Character Catalog

Major visionary work in three books describing 26 visions on creation, redemption and the last things, accompanied by 35 miniatures in the original manuscript. Approved by Pope Eugene III, it established Hildegard's spiritual authority.

Collection of 77 liturgical pieces (antiphons, hymns, responsories, sequences) composed by Hildegard, making her the first identified female composer in the history of Western music. Her music is distinguished by melodies of exceptional vocal range.

Musical liturgical drama in 82 melodies, considered one of the earliest forms of opera in history. It stages the struggle between the Virtues and the Devil for possession of the human Soul.

Encyclopedia of natural sciences in nine books covering plants, stones, fish, birds and their medicinal properties. One of the first treatises on natural medicine in the medieval West.

Medical treatise describing the causes and remedies of diseases, integrating physiology, pharmacopoeia and a Christian vision of the human body. It demonstrates a remarkable knowledge of humoral medicine inherited from Hippocrates and Galen.

Hildegard's third major visionary work in three parts, exploring the relationships between the cosmos, the human body and the history of salvation through ten visions. Considered her most accomplished theological work.

Hildegard maintained a correspondence with the most important figures of her time: popes (Eugene III, Anastasius IV), emperors (Frederick Barbarossa), abbots (Bernard of Clairvaux) and kings. These letters reveal her considerable political and spiritual influence.

And behold, in my forty-third year, as I was looking with great fear and trembling attention at a heavenly vision, I saw a great splendor in which a voice from heaven said to me: 'O fragile human being, ash of ashes, decay of decay, say and write what you see and hear.'

Father, I am greatly troubled by a vision that appeared to me through the Spirit of God, a vision I have never seen with the eyes of the flesh. I am miserable and more than miserable in my existence as a woman.

These visions I do not perceive in sleep, nor in a dream, nor in a state of madness, nor with bodily eyes or outward ears, nor in hidden places: but I receive them while awake, conscious, looking with a pure gaze, according to the will of God.

Venison is wholesome for healthy people, for the deer is warm and lives in pure places. It is also suitable for the sick, as it is digestible and does not produce bad humors.

O viridissima virga, ave, que in ventoso flabro sciscitationis sanctorum prodisti. (O greenest branch, hail, you who came forth in the swirling breath of the quest of the saints.)

Hildegard's birthplace in Rhineland-Palatinate, where she was born in 1098 as the tenth child of a noble family. She spent her early childhood there before being entrusted to monastic life.

A hermitage and later Benedictine abbey where Hildegard lived from the age of 8 until 1150. It was there that she developed her thought, received her first visions, and began writing the Scivias under the guidance of the monk Volmar.

Monastery founded by Hildegard in 1150 on a hill overlooking the confluence of the Rhine and Nahe rivers. It was the site of her creative maturity: she composed most of her music, scientific treatises, and correspondence there.

Second monastery founded by Hildegard in 1165, on the right bank of the Rhine opposite Bingen. It houses her relics today and serves as an active place of pilgrimage, perpetuating Hildegardian spirituality.

Site of the 1147–1148 synod where Pope Eugene III, advised by Bernard of Clairvaux, officially approved Hildegard's writings. This papal validation was decisive for the authority and influence of her work.

Hildegard dictated her visions to her secretaries (notably the monk Volmar), who transcribed them onto parchment. The calamus, a trimmed quill used for writing, was the central tool of her considerable literary and theological output.

A collection of psalms sung during the daily liturgical offices, the psalter was the foundational object of Hildegard's monastic formation from childhood. She mastered its chant and drew inspiration from it to compose her own musical pieces.

Hildegard was renowned for her knowledge of natural medicine. Her treatise Physica catalogues more than 230 plants with their therapeutic properties, and she used herbs, roots, and minerals in the care she provided to the sick within her community.

The miniatures of the Scivias depict angels playing stringed instruments resembling the medieval cithara. Hildegard composed her music for female voices, sometimes with instrumental accompaniment during liturgical feasts.

Hildegard permitted her nuns to wear white robes and golden crowns during major feasts — a practice symbolizing consecrated virginity that drew criticism as overly lavish. This habit differed from the ordinary black habit of Benedictine nuns.

The miniatures of the original Scivias manuscript (copied at Rupertsberg around 1165) are of exceptional quality and originality. Hildegard is believed to have participated in their design, visually translating her visions into images of great symbolic intensity.