Hildegard of Bingen, Creativity and Writing. An article that traces the life, works, and intellectual and religious commitment of an extraordinary woman.
In memory of Sister Iginia, the choirmaster in which my young mother, Innocenza, sang.
Recte scire, recte agere. Bernardus Claravallensis – De laude novae militiae ad Milites Templi.
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) was an extraordinarily multifaceted figure of the Middle Ages, whose creative genius and writing stemmed from a profound mystical-visionary experience. Named a Doctor of the Church, she combined theology, music, herbalism, and writing, leaving a legacy that continues to inspire.
Here are the key aspects of her creativity and written output:
Writing as Vision and Revelation
The Creative Spark: For Hildegard, all knowledge, whether musical or written, was born from a vision, described as “the flaming light” that flooded her brain and chest, not in a dream but in full consciousness.
Creative Obedience: In 1141, at the age of 42, she received an injunction from a “Vox de Cielo” (Voice from Heaven) to write down what she saw and heard. This marked the beginning of her literary production, despite her self-described “fragile being.”
Major Works: Among her major works are the Scivias (Know the Ways), the Liber Divinorum Operum (Book of Divine Works), and the Symphony of the Harmony of Heavenly Revelations.
Creativity and Linguistic Innovation
Lingua Ignota: Hildegard is known for creating one of the first documented artificial languages, the Lingua Ignota (“unknown language”), composed of a 23-letter alphabet (ignotae litterae), likely used for mystical and liturgical purposes.
Theological Creativity: Her writing is distinguished by its ability to rework theology in a symbolic and prophetic manner, describing the universe and its relationship with the divine through iridescent and poetic images.
Writing Themes and Artistic Production
Poetry and Music: She composed sacred hymns, orations, and the Ordo Virtutum, a liturgical musical drama that combines theology and artistic creativity.
Science and Nature (Viriditas): She wrote treatises on medicine and natural sciences (Physica and Causae et Curae), describing the properties of herbs and the life force she called Viriditas (verdant force), uniting creativity with healing.
Epistles: She wrote numerous spiritual and political letters, addressing popes and emperors such as Frederick Barbarossa.
A Model of Feminine Creativity
Hildegard imposed her wise voice in a male-dominated age, founding monasteries and preaching publicly, an extraordinary feat for the 12th century. Her holistic approach, uniting body and soul, music and healing, made her a model of conscious creativity ahead of its time.
St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179) is the patron saint of musicians, writers, and natural scientists, recognized for her immense contributions as a German Benedictine abbess, composer, philosopher, and mystic. Canonized in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI and named a Doctor of the Church, she is celebrated for uniting faith, creativity, and science.
Key aspects of St. Hildegard of Bingen:
Patronage: She is widely regarded as the patron saint of musicians, writers, and natural scientists due to her creative and scientific work.
Musical Legacy: Known for composing liturgical music, including the Ordo Virtutum, a notable early morality play. Her music is characterized by monophonic melodies.
Writings and Medicine: She documented her spiritual visions in books like Scivias and authored medical texts concerning natural remedies and healing.
“Green Power”: She believed in viriditas, or “greening power,” connecting God to the creativity and vitality of nature.
Feast Day: Her feast day is celebrated on September 17.
She is a prominent figure for artists and thinkers, embodying a holistic approach to spirituality and creativity.
Reason is the root through which the resonant word blossoms.
Hildegard of Bingen
There is the music of Heaven in all things.
Hildegard of Bingen
The human soul is “symphonic”; music is part of the profound nature.
Hildegard of Bingen
Sed et anima hominis symphoniam in se habet et symphonizans est, unde etiam multotiens plantus educit, cum symphoniam audit, quoniam de patria in exilium se missam meminit. (But the soul of man also has a symphony within itself and is a symphonist, from which it often also generates plants when it hears a symphony, because it remembers having been sent into exile from its homeland..)
Hildegard von Bingen
Dare to declare who you are. It’s not far from the shores of silence at the edge of speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk it, you must be ready to leap.
Hildegard of BingenMusic and Audio
We cannot live in a world interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not hope. Part of the terror lies in reclaiming our ability to listen, in using our voice, in seeing our light.
Hildegard of Bingen
The soul is the life force that invigorates the flesh, for the body grows and thrives through it, just as the earth becomes fertile when moistened. The soul moistens the body so that it does not dry out, just as rain seeps into the earth.
Hildegard of Bingen
We cannot live in a world interpreted for us by others. An interpreted world is not hope. Part of the terror is reclaiming our ability to listen, using our voice, seeing our light… Dare to declare who you are. It is not far from the shores of silence at the edge of speech. The path is not long, but the way is deep. You must not only walk it, you must be ready to leap.
Hildegard of Bingen
A woman of many talents, she was also a prophetess, healer, herbalist, naturalist, cosmologist, gemologist, philosopher, artist, poet, playwright, musician, linguist, and political advisor. She was consulted for advice and assistance by many eminent figures of her time, such as Frederick Barbarossa, Philip of Alsace, Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, and Eugene III.
They walled her up alive, not metaphorically, but for real. A little girl locked in a stone cell, behind a gate, destined never to emerge. That little girl was Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – September 17, 1179), also known as Hildegard of Bingen or “Sibyl of the Rhine,” one of the most extraordinary figures of the Middle Ages. She was born, the youngest of ten children, in Bermersheim vor der Höhe, near Alzey, in Rhenish Hesse, in the summer of 1098, a year before the Crusaders conquered Jerusalem. She should have disappeared into the silence of a medieval monastery, but instead she became one of the most extraordinary minds of the Middle Ages: a mystic, philosopher, composer, naturalist, healer, advisor to popes and emperors. A woman who spoke when women were asked only to remain silent, and it all began in a locked cell.
At eight years old, she was locked up by her own family. This was supposed to be her end, but instead she became a voice that, centuries later, still burns. This child will not live long, they told her mother. She is a girl, and that alone makes her superfluous. Her body is fragile, her mind is burning. In the twelfth century, a child like Hildegard von Bingen is not a gift, she is a problem. She is too weak for marriage, unsuitable for domestic life. Her family doesn’t know what to do with her, so they choose the simplest and cruelest solution: seclusion. A locked room, a gate, and away they go. She is entrusted to Jutta von Sponheim, a young noblewoman who lives as a recluse at Disibodenberg Abbey.
Little Hildegard grew up in that almost walled-off cell, in a form of spiritual confinement we can barely even imagine today. There, she learned early that crying was pointless. That feeling too much was a sin. But in that very cell, something unexpected happened. From childhood, Hildegard recounted having luminous visions, interior experiences that accompanied her throughout her life. For years, she kept them secret, fearing she would be judged mad or possessed. Meanwhile, she studied, listened, learned Latin, the liturgy, and the Scriptures. This was how her life should have ended: a prisoner in a cage others had chosen for her. But not so. Little by little, something inside her rebelled.
From a very young age, she showed signs of fragile health and mystical visions (as early as 3-5 years old). As I mentioned, at around the age of 8, she was entrusted to Jutta von Sponheim, a recluse at the Benedictine monastery of Disibodenberg, where she received a basic religious education. She professed as a Benedictine nun around the age of 14-15. Upon Jutta’s death (1136), she became superior of the small female community. In 1141 he fell seriously ill and had a great visionary experience which he interpreted as a divine command to write down and spread what he saw: from there was born his main work, the Scivias («Know the Ways»), completed around 1151 and approved by Pope Eugene III thanks also to the interest of Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153), a French Cistercian monk, a mystic of enormous influence, considered the main spiritual innovator of the 12th century, a charismatic theologian, a very powerful preacher and leader of the Second Crusade, a figure who left a profound mark both on Christian spirituality and on the ecclesiastical politics of his time.
For many years, Hildegard had visions but refused to write them down. According to her accounts, everything changed when she became seriously ill. She interpreted her illness as a divine sign: she was resisting the mission entrusted to her. Only when she began writing her great book, Scivias, did she say the illness disappeared. For her, this was proof that she had to speak out. She also wrote hundreds of letters to powerful figures of the time, including Frederick I Barbarossa and Pope Eugene III. In these letters, she was far from shy; on the contrary, she rebuked the powerful when she thought they were governing poorly, something almost unthinkable for a woman in the 12th century.
The visions Hildegard described are incredibly rich in cosmic imagery. Her book Scivias features egg-shaped universes, circles of fire, human figures within cosmic structures, and currents of energy flowing through the world. Many modern scholars have noted that some of these images are strikingly reminiscent of modern cosmological representations. Of course, Hildegard wasn’t practicing science in the current sense, but her symbolic ability was extraordinary. She herself wrote that the visions came as a “living light” that showed her the structure of the world.
There is, in fact, a very interesting theory, discussed by various modern scholars, according to which Hildegard von Bingen’s visions could also have a neurological explanation. This doesn’t mean reducing her mystical experience to an illness, but rather trying to understand how the phenomenon worked from a medical perspective. Some neurologists have carefully observed the images contained in her book Scivias and other works. Many of the figures she describes are highly distinctive: intense, pulsating lights, concentric luminous circles, sparkling shapes, jagged lines crossing the visual field. These phenomena are very reminiscent of what in neurology are called migraine auras.
During some forms of migraine with aura, people see bright sparks, glowing zigzags, geometric shapes, and distorted visual fields. Scholars have noted that some medieval illustrations of Hildegard’s visions are remarkably similar to modern depictions of these neurological phenomena. According to this hypothesis, Hildegard may have had a special neurological sensitivity that produced these intense visual experiences. But the truly extraordinary thing isn’t the phenomenon itself. It’s what she did with it. Many people have migraine with aura. Almost no one transforms those images into a cosmological system, a theological work, or a symbolic vision of the universe, yet Hildegard succeeded in transforming those inner experiences into thought, art, and knowledge.
She described the experience this way: she saw an intense light that she called lux vivens, the “living light.” She also said something very interesting: the visions did not cause her to lose consciousness. She wrote that she saw them “with her inner eyes,” remaining fully lucid. This detail has greatly intrigued modern scholars. A mind beyond the ordinary, and whatever the explanation – mystical, symbolic, or neurological – one thing is certain: Hildegard von Bingen’s mind was extraordinary. She managed to combine in a single person: spirituality, natural science, medicine, music, and philosophy. And all this starting with a little girl whom her own family had decided to lock up in a cell.
One of the most curious aspects is that Hildegard also invented her own language, called Lingua Ignota. It was a kind of symbolic language with new words, probably designed to express spiritual concepts that Latin could not express. It is one of the earliest known examples of an artificial language in European history. Hildegard also composed dozens of sacred songs, collected in the Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum. Surprisingly, her music is very different from traditional Gregorian chant: it has much broader, almost ecstatic melodic lines. Her music is still performed today in concerts and on modern recordings.
At forty, having become the leader of the small monastic community, Hildegard made a radical gesture for a woman of her time: she took up a pen and wrote. Thus was born Scivias, the book of her visions. The title means Scito vias Domini – “Know the ways of the Lord.” It is an extraordinary text: theology, cosmology, symbolism, powerful images that recount creation, the destiny of man, the struggle between light and darkness. When the manuscript reaches Pope Eugene III, something no one could have foreseen happens. The Pope is struck by the power of that female voice and, during the Synod of Trier, officially authorizes Hildegard to write and spread her visions.
It was an extraordinary moment: a twelfth-century woman received public recognition for teaching, and from that moment Hildegard never stopped. She wrote theological works, medical treatises, and natural sciences such as Physica and Causae et Curae. She studied the properties of plants, minerals, and the human body. She composed music – hundreds of liturgical chants – collected in the Symphonia armoniae celestium revelationum, one of the most original musical works of the Middle Ages. She traveled and preached publicly, a rare feat for a woman of the time. Music and audio
She founded new monasteries, including Rupertsberg Monastery. She wrote to popes, emperors, and bishops, even admonishing Frederick I Barbarossa when she believed power was deviating from justice. And in her works, she championed a surprisingly modern idea: men and women are not meant to dominate each other, but to complement each other. She essentially restored women’s spiritual dignity in an era that rarely recognized it. Thus, the little girl everyone thought was too fragile – the one they had locked behind bars – became one of the most extraordinary minds of the Middle Ages.
Hildegard was a true polymath of the 12th century: a mystic and theologian (three great visionary works: Scivias, Liber Vitae Meritorum, Liber Divinorum Operum), a composer (she created the largest corpus of music by a single medieval author, including the Ordo Virtutum, considered the first musical “moral play” in history), a writer of scientific and medical texts (Physica and Causae et Curae, fundamental to medieval knowledge of herbs, minerals, and body care), and a political and religious advisor (she wrote letters to popes, emperors, bishops, and kings, not hesitating to openly criticize corruption and abuse). It is also noteworthy that Hildegard was so famous in the Middle Ages that even emperors and popes awaited her letters. Some are incredibly harsh and almost seem to have been written by a modern reformer.
For many years Hildegard lived in the male monastery of Disibodenberg Abbey, where she led a small community of nuns. At a certain point she had a very clear conviction: her nuns should have an independent monastery. The problem was that the abbot absolutely did not want to let them go. The nuns were noble and brought prestige and donations to the monastery. According to the chronicles, Hildegard reacted in a surprising way. She fell into a kind of sudden paralysis and declared it a divine sign: God would not allow her to move until the monastery accepted her request. Eventually the monks gave in, and so Hildegard founded her own independent female monastery in Rupertsberg, near Bingen around 1150 (where she moved with her nuns despite much opposition), and later founded a second one in Eibingen (1165). It was a remarkable victory: a woman who challenged male monastic authority and won.
Toward the end of her life, an even more incredible episode occurred. Hildegard permitted the burial in her monastery of a man who had previously been excommunicated but who, she believed, had reconciled with God before his death. The local church authorities disagreed and so ordered something drastic: the body must be exhumed. Hildegard, however, refused to obey, and not only did she conceal the exact location of the burial, so that no one could find the tomb. The Church’s response was harsh: the monastery was placed under an interdict, a ban on celebrating the liturgy and even singing, which for a monastic community was a very serious punishment. Hildegard, however, wrote such a forceful theological defense that the church authorities were eventually forced to revoke the punishment, and thus a nun won a confrontation with the highest authority in the ecclesiastical hierarchy.
Besides being a mystic and theologian, Hildegard was also a scholar of nature and health. In her treatises Physica and Causae et Curae, she described hundreds of natural remedies, medicinal plants, minerals, and observations of the human body. For the 12th century, she was something extraordinary: a woman who systematized medical knowledge. But the most surprising thing is that some of her ideas seem very modern. Hildegard insisted on a principle that is almost obvious today but was far from obvious in the Middle Ages: food can be medicine. Among the foods she most frequently recommended was spelt, which she considered one of the healthiest grains for the human body. She wrote that spelt “gives good blood and a happy mind.” Today we know it is rich in fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
The importance of balance between body and mind is another fundamental aspect of her interpretations. For Hildegard, many illnesses stemmed from an imbalance between body, emotions, and spirit. She used a central concept in her natural philosophy: viriditas – a Latin word meaning more or less vital force, green vitality, energy of life. According to her, health depended on the presence of this vital energy in the body and in nature. When viriditas is extinguished, illness arises. This vision is strikingly similar to many modern psychosomatic concepts.
In her treatise Physica, she described dozens of medicinal plants. For example, fennel aids digestion, sage strengthens the body, nettle is an energizing food, and lemon balm calms the heart and mind. Many of these uses are still recognized today in phytotherapy. A medicine that focuses on the individual, not just the disease. Perhaps most interestingly, Hildegard didn’t just look at the symptom; she believed the doctor should consider the person’s character, diet, emotions, and rhythm of life. In other words, a holistic view of health—a concept that has become very present in contemporary medicine.
She died on September 17, 1179, in Rupertsberg, at the age of 81. She had been venerated as a saint since the Middle Ages, although formal canonization only came in 2012, when Pope Benedict XVI also proclaimed her a Doctor of the Church, one of the highest titles in the Catholic tradition and one that only a very few women in history have received as recognition, and the patron saint of musicians and writers, celebrated annually on September 17. Today, she is admired both for her spiritual depth and for her extraordinary contribution to music, natural science, theology, and the intellectual emancipation of women in the Middle Ages.
In short, locked away as a child because she was deemed too fragile, Hildegard of Bingen became one of the most extraordinary minds of the Middle Ages. A mystic, composer, philosopher, naturalist, and healer, she spoke to popes, challenged emperors, wrote books, founded monasteries, and studied nature and the human body, demonstrating that sometimes history tries to silence certain voices, but those voices are precisely those destined to change the world. They cannot be extinguished, but are born and developed to demonstrate to everyone that profound commitment and tenacious self-belief can make us shine and thus illuminate our humanity.
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