up to God in these terms, ‘The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.’

In our prayers we will use prayers from St Hildegard, with some editing. We should remember that Hildegard was a poet and you get a sense of this in the prayers.

The Lords Prayer – Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil. For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours now and for ever. Amen.

Collect
God, by whose grace your servant Hildegard, kindled with the Fire of your love, became a burning and shining light in your Church: Grant that we also may be aflame with the spirit of love and discipline, and walk before you as children of light; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Lord, Shepherd of souls and the first voice
through whom all creation was summoned,
now to you, may it give pleasure and dignity
to liberate us from our miseries and languishing.

O leafy branch,
standing in your nobility
as the dawn breaks forth:
now rejoice and be glad
to set us frail ones
free from evil habits
and stretch forth your hand
and lift us up.

The earth is at the same time mother,
She is mother of all that is natural, mother of all that is human.
She is the mother of all, for contained in her are the seeds of all.
The earth of humankind contains all moistness, all verdancy, all germinating power.
It is in so many ways fruitful.
All creation comes from it. Yet it forms not only the basic raw material for humankind, but also the substance of the incarnation of God’s son.

God is the foundation for everything
This God undertakes, God gives.
Such that nothing that is necessary for life is lacking.
Now humankind needs a body that at all times honours and praises God.
This body is supported in every way through the earth.
Thus the earth glorifies the power of God.
Hildegard of Bingen

Perhaps you may wish to listen again to ‘Oh! How Wonderful It Is’, closing our time of prayer and reflection with the 12 century chant composed by Hildegard
Click the link to listen

“The blowing of the wind, the mild, moist air, the exquisite greening of tree and grasses, in their beginning, in their ending, they give God their praise”

Oh How Wonderful It Is
Oh, how wonderful it is
The prescience of the divine heart
That has foreseen every living being
Because when God examined
The beauty of man
That he had shaped
He considered all his works
With this form of man
To be complete.
Oh, how wonderful the soul is
That makes man stand out in such a way

Derek Akker

Next week – Hildegard – An Unruly Mystic