Hildegard’s Vision of Living Light
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Hildegard of Bingen’s luminous theology reveals creation as alive with divine presence, inviting us into deeper love and connection with the life that animates all things.
Twelfth-century German mystic Hildegard of Bingen developed an interconnected theological vision of creation long before Pope Francis popularized “integral ecology” in his 2015 encyclical Laudato Si’. The multitalented Hildegard — an abbess, composer, visionary mystic, theologian, and botanist — intuited a vibrant, light- and life-filled view of the universe that invites us to experience the created world as a route to falling more deeply in love. After all, we tend to steward what we love.
Hildegard’s life as a cloistered Benedictine nun changed at age forty-three — already beyond the average lifespan of that time — when her vocation became both public and prophetic. For the next thirty-eight years, she wrote many works articulating her visions and mystical theology, such as her book Scivias, and other books that explored the healing properties of the natural world. She also composed a symphony and a play. Had Hildegard been a man, her Scivias would likely have been considered one of the church’s most important medieval European teachings. [1]
There appeared, in greennesses full, all things. Heaven’s dew dropped down over the grass and all the earth grew glad.
—Hildegard of Bingen
The theological vision of Hildegard’s works reflects her lived spiritual experiences as a contemplative and mystic. She wrote that even before her public witness began, she experienced a strange permeating light in visions and trances that she called “the reflection of the living Light.” [2] She also recounted an occasional direct encounter with the “the living Light” itself. These luminous encounters seemingly pierced through the heavenly veil, sometimes revealing mysterious figures, interpretations of Scripture, and other theological mysteries.
Her theological vision of reality has been described as an interplay between microcosm and macrocosm, where the “cosmos of the human person and the cosmos of the natural world are linked by an intricate web of reflections and correspondences, a theme that appears repeatedly in her visions, writings, and music.” [3] She depicts the Trinity in Scivias as three divine forces merging into one radiant light — “blazing with a gentle glowing fire” that permeates reality and the natural world. Stones, flames, and words become profound symbols that reflect the whole. [4]
Hildegard invites us sense the creative force of vitality that animates all things.
An ecologically-attuned movement can be sensed in her unique concept of viriditas, which means “to make green” or “to grow green,” a term she used to describe “freshness, vitality, fecundity, fruitfulness” and “all manners of aliveness.” [5] A metaphor likely stemming from her experiences and studies as a botanist, this greenness (like light) becomes an evolving force of vitality at the center of reality — a force that we are invited to encounter and partner with. Hildegard’s famous Marian hymn, “O greenest branch,” includes these lyrics: “There appeared, in greennesses full, all things. Heaven’s dew dropped down over the grass and all the earth grew glad.” [6] Hildegard invites us to become reflectors of this light, which will bring creation to the fullness of greenness and vitality.
Whether light, Trinity, or greenness, Hildegard invites us today into a similar movement: to experience the whole through the specificity of creation and to sense the creative force of vitality that animates all things. As we fall more deeply in love with this God who loves our very selves and the universe into existence, we too, like Hildegard, become enamored with the mysteries that hold reality together. The vibrancy and vitality at the heart of creation invite our awareness and partnership with the divine to steward what we have received.
Reflect with Us
Hildegard of Bingen invites us to see creation as alive with divine presence, radiant with a greenness of connection and love. Where do you notice signs of this aliveness in your life or the natural world?
Share your reflection with us.
References:
[1] Hildegard of Bingen, Scivias, trans. Mother Columba Hart and Jane Bishop, Classics of Western Spirituality (Paulist, 1990), 23.
[2] Hildegard, Scivias, 11.
[3] “St. Hildegard of Bingen: The Visionary Mystic,” The Christian Mysticism Podcast, Season 1, Episode 17, hosted by Alberto de la Cruz (with Dr. Carlos M. N. Eire), September 7, 2023.
[4] Hildegard, Scivias, 161–164.
[5] Mark Longhurst, The Holy Ordinary: A Way to God (Monkfish, 2024), 46.
[6] William Harmless, Mystics (Oxford University Press, 2008), 73–74.