St. Hildegard in the Herb Garden

From Hildegard’s Scivias, PD

For today’s poem, I sharing a sonnet I wrote about St. Hildegard von Bingen. Hildegard lived during the twelfth century and was a noted visionary, mystic, preacher, song-writer, poet, and theologian. One thing many Catholics may not know about Hildegard is her attention to the natural world. She spent her early time in the monastery working in herb garden and in the hospital, bringing those worlds together. She was entranced by a Latin word which is hard to translate. The word is viriditas. Perhaps the best translation is greening power, this notion of the greening power, the fecundity of God. With these thoughts in mind, I offer up my poem to St. Hildegard.

“St. Hildegard”

O holy abbess, keeper of the garden,
You learned to read the blessed book of nature.
You saw behind the veil of habit and custom
And through to the greening power of earth, holy verdure.
You worked with planets and birds and animals and stones,
Knowing when their ministrations would heal.
You read the earth, right to its very bones,
But you knew the works of heaven just as well.
God used the wondrous cosmos to show you how
The book of revelation might be read.
He showed you heavenly choirs who before him bow
And took you on the path we all must tread.
And so, St. Hildegard, please say a prayer
That we may one day meet you in heavenly air.